The September 7th Apple Keynote was full of surprises. Like the carpool karaoke opening with James Corden of the Late Late show, the unveiling of Mario by creator Shigeru Miyamoto, was a big surprise. Accompanied by Nintendo’s marketing manager, Bill Trinen, Miyamoto introduced Mario on iOS in the form of Super Mario Run. This is the first time ever that Mario will be available on a platform other than Nintendo. Super Mario for iOS will have many unique features, such as one-handed play, three different play modes and more.
Super Mario Run will bring the fun of 90s style simple and fun gameplay with the ability to play challenges and create and customize ‘a Mushroom Kingdom’.
- Mario will run to the right automatically, in every mode. Users will jump over gaps, enemies and hurdles by tapping on the screen. A short tap for a shorter jump and long tap of a higher jump.
- The new ‘battle mode’ will allow users to compete with friends and players from around the globe for higher scores in the set time. In the battle interface, players will pick an opponent from a list and will run on the course until time runs out. The player with the most coins and toad fans will win the battle. Every time a player will make an impressive daring move, a toad will appear in the bottom half of the battle mode screen. Furthermore, a translucent sticker like Mario will appear on the course to show where the other player is collecting coins from and how many toads has the player impressed.
- Players will be able to use the coins and toads earned in the battles they win to build a ‘Mushroom Kingdom’. The toads will be the residents of the kingdom and coins will be used to expand and customize the kingdom.
- Overall, Super Mario Run will be simple and easy to play with one hand while on a bus, train, eating food or just relaxing. Automated right run takes the burden of navigating the avatar when running towards the ‘flag pole’ to end course. However, the level of difficulty will increase with increasing levels.
In an exclusive interview after the event, Miyamore told Time that, the soon to be released Super Mario Run game is developed by the same team who designed the original Super Mario. The decision was taken to deliver the best side-scrolling gameplay for iOS by the people who know it the best.
Taking pride in his creation, he said that Super Mario Run’s unique features set it apart from other mobile games like the one-hand play, automatic run with exclusive Mario style jumps, and short and quick battle mode. He added that soon to be added skills and technique based feature will motivate users to compete for higher scores and more.
The decision to introduce Mario on smart devices was driven by the goal to cater to a larger audience. The reason behind choosing iOS to bring Mario on a different platform was the “compatibility standpoint across multiple devices” and streamlined design of the operating system. However, he also intends to release the game on other platforms soon.
Super Mario Run will be available in December and will be a paid game, with no in-app purchases.
