Nintendo has just announced that it’s working with Apple to launch an exclusive Mario game on iOS – the world has truly gone mad.
Super Mario Run is an automatic runner in the style of Sonic Dash, or Temple Run, but with a distinct Super Mario Bros flavour.
Of course, instead of having complete control over Mario’s movements, Super Mario Run sees players simply tap to make Mario jump, to collect coins, stomp goombas, and avoid a sticky death.
The game was unveiled by none other than Mario creator and Nintendo God Shigeru Miyamoto, who appeared onstage during Apple’s iPhone 7 launch event.
He said:
For the past 30 years every time Mario has encountered a new platform he has evolved and continued running towards a new goal. Now Mario is running towards his next goal: iPhone. We want as many people as possible to be able to enjoy playing as Mario and they’ll be doing it in a brand new game: Super Mario Run.
A battle mode called Toad Ralley was also teased, in which players pick an opponent and aim for the top score in an endless run – the main game is made up of levels that end when you reach the flagpole, naturally.
Meanwhile, the App Store listing speaks of a third mode:
Super Mario Run offers three different game modes. The first mode features challenging courses for you to complete. In the second mode, you challenge the play data of other people’s completed courses. You compete to see who can finish the course with the most style! In the third mode, you can create your own Mushroom Kingdom using coins collected by playing the first two game modes.
Sceptics may be relieved to learn that Miyamoto will be closely involved with Super Mario Run, along with mobile game studio DeNA, which Nintendo partnered with for Miitomo previously.
A ‘limited version’ of Super Mario Run will be available for free, but a set purchase price unlocks more content. Nintendo will discuss details on pricing and content ‘at a later date.’
Super Mario Run comes ‘first’ to iOS December 2016, indicating it will likely come to Android devices some time after that.
Ewan Moore is a journalist at UNILAD Gaming who still quite hasn’t gotten out of his mid 00’s emo phase. After graduating from the University of Portsmouth in 2015 with a BA in Journalism & Media Studies (thanks for asking), he went on to do some freelance words for various places, including Kotaku, Den of Geek, and TheSixthAxis, before landing a full time gig at UNILAD in 2016.