Hours after launch, Nintendo's mobile Mario jumps to the top of the charts

Nintendo began its mobile push in earnest today by launching Super Mario Run on iOS, and roughly 6.5 hours later the game has already climbed to the top of Apple's App Store chart of most-downloaded free apps.

That's hardly surprising given the widespread appeal of Nintendo's mascot, but it's worth noting that Super Mario Run appears to have climbed the charts almost as fast Niantic and The Pokemon Company's augmented reality game Pokemon Go, which (according to mobile analytics firm Sensor Tower) took the #1 free app spot about 5 hours after it launched in July.

Pokemon Go went on to become the top-grossing app as well, and Super Mario Run appears to be well on its way to that spot, given that it's climbed to #7 on the list of top-grossing apps in the ~7 hours since it launched. Of course, Pokemon Go had the benefit of inexhaustible in-app purchasing opportunities; Super Mario Run, by comparison, currently only allows player to spend $10 to unlock the full game.

But while it's unclear whether or not Super Mario Run will be able to generate the kind of revenue that Pokemon Go did (the AR catch-'em-all game brought in $600 million faster than any other mobile game in history), many mobile market analysts are predicting it will make bank. For example, mobile market research firm Mobile Action told Re/code it expects Super Mario Run to generate $60-$65 million in its first month of sale.