What the 'Super Mario Run' in-app purchase gets you for $9.99
Some confusion has erupted regarding the newly released "Super Mario Run" single in-app purchase -- AppleInsider explains what you get, and what you don't, for your $9.99.
In initial interviews with Mario creator Shigeru Miyamoto, the designer said that a single purchase would unlock the entire game. That's true, to a certain extent.
The in-app purchase does not supply an unlimited amount of in-game currency. What it does provide is full access to all six worlds in the game through a gifted question-mark block -- which is what the "complete unlock" entails. It also provides 20 Toad Rally tickets, and 3,000 coins.
No Toad Rally tickets? No access to the mode. However, in our so-far brief time with the game, we've found tickets to be doled out periodically for particularly memorable accomplishments.
Super Mario Run is free to download from the App Store, though unlocking the full game requires a $9.99 purchase. The title is a 204-megabyte download, which grows to 345 MB after the first data download -- and there are a few as the game goes on.
In initial interviews with Mario creator Shigeru Miyamoto, the designer said that a single purchase would unlock the entire game. That's true, to a certain extent.
The in-app purchase does not supply an unlimited amount of in-game currency. What it does provide is full access to all six worlds in the game through a gifted question-mark block -- which is what the "complete unlock" entails. It also provides 20 Toad Rally tickets, and 3,000 coins.
Level unlock, but not quite completely...
As far as the question-mark block unlock of all the levels goes, all it does is eliminate a 20-second gameplay lock on the levels after the initial free samples. To play the purchased levels, you still have to play through previous levels, just the same as in previous "Mario" titles.Price of the Toad Rally
Toad Rally tickets are access tokens to the battle mode called "Toad Rally," where victory is determined by the number of coins you collect in the game, and by the number of Toad characters you impress, all happing while the "ghost" of your competition is visible as you run. Progress across all modes is tracked by the number of coins the player has collected, as well as with persistent scorekeeping.No Toad Rally tickets? No access to the mode. However, in our so-far brief time with the game, we've found tickets to be doled out periodically for particularly memorable accomplishments.
Jumpstart with coinage
The 3,000 coins that are awarded are used to build buildings in Toad Kingdom, which serve to unlock other characters, such as Luigi, and Yoshi. Coins are also plentiful, as one of the main points in the game is to collect them -- but 3,000 coins is a pretty impressive head start on game goals.But none of it transfers
The in-app purchase to unlock the rest of the game is technically an expendable, like if you bought currency in one of the other popular mobile titles. That means that it does not carry over to other Apple IDs with family sharing. Purchase wisely.Super Mario Run is free to download from the App Store, though unlocking the full game requires a $9.99 purchase. The title is a 204-megabyte download, which grows to 345 MB after the first data download -- and there are a few as the game goes on.
Comments
No family account enabling all levels
It seems like just those two things lock it out of being the game that was convenient to play anywhere for the whole family.
http://appleinsider.com/articles/16/12/15/examined-nintendos-flagship-franchise-comes-to-the-iphone-in-super-mario-run
https://www.reddit.com/r/nintendo/comments/5iemmo/super_mario_run_ios_family_sharing/
It still prompts for a purchase first, Apple should really change that to make it clear that another purchase isn't being made because if it hadn't been purchased before, it would go right into a new purchase. It should do the check when you first go to make the purchase and the button can say to restore rather than a confirmation to buy to then say that it's already been bought.
Full sharing of IAPs under the family account would be better but I can understand why that would be turned off as IAPs are typically consumables. Someone might buy extra lives in a game and have the game synced across multiple devices, if they gave the same IAP to each device with one purchase, it couldn't run down the lives on each device so one person could be getting much more lives for the same amount of money than other players. It could be a privacy issue too if someone has an addiction to a game and is buying a lot of IAPs as it would inform every other member of the purchases.
Maybe Apple could introduce an option for developers on IAPs to say whether they can be shared. If a developer doesn't want the IAP shared like with consumables, they can turn it off. If it's for unlocks, they can enable it. When making a purchase, the buyer should also have the option to buy for family or just themselves. The manual workaround would always be an option but it can be made easier in cases like this where it's a one-off purchase.