Yeah that's one terrible video. Literally tells me nothing about the product. First thing that popped into my mind was Pokemon Go, but for Mario. Is this a Mario branded game which gamifies running in real-life encouraging kids to run to various locations to find coins or something?

Now I have to do a Google search.

Not sure why you've been downvoted. I feel the same way. I have no clue what this even is from the linked content.

You can tell what it is from the title. Super Mario is a popular video game character and has been for over 30 years. This is clearly a video game. Good job on being facetious though.

In all seriousness, based on the ad I was thinking this was some sort of Mario-themed AR game similar to Pokemon Go. It's not clear to everyone.

Exactly what I thought too, man. Don't listen to these people. They aren't providing useful responses.

Why do several people here think that "it's a video game" has any merit or descriptiveness to it?

It's obviously a video game. The real question is, what kind of game is it? And this question was not answered by the video. Plain and simple.

I just replied to one of your other comments where I argued that the title was enough to tell you everything you need to know. But I guess I can see how other people wouldn't see it that way.

For me, the fact that it is a game named Super Mario Run, made by Nintendo, for the iphone, instantly tells me that it will be a side scrolling runner-style game featuring Mario in Super Mario Bros style levels, with basic touch controls. In fact it occurred to me that I hadn't verified these assumptions and I just checked out the about page and found that it looks exactly like I expected.

I guess some people make the exact same assumptions I do, and this is totally not obvious to others, hence all of the miscommunication and arguing in this thread.

I replied to your other comment, and my stance is unchanged.

You got lucky in assuming what the game would be about. If you had done the same thing with other games (e.g. Pokemon Go) you would have completely missed the opportunity to discover a new kind of game.

I advise not judging things by their cover, unless you want to risk not discovering something new.

However, there is an abundance of information on the site about exactly what kind of game it is.

I won't defend the site design - it should be easier to get to https://supermariorun.com/en/about.html, but it still takes very little effort to find this.

It's a sidescrolling one-handed Super Mario game for iOS.

The ad is very confusing without context. It's not super clear, but you can close the video using the exit in the top right corner and then click "About":

https://supermariorun.com/en/about.html

It's a game. You play it for fun and entertainment.

> It's a game. You play it for fun and entertainment.

That's like me saying "food" when asked "What do you wanna eat?"

I'm guessing you aren't a gamer. Most gamers are not interested in the binary question of whether something is a game or not -- they are a step ahead of that.

I can see your point. But conversely I think "It's an iphone game named Super Mario Run" tells most gamers 90% of what they need to know.

You did not just say that. Alright -- here we go.

What you said is not true at all, and frankly, it sounds arrogant (which I don't mind, except in this case, you're wrong).

Let's go ahead and apply your logic to Pokemon Go: "It's an iPhone game named Pokemon Go".

That statement tells me nothing about Pokemon Go. I speak to you as someone who has played over 1200 hours of Pokemon Red, Yellow, Fire Red, Sapphire, Emerald, and Diamond. Gamers are experienced and humble enough to know that "Super Mario Run" could mean almost anything. Do not make the mistake of underestimating game developers, least of all Nintendo.

I posted a comment here about my first impression of the game's title:

"First thing that popped into my mind was Pokemon Go, but for Mario. Is this a Mario branded game which gamifies running in real-life encouraging kids to run to various locations to find coins or something?".

Other people on HackerNews seemed to share this viewpoint! It turns out this is not at all what the game is about.

> Let's go ahead and apply your logic to Pokemon Go: "It's an iPhone game named Pokemon Go".

You're missing some context here, as to someone who plays iPhone games the word 'Run' suggests that the game is an infinite runner[1]. So "an iPhone game named Super Mario Run" does imply more information (that it's probably an infinite runner, which is not quite correct, but reasonably close) than your Pokemon Go version.

[1] see Sonic Runners, Rayman Run, etc.

I'm not a gamer but I'm sure they're asking: Is it a side scroller? Is it AR? What are the mechanics? Will it be choppy/graphics intensive on my 2 year old phone? MMO? PvP aspects? Leaderboards? Pay-to-win or subscription? FFA or teams?

It was a 120s video. Showing gamers 5 seconds of game play would have told them about 70% of what they'd want to know.

I understand. But why?

There are 5 videos on that page. The intro video, titled 'Introduction to Super Mario Run' introduced me to what the app is, and what it does

Sadly, most of the promo to be the initial trailer which is the one with people jumping and running, like what?

Here you go:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VTglyDBdp-A

It's a runner game. The character autoruns and you tap/swipe the screen to jump or do other moves. This is a pretty well established genre of mobile games, which avoids the usual usability issues of on-screen D-pads and the like.