Super Mario Run, Nintendo’s attempt at a mobile version of Mario’s classic 2D platforming, is currently running a Super Mario Bros. Wonder tie-in.
Thanks to Eurogamer, I was reminded that Super Mario Run is a game that exists and you can play, and weirdest of all, it’s currently running a Super Mario Bros. Wonder crossover. It’s not a particularly fancy or exciting one, as all it does is let you collect Wonder Flowers, which turns all Goombas on screen gold and you can then collect them like coins. Defeating (absorbing?) Goombas then fills up a stamp card, which you can then unlock buildings and items to decorate with. Like I said, not particularly exciting, but hey, might be a reason to drop back into a seven year old game that didn’t have that much to do in the first place?
Super Mario Run first launched back in 2016, releasing as a free game with a couple of levels, with the option to pay for the full thing. While there were certainly a lot of downloads (300 million as of 2018), the paid-for levels were quite expensive compared to other mobile titles, and there weren’t that many of them. It felt like a sign of Nintendo not really understanding the mobile market, and clearly they’ve started to pull away from it in recent years, making this Wonder tie-in a slightly surprising one.
Super Mario Bros. Wonder launched back in October, offering up an incredibly strong 2D Mario experience. In fact, Alex gave it top marks in his review, saying, “Within the understood parameters of what 2D Mario can be, this has to be the single best entry since Super Mario World – and is the perfect first game to launch a new era of Mario games with his new-found elevation to movie star status.”