Nintendo Plays Spoilsport and Kills Mario in App Store?

Before the Wiis and the Playstations, there was Super Mario. As part of a generation (yes I am that old) that heralded Mario as the ultimate gaming icon, imagine my excitement when I got to know about the iRwego app.

iRwego is fun little app which utilizes the soundtrack as well as the artwork from the Super Mario Games. It utilizes the  iPhone/iPod’s accelerometer to detect the physical movement of the user and then playbacks sounds accordingly to it. It also sounds off the classic “Here we go!” and “Oki doki!” phrases and features sound effects like brick hits and Goomba-stomping. The idea is to replicate the Super Mario experience.

Of course that excitement turned into disappointment when I realized that the approved app was no longer listed on the App Store when I accessed the iTunes url. Since the developers didn’t take permission from Nintendo,  the issue of of copyright infringement comes up.

This innocuous sounding app once again highlights Apple’s approval process and what is wrong with it. Apple really needs to develop a better approval system as this is isn’t the first time it has been criticized (anyone remember the baby shaker app ?).

The drama behind the Knocking Live Video app was another case which  highlighted the broken Apple approval process. The developer had to resort to sending an email to none other than Steve Jobs to intervene once his video streaming app got rejected  as it used private APIs which is a  violation of Apple’s iPhone developer agreement. However since the app had its merits, the developer didn’t hesitate to plead his case with Jobs. Luckily for him, the app got approved and is now available.

It is clear that until Apple revises its approval system, incidents like these will be recurring. Personally speaking, we are quite bummed that the iRwego is no longer available in the US Stores. However we wonder if its still available in other countries, so if you are out the US, do let us know if you  can see it on your country specific store.

Update: if you love Mario that much you can get it a snick preview of the 3G4, a N64 emulator developed by NWorksDev