Super Mario Run looks good, but does little else
I'm a child of the late 80s and early 90s. My first memories of video gaming are watching my mother play through every single level of the original Super Mario Bros. (meaning she beat the game with no warps). Mario is deep in my subconscious as a gamer; he practically defines platform gaming for me and an entire generation. That's why this game is such a disappointment.
Let's be clear though, Super Mario Run isn't bad, it's fine as a kind of puzzle game. I just don't get why it's on a phone (or tablet) at all. So many other beloved Nintendo franchises would work better as a phone game (Pokemon, Animal Crossing, Advance Wars, I could even see an argument for a top down Legend of Zelda game), but a platformer? It takes such precision to play most platformers, why relegate it to a system with exactly one input? It certainly puts a unique spin on a Mario game, but with the need to have the game constantly online and the serious drain it puts on your battery (my iPhone 5s chewed through 20% of its power playing the three demo levels), it's going to be a game you have to play plugged into a wall in a house with Wifi to get through it. If i'm doing that, I might as well play a Mario game with a d-pad and (at least) two buttons.
Full disclosure, I did not spend any money on Super Mario Run, I really only played the three levels you can try for free. However, they didn't compel me to want to give Nintendo ten bucks for more of this. I'd love to have another good Mario platformer to run through, but this just ain't it.
