> It's the same mechanics as almost everything else with a lower amount of difficulty with the auto running and jumping

We'll have to agree to disagree, but this is essence of Nintendo's acclaimed level design. Yes, the basic run through is easy, which makes it accessible to anyone. But I'll be damned if getting all the black coins isn't excruciatingly tough. The beauty is that the same game can be played on many levels.

Just collected the black coins in 1-1, and some in 1-2. The black coins seem to be what this game really is about, and damn does it a good job with it. Actually amazed at what it does with just a 1-button input method.

Sad to see so many people critize the $10 price tag. Obviously that was expected, but as an iOS dev myself, it always saddens me too see the rejection of people to basically pay for anything on the AppStore.

10 USD for 1 hour of play is a lot of money in general. That's not akin to:

> "it always saddens me too see the rejection of people to basically pay for anything on the AppStore."

Because the point is that the value one gets out of it, is too little for the amount of time it is fun. That is, of course, assuming there's no replay value.

There is replay value however I, for one, prefer a difficult game, and prefer one difficulty only. I know, game designers want to make everyone feel 'awesome' these days. All kind of ladders, including for single player! I don't like that. Give an immersive first time experience where the player has to overcome difficult hurdles. Getting stuck? Tough cookie, practice and get better, and you'll feel awesome once you progress further. Compare WoW TBC with how WoW has every difficulty for raiding these days. By the time you get to the highest difficulty it isn't epic anymore.

On a different note, 10 USD is a lot of money for poor people. Then again, those people are unlikely to have an expensive iOS device.

Sometimes I pay $10 for a cup of coffee and a croissant, which are finished in half an hour. I feel that I get $10 of value out of it, and on a similar scale, I would probably get $10 of value out of this game (if I could get it on Android...). I think a big difference is something another commenter said: I don't know that I'm going to get more value out of paying for this game than I would have if I played a different game for free, whereas I know I'm going to enjoy my coffee and croissant.

Not to mention the calories in the croissant probably last you more like 2 hours and the coffee buzz probably lasts about 4.

You _know_ Nintendo is going to publish a high-quality game, because they've been doing that for a hundred years.

> (I mean he even automatically jumps over enemies!!)

If Mario auto jumps over an enemy, you've missed a crucial chunk of coins on your quest to a top score. High scores is what this game is all about. When you really learn a level and squeeze out every coin possible, Nintendo's charm shines through.

I've been playing the first level for 50mins. There's so much depth there. One of my added friends has 230 coins on that first level , and so am still trying to beat him !

Have you dropped the $9.99 yet? I actually felt rewarded by the ramp up in difficulty. If you've only gone through the 1st 3 levels, you've only just played the demo. Have you tried collecting up to the black coins?

Are we playing the same game? There's not a specific button to hit on screen that I've seen, it's basically the lower 1/3 of the screen that is a giant button that can be tapped anywhere.

Oh maybe you're thinking I was talking about game play. No, all the different menus and screens especially the ones where it's just a single button for progressing to the next screen. Those buttons must be hit directly. On a 9.7" iPad I have to use two hands to do that when I see no reason tapping the screen in a large area couldn't progress to the next area.

I was only referring to buttons.

Did you ever think of your 9.7" iPad as a one hand device to begin with?

Of course but two things. First, Nintendo markets it as a one-handed game and other than pressing the tiny buttons I can actually play it just fine one handed and second, there is no reason to require this tiny, little button area to be pressed when you could more easily press a larger area (as is common in most mobile games).

It's all about using existing UX mechanics versus Nintendo bringing over awkward console mechanics to a touch screen device.

The UI really turned me off the game. The gameplay itself was reasonably fun, but actually starting the game required going through ages and ages of tutorial and story nonsense. Then going from one level to the next is a lot more cumbersome than it needs to be.

I kept thinking of the original Super Mario Bros. as a contrast. You press start, and it drops you right into the game. When you complete a level, you start the next one. Simple. Sad that Nintendo couldn't replicate that here.