Symtendo
Supachipz
I bought Super Mario Run, day one, on the App Store fully wanting to support Nintendo in arguably one of their toughest periods, with the Wii U struggling and the investors pressuring them to expand their IP use to mobile. Indeed, they did so, in the Nintendo way of charging a premium for their product and before their days of micro transactions and the like.
I enjoyed the game greatly, though never got 100% or even unlocked all of the characters (something that I usually do religiously in the home console entries). I could accept the game for what it was, a slightly simplified version of New Super Mario Bros, but in more bite sized pieces. I’ve chipped away at it over many years but probably hadn’t thought about it in a while.
This week I found myself in Tokyo, plenty of time standing on busy trains, usually with my phone out, trying to quick catch on Pokémon Go, but struggling to do so, as, for the most part, needing to hold onto the handles to prevent myself from falling. It was then, that Super Mario Run popped into my mind. Particularly this quote from Mr Miyamoto (from CBS)
"Super Mario Run" is designed to be played one-handed - while holding a handle on the subway, eating a hamburger or, eating an apple.”
So I downloaded the update and jumped in, playing the full game over the last few days, exclusively while standing on the train in Tokyo, and by God, it works so well and it gave me a new appreciation for exactly what they were going for. We’ve seen this kind of problem solving from Nintendo so many times (since staying in apartments with my family in Japan, I also have a new found appreciation for the idea behind the Off TV play of Wii U), but this just instantly clicked again for me, and is such a Nintendo thing.
It really hits the nail on what they were trying to achieve and I feel like it is one of Nintendo’s unsung gems. I’ll be now working through all the coin challenges and unlocks for the rest of my journery.
Has anyone else experienced it this way? What other examples of use cases of products that you haven’t really understand until you gain the perspective in mind?
I enjoyed the game greatly, though never got 100% or even unlocked all of the characters (something that I usually do religiously in the home console entries). I could accept the game for what it was, a slightly simplified version of New Super Mario Bros, but in more bite sized pieces. I’ve chipped away at it over many years but probably hadn’t thought about it in a while.
This week I found myself in Tokyo, plenty of time standing on busy trains, usually with my phone out, trying to quick catch on Pokémon Go, but struggling to do so, as, for the most part, needing to hold onto the handles to prevent myself from falling. It was then, that Super Mario Run popped into my mind. Particularly this quote from Mr Miyamoto (from CBS)
"Super Mario Run" is designed to be played one-handed - while holding a handle on the subway, eating a hamburger or, eating an apple.”
So I downloaded the update and jumped in, playing the full game over the last few days, exclusively while standing on the train in Tokyo, and by God, it works so well and it gave me a new appreciation for exactly what they were going for. We’ve seen this kind of problem solving from Nintendo so many times (since staying in apartments with my family in Japan, I also have a new found appreciation for the idea behind the Off TV play of Wii U), but this just instantly clicked again for me, and is such a Nintendo thing.
It really hits the nail on what they were trying to achieve and I feel like it is one of Nintendo’s unsung gems. I’ll be now working through all the coin challenges and unlocks for the rest of my journery.
Has anyone else experienced it this way? What other examples of use cases of products that you haven’t really understand until you gain the perspective in mind?
