Review: Super Mario Run

At the end of 2016, fans received the exciting news that the industry's most iconic character was finally moving from consoles and handhelds to tablets and smartphones. “Super Mario Run” was presented in a apple conference, and the months that followed generated mixed emotions from longtime fans of the company. After all, would the conservative company that was reluctant to enter this market know how to interpret the “new language”, please longtime fans and conquer a whole new generation that did not grow up with devices like the Super Nintendo? Check out my full review and learn more!

If you know how to pass World 1-1 from Super Mario Bros. and knows the location of each secret level (“Secret Level”) of Super Mario World, you won't feel too strange: Super Mario Run is another Mario game. With Nintendo playing it safe, the graphics are well crafted and practically emulate the look of New Super Mario Bros. and its sequels.

The colors are very bright and cheerful, the scenarios are creative and full of details, both in the background and in the level design itself. Furthermore, in Super Mario Run there are no performance issues — at least on more modern devices, such as the new iPad it's the iPhone 7, in which we performed the necessary tests. Especially on larger screens, everything looks even more dazzling.

The sounds when you get a star, the acceleration when Mario is a few seconds away from the time limit to complete the level or when he grows up thanks to a mushroom... they're all there. And each phase has at least one classic element of the franchise, be it enemies (from boos It's from Lakitu to the Bullet Bills) or scenarios (there is always a boss in places like the flying ship of Super Mario Bros. 3 and the castle of bowser in its various incarnations). Each level is practically a summary or an homage, and the result is the use of elements from the entire series.

Gameplay is the factor I was most concerned about previously and, fortunately, There is not any kind of disappointment. It's true that you're not as free to coordinate Mario's movements as you are in other games in the franchise, but the mustachioed plumber's automatic run is just as fun as moving him around with a directional pad. Jump commands respond well to commands and items and special arrows give a “spicy” in the experience.

Super Mario Run can be considered a very different member of the “endless runners”, those titles in which the character runs alone through a level that expands horizontally. Your job is basically to jump at the right time and collect items or escape from enemies — getting to the end of a level or going as far as you can.

In short, your objective in the game is to reach the end of the level by collecting as many coins as you can and beating the points record. However, the idea is also to collect all the colored coins. The tutorial that opens the game (and can be accessed at any time) explains all the gameplay concepts well and leaves people of all ages ready to face the campaign. And it's worth remembering that all menus are in Portuguese.

In all, there are three game modes in Super Mario Run. For action, there is first the campaign mode. You can also try theraces”, where you compete online against other challengers — in effect, “shadows” based on the performance and scores of other gamers. Whoever gets more coins and acrobatics to conquer the audience formed by Toads takes the colored mushrooms for themselves and increases the position in the ranking.

When reading the description of the game modes and how to control Mario, many people might think that this is just another mobile title that doesn't deserve any attention. However, Super Mario Run manages to surprise, even more so after playing for some time.

The game is harder than it looks and some of the more advanced levels have a very challenging difficulty. The number of worlds may seem small at first glance, but it becomes quite enjoyable if we take into account that you have to become a master in each phase — and that takes time. Collecting the colored coins involves absurd precision, a little luck and a good memory to memorize each level during replays.