Even with Super Mario Run's massive successes, including breaking records in the first five days of release, Nintendo is still hard at work making it appeal to more gamers.
Today, they've added a new gameplay mode called Friendly Run Mode. It works just like Toad Rally where players would usually spend Rally Tickets to race others and earn or lose Toads. For some that just want a friendly race with friends, the stakes may have been a little too high if they just wanted to play a run with a friend. This is where Friendly Run Mode helps.
Friendly Runs allow players to race friends and do not cost Rally Tickets. There is nothing at stake besides bragging rights, so racing against friends can still be fun without the risk of losing Toads, but also not gaining any. Typically, earning Toads would allow the player to expand their kingdom and unlock items, but seeing as the game is actually fun even without these rewards, players are given the option to just compete with friends in a friendly, win-win wager.
The new mode still has its drawbacks, however. Players must essentially unlock more Friendly Run uses. If a player has not cleared World 1, they can only race one Friendly Run per day. After clearing world 1, it increases to three races a day. Clearing the second world increases this number to five and so on.
Unlocking modes, characters, and secrets by playing a game instead of buying microtransactions is exactly the kind of game you'd expect from Nintendo, and they still manage to impress on a platform that's usually riddled with gimmicks and rip-offs.
To see GameZone's first look at Super Mario Run, check out Tom's experience here.