'Super Mario Run' Dominates iOS App Numbers for 2017
"Super Mario Run" has jumped, twirled and flipped on to the top spot of the mobile gaming market, as Apple recently revealed in its iTunes charts for 2017. The game has even managed earned the number one slot in two categories.
The premise of "Super Mario Run" is simple, as Nintendo invades the mobile phone market with "A new kind of Mario game that you can play with one hand." The app is free to download at the Apple Store, with a few levels available for free and all six worlds unlocked by a $10 purchase within the app.
It will have spent one year on the iOS store by Friday, Dec. 15, as it celebrates its first anniversary since its launch on the same date last 2016. Since late last year, "Super Mario Run" has gone on to pass 200 million downloads, and its big 3.0 update has boosted its popularity a lot since September, according to Gamespot.
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The game has been a disappointment in terms of in-app sales for Nintendo, as the company president Tatsumi Kimishima shared with Nikkei Asian Review earlier this year. Game sales simply "did not meet our expectations," Kimishima said at the time, with only about 5 percent of players buying all levels by January this year.
Even then, the popularity of "Super Mario Run" has established Nintendo as a legitimate player in the mobile phone games business.
"Super Mario Run" is now at first place of the top 20 free games, and took the top spot for both iPhones and iPads, as well. This ranking is based on total downloads, with the free app having a price advantage over paid games.
Apple would give the coveted Game of the Year to another game, though. The company eventually awarded "Splitter Critters" the top award for 2017, according to Rolling Stone. Still, topping two downloads categories is not bad at all.
