Nintendo tumbles as Super Mario Run game debuts to tepid reviews

[TOKYO] Nintendo dropped in Tokyo as the debut of Super Mario run was met by lukewarm reviews.

The stock tumbled 4.4 per cent as of 10.36am on Monday, bringing its losses since the game's debut last week to 8.4 per cent. Nintendo's partner DeNA, which helped with the game's development, has dropped 12.4 per cent in the same period.

The title, which for now is only available for Apple Inc devices, had nearly 50,000 reviews in the US App Store, with an average rating of two and a half stars out of five. That's among the lowest for apps at the top of download rankings and below other popular smartphone games like Clash Royale or Candy Crush Saga.

Nintendo has been criticised for the cost of the game, which is free to download and play the first three levels but costs US$10 for the full version.

"Investor expectations were very strong," said Hideki Yasuda, an analyst at Ace Research Institute. "There are a lot of people writing on the App Store that Super Mario Run isn't very fun. Perhaps expectations were too high." BLOOMBERG