Super Mario Run VS Pokemon Go – The Battle Begins

When Nintendo confirmed the price and release date of Super Mario Run last week, there was one likely question on the tip of everybody’s tongue – is Mario fast enough to outrun Pokemon Go?

Super Mario Run is the Italian plumber’s first foray into the mobile gaming scene, and will come with three different game modes: World Tour, Toad Rally and Kingdom Builder. Although Super Mario Run is listed as free, players will to fork out $9.99 USD to unlock the full game content. This is an interesting move considering how Pokemon Go is fully accessible outright, and any in-game purchases are completely optional.

According to a report on IGN, Nintendo claimed that it is “working to make Super Mario Run as popular as Pokemon Go”, and video game analyst Dr. Serkan Toto predicted that the free version of the game will “easily hit one billion downloads”.

Super Mario Run is out for iOS devices on December 15. An android version is also in the works, but will not release in 2016.