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Comment by aaron-lebo | Hacker News Reader

What's the appeal?

You say you spent $10 on a game that you beat in an hour. I get that there's replayability but there's only so much in a game like that.

If I really wanted to play Mario I could go home and play it on dozens of different devices on a nice TV while resting comfortably instead of on a limited form factor in public where there's dozens of other things to do.

Much respect to Nintendo for making a good game, but it seems like a game that just exists because it can. No depth. What value do we get as consumers if we encourage the game industry to move further in this direction?

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No depth? Most games played on smartphones are designed for playing in short increments, many of them for playing with a single hand. That's what Super Mario Run is. It's designed so you can play in just a couple of minutes, and you can play with one hand while commuting, or like I did today, play with one hand while eating lunch.

As for clearing it in an hour, clearing each of the levels once isn't a challenge, nor is it the point of the game. If you want to complete the whole thing you must play each of the levels 4 times, and that's assuming you play perfectly each time (and you won't). And that's just for Tour mode. For Toad Rally mode you're competing against other people (not live, but against their time trial ghosts) and doing tricks to try and impress toads, where winning gives you a bunch of coins and a bunch of toads. And then you use those toads in the kingdom builder mode to unlock new items to put in your kingdom and to upgrade your castle, etc.

So yeah, you can play through all of the levels once pretty quickly if you want. But that's not really experiencing the game.

Rally is really fun! Changed my outlook on the game entirely.

> No depth? Most games played on smartphones are designed for playing in short increments, many of them for playing with a single hand.

Short play sessions have nothing to do with depth or lack of it.

This is a good description. I think people need to think of Super Mario Run more like Super Mario Kart. You can drive through all of that game's tracks in less than an hour too, but that doesn't mean the game is over.

Doesn't it require an internet connection/cell service? not ideal for subway commuters.

It does. With my commute I have intermittent connectivity in the stations and none in the tunnels. I can usually start a level while at the station, play it while underground, and then finish at the next station. It doesn't require internet in the middle of the level, just at the start and at the end. And if you finish a level with no internet, you'll get a "Connectivity Error" dialog with a Retry button, so you can wait until the train pulls into the station and hit Retry. I haven't tested yet what happens if the app is terminated while in this state.

the anti-piracy crippleware garbage is the worst part.

The appeal is what Mario has always been to me - gameplay mechanics and level design. I'll concede that this may not be interesting to a majority of people, but Nintendo games have always immersed me due to the consistency of their in game universes. Once you get the controls down, you can apply the lessons to any level, and things just work the way you expect them to. It's a level of intuitiveness that I have not seen anywhere else. Yes, that's replays after the first hour, but that's not an order of magnitude different to game length in the 8/16 bit era.

You are right that there are many ways to play Mario on many different devices, and I'm not arguing that focused gameplay in front of a big tv isn't the best way to play for extended hours, but for ten minutes waiting in a queue or on the subway (when there is an internet connection available - don't get me started on that because I'm not a big enough fanboi to be happy with that situation), it's much more convenient than carrying along a 3DS. I think Nintendo did their homework on how people will play this game. It's accessible enough to play in short bursts, which suits mobile gamers.

I do respect that you don't see any depth in this. That's fine. I know that enjoyment of games is very subjective. I'm biased in that I grew up in the golden era of 8 and 16-bit 2D games, so I'm aware that this type of game has more appeal to me than others. (Nintendo probably knows that my demographic is more likely to convert to a purchase as well, but I digress) I've tried to stay engaged with recent stuff on Playstation, but triple A titles require large time commitments and have lots of grind, and hence don't appeal to me. This does.

Thanks for the response. Even if it's not my thing, it's good to hear your perspective.

I downloaded the demo today (have yet to buy the full game, but will likely give it a shot) and was very impressed. I didn't realize the internet connectivity was a requirement, which is a minor bummer, but I was gratified to find a small, focused game whose first three levels hinted at the challenges that may (or may not, again just a demo player) be hidden within.

I'm curious to find out how conversion from Pokemon Go -> Pokemon Sun/Moon games and Mario Run -> Mario Switch plays out, because both mobile games have succeeded at getting me more interested in investing time and money into their big-brother console relatives.

>Once you get the controls down, you can apply the lessons to any level, and things just work the way you expect them to. It's a level of intuitiveness that I have not seen anywhere else.

Huh. That's how I feel about Megaman. I suppose you disagree?

Anyways, since you're talking about new games, and seem to have an enjoyment of the 8-bits, have you tried Shovel Knight? It's incredibly well designed, and absolutely packed with content (with a third campaign coming next year. for free).

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