Remember when Nintendo tried making mobile games for IOS devices? Well, whether you do or not, Nintendo sure does as they’ve announced that the nearly decade-old Super Mario Run is getting a brand new update based around the video game company’s newest Mario Party game, Super Mario Party Jamboree, which was released on Nintendo Switch only a few months ago.
Nintendo stated that in an update for Super Mario Run, the game will include three types of mission sheets where the player can obtain statues of Mario, Peach, and Bowser inspired by Super Mario Party Jamboree. The event is happening from now through January 29. While the update could be seen as charming and a smart way to advertise Mario’s newest Mario Party extravaganza, the timing is confusing as the mobile game hasn’t gotten a new update in nearly a full year. Many believed Nintendo had left the game abandoned.
Mario Party Superstars (2021), Nintendo
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Super Mario Run was released at a time when many media outlets still believed that mobile games, in the form of apps for phones, were the only future for gaming. They mistakenly believed that the days of “traditional” gaming and manufacturers were numbered.
Due to the poor sales of Nintendo’s Wii U in that era, many media outlets (who may not have been educated in gaming economics and perhaps hadn’t played many games since the 1990s) stated that the home of Mario needed to drop physical video game consoles and instead chase the industry trends pioneered by Silicon Valley with a focus on making mobile games.
While Nintendo wouldn’t ultimately listen to the media and instead rebound with the Nintendo Switch in 2017, the company would still bring some of its most popular franchises to phones across the globe.
MarioKart 8 Deluxe (2017), Nintendo
The result was one of the least popular Mario games of all time, Super Mario Run. It’s a tap-to-jump automatic platformer where Mario runs by himself. Amongst traditional fans of the franchise, the game received mixed reviews due to its simplistic nature. The game also raised some eyebrows for the more traditional mobile phone userbase as it initially launched with a $10 price tag.
This was at a time when many other mobile games were moving to a free-to-play style, making money off ads and in-app purchases.
Despite the game seeming like a failure, analytics firm Sensor Tower estimated that the company made a possible $50 million plus profit, perhaps showing the true power of brand recognition on a device that most consumers already own. If these profit reports are to be believed, then a new update coming for the first time since 2023 makes a bit more sense. But many fans might still be scratching their heads at the time gap.
A screenshot from Super Mario RPG (2023), Nintendo
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Nintendo seemed as though it was moving away from mobile phone gaming. The last major game released for the platform was Pikmin Bloom back in 2021. One of its other prominent releases, 2019’s Dr. Mario World would be sent to the “graveyard” only two years after release when live service ended on Halloween 2021.
Super Mario Run is a remnant of a forgotten era in Nintendo’s history that was more experimental. A time in which the company was attempting to recapture its image after the financial failure of the Wii U, and the tragic untimely passing of the company’s president and CEO, Satoru Iwata.
The fully revealed Nintendo Switch 2 console – YouTube, Nintendo of America
It seems the mobile game era of Nintendo will continue to be a bizarre footnote that the company occasionally tries out. But in a modern age full of hype for the Nintendo Switch 2 and the Super Mario Bros. Movie sequel, this app being a “side gig” shows just how far they have come since Super Mario Run first released in 2016.
Do you still play Super Mario Run? Do you think Nintendo will be pushing for more mobile games once again? Will they ever do a Mario vs Flappy Bird crossover? Sound off in the comment section below and check out That Park Place for all the news that should be fun!
Does this give anyone else a bad feeling? Not just this but everything Nintendo’s done for nearly half a year now? Resurrecting old IPs and now games that just died ignominiously? Their sudden lawsuit against the makers of Palword before they’d even patented what they’re suing over? Releasing a gimmicky LEGO Game Boy?
These are not the actions of a company confident in their current market position. Worse is I don’t believe it’s entirely their own fault but the fault of other gaming companies who make games for their systems. Nintendo alone can’t possibly keep up with the demand for new games and they rely on others as much for money from licensing fees and sales as games to motivate people to buy their products. Nintendo *needs* other companies to help fill their game catalogues and their coffers.
Only the video games industry is in the final stages of a crash as major studios finally begin to acknowledge they’re screwed and some even begin preparing for bankruptcy. Nintendo must realize that they’ll be caught up in it even if they’re doing well themselves. Hence their current, and seemingly panicked, actions.
It’s Just marketing, nothing else