Super Mario Run Guide

The game itself is staggeringly simple to play. You tap the screen. That's it. Short taps and longer taps are the only controls you need. They make Mario jump while everything else is handled automatically. It is, in essence, an endless runner, except it's not endless and Mario doesn't always run. Each level in the World Tour is recognisably Mario, with layouts, platforms and even graphics that could have been lifted straight from any of the New Super Mario Bros games. But the screen is portrait rather than landscape, and there are no direction controls – you have to keep moving forward. There are also special coins to be found and secured, which reward you with in-game swag if you manage to get all five on a level. They come in three different colours and difficulties, starting with pink, then purple and finally black, so give you plenty of excuse to return and play through the same level many times. Indeed, you'll find you need to as collecting all five special coins is tricky, especially as Mario doesn't stop to enjoy the view. You'll need a couple of run throughs to learn the layout and locations. You get bubbles that can either be manually activated or spent when you lose a life. These take you backwards through the level, floating in the sky. Pop the bubble where you want to revert to and you have a chance to take another run at a special coin or tricky jump, without having to do the entire level again.

You have to be conscious that there are only a couple of bubbles to be used per level, and the timer doesn't replenish so you might not give yourself enough time to finish, but it's a handy extra feature to have in an emergency.There’s more to sink your teeth into as well, should the foundations start to wear thin. While it still follows the same basic structure, Toad Rally adds a competitive spin to proceedings. Using ‘Rally Tickets’ you’ve earned in the main game, you’re pitted against an opponent of your choice (and you can do this with friends by adding them into the game). The aim? To outshine your rival as you both race through a level.In this game, the world's most famous Italian plumber runs along automatically (and leapfrogs over low platforms and even enemies), leaving you only in charge of his signature springy leap.You can do a quick hop with a tap of the touchscreen, or a giant jump by holding down for longer. You can ping off walls to zig-zag up to higher areas, spring off an enemy's head, and stall in mid-air to manage your descent.The end result is that you feel like a Mario speed-runner: determinedly holding the "run" and "right" buttons and bouncing from platform to enemy to P-switch without a moment to look back or breathe. It's exhilarating in its speed and relentless. You are limited to how many times you can play a Rally, with in-game tickets paying for each go. But these replenish over time and Nintendo makes good on its promise that there is no encouragement to buy more with real money.There are further rewards for playing either of the modes. The coins you collect in the game can be spent on buildings and scenery for your kingdom – a little area that doubles as a personalised screen and menu. And some of the objects you place can give you additional levels and bonuses, such as a Bonus Game House you'll get near the beginning which sends you to a bonus coin-gathering level that is available a few times every day.

What makes Mario better is the level design. These stages aren't randomly cobbled together by a clever algorithm, but handcrafted by proper Mario designers.They match the speed and fluidity of the game perfectly, with loads of opportunities for balletic movements as you carefully bounce from goomba to goomba, or slide down a mountain on your butt, only to rocket off through a string of shiny gold coins.Every level has its own idea and focus: from quirky ghost house puzzles to an endless stream of buzzy beetles, to cannons ripped out of Donkey Kong Country, to spinning saw blades that chase you through claustrophobic spaces. Ideas are introduced, toyed with, and often thrown away. Super Mario Run’s asynchronous player-versus-player races, called Toad Rally, shifts the focus to pulling off stylin’ moves in quick succession. These competitive stages aren’t quite as memorable as the campaign, but they offer a decent playground set in one of six level themes to show off sick maneuvers in a race against ghost data based off of your friends. The winner gets to sway a crowd of Toad spectators into moving into your fully customizeable Mushroom Kingdom in Kingdom Builder.Kingdom Builder is a nice laid back distraction compared to the campaign and competitive PVP, and it fleshes out the remainder of Super Mario Run’s gameplay loop. In it, you spend the coins collected from the other modes to dress up your own Mushroom Kingdom, building it up one Toad house at a time.

There are only 24 levels (barring some bonuses), but you'll want to return to these again and again because getting to the goal is just the beginning. There are online leaderboards, plus each stage is also littered with cheeky pink coins and you need to nab all five in one go.Come back after that, and the stage is filled with purple coins which are even harder to grab. And once more, for the black coins. Getting all coins on all levels is going to be the true test of a Mario super fan.You will need to learn the levels, nail every jump, make smart use of pause blocks - which stop Mario in his tracks, giving you a chance to let platforms and enemies move to the right spot - and your two bubbles - which let you drift back to an earlier part of the level.Ultimately, Mario feels more technical and exacting than the knockabout silliness of most endless runners - including the excellent Rayman games. This is a game you will play with your iPhone in a white knuckle grip as you execute every jump and hunt down every coloured coin. Fun, yes, but also challenging. The challenging special coin runs are the real hook that kept me coming back, and they're my favorite part of Super Mario Run. Each stage has five special pink coins that sit just out of reach until you figure out the trick to nabbing them. Get all of them in one run, and a purple set appears in even harder to reach locations, and then a third black set of coins after that. It’s a maddeningly addictive challenge that constantly put my skills to the test. If you happen to miss a hidden coin, a simple tap of the screen will rewind your run a bit, but while this gives you a second chance to snag a coin, you're sacrificing the precious time you need in order to clear the stage. It’s a smart risk/reward system that kept me mindful of the clock while I frantically searched for that last hidden coin.

You can extend the duration of Mario's jump, delay his fall mid-air, or somersault off of foes to reach high places. Like any solid game, these smooth moves are easy to pull off but difficult to completely master, and there's plenty of open screen space towards the bottom, so my fingers were never obstructing my view. I always felt like I had enough room to react and pull off a slick maneuver, even though I couldn’t stop Mario’s constant forward movement.The challenging special coin runs are the real hook that kept me coming back, and they're my favorite part of Super Mario Run. Each stage has five special pink coins that sit just out of reach until you figure out the trick to nabbing them. Get all of them in one run, and a purple set appears in even harder to reach locations, and then a third black set of coins after that. It’s a maddeningly addictive challenge that constantly put my skills to the test. If you happen to miss a hidden coin, a simple tap of the screen will rewind your run a bit, but while this gives you a second chance to snag a coin, you're sacrificing the precious time you need in order to clear the stage. It’s a smart risk/reward system that kept me mindful of the clock while I frantically searched for that last hidden coin.There is another mode that you can play for free though: Toad Rally. In this, the gameplay itself is similar – you travel across a level collecting coins – but this time you are competing with the ghost character of another real-world player. And style is rewarded as much as coin collection. Perform cool manoeuvres and you'll earn the adulation of toads – a crowd of them will expand at the bottom of the screen as you play and their support will be added to your coin score. The winner is the one with the biggest score.