Earlier this month, Mario made his official debut. Recently it was reported that the title was a smash-hit on launch day, with over 10 million downloads and earning over $4 million in revenue on day one. Now, iOS game Super Mario Run set a new download record yesterday, following its release last week on Thursday, December 15. According to app analyst Sensor Tower, the game hit 25 million downloads in just four days, which is faster than Pokémon Go, which took 11 days to reach the same number, although that game’s initial launch was limited in terms of available territories.
The game topped the App Store’s Free charts in 140 countries and is among the top 10 paid items in more than a hundred App Stores worldwide. Today, Super Mario Run gained a brand new Friendly Run gameplay mode, but with a daily cap.
Friendly Run mode lets you causally compete against your friends, says Nintendo.
To play in Friendly Run, first add some friends (don’t worry, yesterday’s update has squashed a bug with Facebook linking) by going to your Friends List, then tap Link to link social media accounts, or Invite or Add if you already added a few friends.
The other person must accept your invitation before you can challenge them to a Friendly Run. You can play Friendly Runs without using Rally Tickets or worrying about losing some toads in your Kingdom, which is nice, but your coins, toads and the number of enemies defeated will not increase in this mode.
To spice things up a little bit, your progress in World Tour mode determines how many times you can play Super Mario Run in Friendly Run mode on any given day. If you haven’t cleared World 1 yet, Friendly Run mode is limited to just play per day.
Catch 22: you cannot clear World 1 unless you cough up for a $9.99 upgrade. Those who have finished World 1 can play the game in Friendly Mode three times per day, or five times per day if they’ve also cleared World 2.
Earlier in the week, Super Mario Run gained some new content in the form of Sparkly Christmas Tree, Sparkly Snow Globe and Poinsettia items that you can use to decorate your Kingdom ahead of Christmas.
Super Mario Run was initially met with great excitement from eager fans despite criticism leveled against its relatively high price, the requirement for a persistent Internet connection, the fact that paid $9.99 upgrades do not sync between devices and the need to earn and use tickets to enjoy Toad Rally mode.
Super Mario Run is available to download for iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad. [Direct Link]