‘Super Mario Run’ Players Complain About Game’s Unexpectedly High Data Usage

An independent analysis of Nintendo’s hot new iOS title, Super Mario Run, just 24-hours after the game was released to the public, has revealed that while the game consumes an exorbitant amount of data, the title is on par with similar, graphically demanding titles on available for iOS.

According to AppleInsider, while initial reports from a litany of Apple employees painted the picture that Super Mario Run would consume approximately 75 megabytes per hour of continuous game-play, subsequent reports have been much, more more conservative than that in their estimates — with some alleging the game is more likely to consume between 40 and 60 megabytes per hour, according to various Social Media reports.

As the report also notes, though: there’s bound to be at least some amount of excessive data consumption within the first few days of downloading and playing Super Mario Run, simply due to the megabyte-rich level packs that have to be downloaded after the initial game tutorial is over. However, extensive overnight testing by AppleInsider has revealed that even under extreme, 4G LTE-dependent conditions, the game didn’t consume anywhere close to the previously reported 75 megabytes per hour.

In fact, what’s more than likely the cause of certain player’s excessive data consumption is that the game’s servers simply had trouble keeping up with the demand of downloads coming in — which actually resulted in some users having to re-download the initial level packs more than once, because they would fail halfway through, in some instances.

As a direct result of some users being required to re-download the feature packs before officially getting started on the game, several reported blowing through as many was 150 megabytes within the first hour.

To get an idea of what might be going on behind-the-scenes, AppleInsider decided to further investigate Super Mario Run’s apparent data-gobbling tendencies by reaching out to Apple’s iOS App Store affiliates — who indicated, perhaps unsurprisingly, that data usage will vary from player to player. However, the same sources also indicated that data consumption patterns should improve slightly, especially when the initial demand placed on Nintendo’s embattled serves starts to taper off a bit.

“The game is chatty,” AppleInsider was told. “Nintendo’s doing a lot of fat-packet data shuffling back-and-forth to its own back-end, and if a packet fails, it’ll keep trying for a bit until it gives up and errors out. This is all data use.”

If you don’t recall, a similar scenario unfolded in the not-too-distant aftermath of Nintendo and Niantic releasing their wildly popular Pokémon Go title earlier this summer. Initial demand for that game was through the roof, resulting in complaints of frequent crashing and excessive data consumption — prior to Niantic ultimately expanding on its server base.

So what’s the solution until Nintendo can adapt to the overwhelming success of Super Mario Run? Play on Wi-Fi! (what else, right?) “Until the server load lightens up, and for that first level load, though, play on Wi-Fi,” the Apple source noted. “Unless you’re on Comcast, you’re good to go, and if you hit the Comcast cap playing it, you’ve got other problems.”

What are your first thoughts and impressions of Nintendo’s Super Mario Run?
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