Super Mario Run (mobile)

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scotland
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Super Mario Run (mobile)

Postby scotland » December 21st, 2016, 9:37 am

Nintendo is out with their first mobile Mario game, and its getting mixed reviews. First, that Nintendo never mentioned the price during keynote announcement or on downloading the app. Turns out its $10. However, while pricey for that market, there are no more in app purchases. Initial reviews have ot been kind either. It also requires a constant internet connection. Nintendo stock prices have fallen 16% in last few days (but had gone up in anticipation so its back to where it was) with the pushback and lack of sufficient monetization.

David
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Re: Super Mario Run (mobile)

Postby David » December 21st, 2016, 3:51 pm

scotland wrote:Nintendo is out with their first mobile Mario game, and its getting mixed reviews. First, that Nintendo never mentioned the price during keynote announcement or on downloading the app. Turns out its $10. However, while pricey for that market, there are no more in app purchases. Initial reviews have ot been kind either. It also requires a constant internet connection. Nintendo stock prices have fallen 16% in last few days (but had gone up in anticipation so its back to where it was) with the pushback and lack of sufficient monetization.

I was under the impression that it's been well received. On Metacritic at least it has an upper 70s rating. I bought it and I'm really enjoying it. Even though the game can be played solely by tapping the screen, it has some pretty deep mechanics and really feels like a Mario game. I wouldn't choose to play it over a traditional Mario platformer, but I think it's pretty good. The only downside is the odd DRM requirement to be online at all times, which is bizarre, but at least a phone is generally always online anyways.

About the stock prices, I don't know what more people expected for its sales. It's breaking record for downloads on the App Store with 40 million, it's been paid for some 2 million plus times, which seems to be in line with other apps in terms of paying to non-paying customers. Plus, it has yet to be released on Android. I'd rather have a pay once model rather than the traditional free-to-play model. Would it have made more money if the whole game was free with power-ups and lives being available with micro transactions? Maybe, but there probably would've been less people paying with a higher money spent average.

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Rookie1
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Re: Super Mario Run (mobile)

Postby Rookie1 » December 21st, 2016, 4:53 pm

I watched the cinnemassacre "lets play" of it the other day. It was funny because even they didnt know the had to pay. Woops.

It looks cool, but the online DRM nonsense is a no-go for me. I barely get reception in any place that I would sit and use it, so whats the point?

Swing and a miss if you ask me. If it was $5 for and no DRM I would probably give it a shot.

Hardcore Sadism
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Re: Super Mario Run (mobile)

Postby Hardcore Sadism » December 21st, 2016, 5:58 pm

The always-online thing reeks of complacency, Nintendo should stay away from smartphone gaming.

Voor
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Re: Super Mario Run (mobile)

Postby Voor » December 21st, 2016, 11:20 pm

I downloaded the demo and I think it's the most fun I've ever had with an auto runner. Not too fast paced and has some mechanics that are easy to learn yet challenging and fun to pull off.

$10? Yeah, that seems a bit steep for a downloadable game for your phone. Plus, people are just used to seeeing $4.99.

The online requirement....that's a weird requirement and doesn't fit for me. I really only have wifi access at home, and that's the last place I'd play Mario Run.

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scotland
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Re: Super Mario Run (mobile)

Postby scotland » December 22nd, 2016, 5:34 am

David wrote: I was under the impression that it's been well received. On Metacritic at least it has an upper 70s rating. I bought it and I'm really enjoying it... I don't know what more people expected for its sales. It's breaking record for downloads on the App Store with 40 million.



The reviews have been awful It has 2 stars out of 5 on the App store. See articles like this one
http://www.recode.net/2016/12/19/14008240/super-mario-run-one-star-reviews

You can the number and ratio of positive to negative reviews from the Apple App store. 'Mixed' is being generous, as negative reviews have been far more numerous than positive. Of the 70k reviews, more than 40k have been just one star. The game overall is sitting at two stars out of five. 2 out of 5 is not what was expected at all from Mario debut into mobile gaming.

Now people are giving the low score based on the game and the ecosystem Nintendo put around it - price and online requirement, which is fair. A restaurant is not just the food, but the service. Articles such as the one on Polygon have been anoyed at the always online requirement. A mobile game should be mobile so it plays in airplanes or subways or on a bus in rural Texas. Here the requirement seems to be about piracy concerns.

While a company has every right to protect their property, consumers have every right to have opinions on how companies act. The price for amount of value is also being questioned.MS reacted to fan reaction and backed off some XB1 policies. Would Nintendo do that? Would they just end the online requirement?

The number of downloads are high, its making money, and Apple has done a lot to boost downloads by promoting it with an App store banner and running it in the Apple stores, etc. Apple wanted a success because it was an Apple exclusive.

Voor
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Re: Super Mario Run (mobile)

Postby Voor » December 22nd, 2016, 7:25 am

This is why online reviews can't be trusted anymore. If you like the game, but disagree on a couple of things not related to gameplay, I'd say it's worthy of a 3-4 star review. Instead it's: "Awesome game, but $10?!?! That sux....1 star!!!"

CharlieR
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Re: Super Mario Run (mobile)

Postby CharlieR » December 22nd, 2016, 8:57 am

Rookie1 wrote:I watched the cinnemassacre "lets play" of it the other day. It was funny because even they didnt know the had to pay. Woops.

It looks cool, but the online DRM nonsense is a no-go for me. I barely get reception in any place that I would sit and use it, so whats the point?

Swing and a miss if you ask me. If it was $5 for and no DRM I would probably give it a shot.


I watched that as well. I guess when you hear "free to play" or 'free to start." you' a lot of microtransactions. I could be wrong, but I'm pretty sure this game has you pay $10 to unlock the rest of the game, and that's it. I would say that is the right way to do these microtransactions, if there is a right way. It's like they are essentially releasing a $10 game. Most phone games would probably have you pay $10 for a finite number of powerups. The really funny thing about the video was that instead of paying, you could play the next level for twenty seconds.

The big thing to me is the always online thing. It just seems like they are following the herd, as some games have you always be online for some reason.

Two thoughts about this.

A. Don't you get the feeling that Nintendo would do it differently and not require an always online internet connection? I would think so, just because Nintendo usually doesn't do things to "compete" with other platforms. Always online seems like an XB1 or ps4 "thing" to do.

2. Having to have a constant internet connection would feel weird in a Mario game, even if it is on a phone. Kids are going to want to play this on their parents' phones all the time, and what if they are at a place with no wifi or are running low on data? I guess Nintendo figures everyone has a smartphone. I use an iPod touch, so I don't have a constant internet, although I can get it in a lot of places like home and work.

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scotland
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Re: Super Mario Run (mobile)

Postby scotland » December 22nd, 2016, 9:53 am

Voor wrote:This is why online reviews can't be trusted anymore. If you like the game, but disagree on a couple of things not related to gameplay, I'd say it's worthy of a 3-4 star review. Instead it's: "Awesome game, but $10?!?! That sux....1 star!!!"


No, thats perfectly valid. The 1 score has to be a combined score. Great food but lousy service is a bad experience and a one star review at a restaurant, and same thing in a game.

When I give a child my phone to play a game on, I put it in airplane mode to ensure against in app purchases. Always on protects Nintendo but its not consumer friendly so that would merit a low score review.

Voor
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Re: Super Mario Run (mobile)

Postby Voor » December 22nd, 2016, 8:19 pm

scotland wrote:
Voor wrote:This is why online reviews can't be trusted anymore. If you like the game, but disagree on a couple of things not related to gameplay, I'd say it's worthy of a 3-4 star review. Instead it's: "Awesome game, but $10?!?! That sux....1 star!!!"


No, thats perfectly valid. The 1 score has to be a combined score. Great food but lousy service is a bad experience and a one star review at a restaurant, and same thing in a game.

When I give a child my phone to play a game on, I put it in airplane mode to ensure against in app purchases. Always on protects Nintendo but its not consumer friendly so that would merit a low score review.


Take out, man. Lol.

I get it. A great game with awesome graphics and story, but terribly controls, can totally ruin the experience.

Awesome why the Nes classic had like a 1.4 rating on Amazon on the release date. Tons of pissed customers who couldn't get one (myself included).


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