Trademark red cap and white gloves, big mustache and floating coins. Thereās no confusing this iPhone game: Itās Super Mario Bros. Only it isnāt. [Update]
Monino by developer FeYingInfo popped up on iTunes for a penny shy of a dollar earlier this week begging the question: Why in the world did Apple approve it?
This isnāt the first time Appleās game approval process has been caught asleep at the wheel. Earlier this year two games about fighting rabbits wound up on the Mac App Store. Lugaru and Laguaru HD were made by two developers. One was the official game, the other an unsanctioned knock-off. A week after Kotaku reported that story, Apple removed the offending, lower-priced copy.
https://lastchance.cc/the-case-of-the-identical-rabbit-games-5750238%3C/a%3E%3C/p%3E
Monino appears to star Marioās slower brother Monino. Jumps, float, turns are all a bit sluggish as the squat little plumber plods his way through a world of edible mushrooms, glowing stars and breakable brick flooring. In the fiction of the 99 cent game, Moninoās brother has been captured by a monster named Bowler and he is on the road to the monsterās castle to rescue himā¦ stop me if youāve heard this one before.
The game uses virtual controls in the bottom corners of the iPhone and seems to feature randomized maps, some of which appear to include game-breaking dead ends. As pirated ports go, Monino is not the game Iād like to see come out of the Mario world.
As of this morning about 80 people have rated it, with an average score of three out of five stars. Most people seem to be complaining about the sub-par controls and crash issues. Everyone seems to recognize the source material.
Weāve contacted Nintendo and Apple for comment and will update when and if we hear back.
Update: While we havenāt heard back from Nintendo or Apple, the game is no longer available on the U.S. iTunes.
Get your fake Mario iPhone game before Apple pulls it [Electricpig]
