'Super Mario Run' news: game misses mark, sends Nintendo's shares tumbling

"Super Mario Run" might have smashed the day one downloads record set by "Pokémon GO" like it was a brick block, but Nintendo shares have taken a hit after it missed sales expectations. App Store reviews from users were also subpar. A number of analysts believe that Nintendo has taken a series of missteps when they released "Super Mario Run," and perhaps the biggest mistake they made is pricing the game at $9.99.

Forbes contributor Paul Tassi has pointed out that the game got one star from half of the users who gave a review on Apple's App Store. "All the one star reviews are complaining about the $10 paywall, for the most part," he added. Tassi also noted that most of the people who downloaded "Super Mario Run" probably didn't know that the free download was for the trail version of the game and they need to pay $9.99 if they want the full version.

Former Nintendo game director Motoi Okamoto also told the Wall Street Journal that the payment structure wasn't ideal. "The game should have either asked players to pay when downloading or given more free content if they were to pursue a free-to-download model," he stated.

Did potential players stay away from the game because of the bad reviews? That's quite possible, but there's another caveat as well. "Super Mario Run" also requires an internet connection to play. The game loses a lot of its appeal because it's not playable offline.

Quartz has reported that Nintendo's market capitalization has fallen by $3 billion since the game came out. The Wall Street Journal has also reported that the company's shares had been falling steadily for five days and it finished down 7.1% in Tokyo Stock Exchange trading. Nintendo's stock has fallen more than 16% since the game came out.

Well, it's now clear that "Super Mario Run" is no "Pokémon GO."