The day "Super Mario" fans have long been waiting for has finally arrived. "Super Mario Run," the first mobile game by Nintendo to use its first-party characters, is now on the iPhone. The side-scrolling auto-runner lets players control the iconic plumber with one hand; Mario automatically runs across the screen and players just have to make him jump.
In a recent string of interviews, "Super Mario Bros." creator Shigeru Miyamoto revealed some surprising details about "Super Mario Run" and about Nintendo's plans for the Mario franchise. The Nintendo Creative Fellow also talked about the upcoming hybrid gaming console, the Nintendo Switch. These are the five most unexpected revelations from Miyamoto:
He hasn't been heavily involved in a "Super Mario Bros." game for almost a decade. Speaking with Wired, the "Super Mario Run" producer revealed that the last time he was intimately involved in the development of a Mario game was when Nintendo was working on "Super Mario Galaxy," the platformer released for the Wii in 2007. About five years ago, Miyamoto announced that he is retiring. But because "Super Mario Run" was a major first step for the Mario franchise, he got more directly involved with the project.
Mario speedruns on YouTube inspired "Super Mario Run." "When you look at videos of super players who are very good 'Super Mario Bros.' players, they tend to run all the way through the course without ever stopping," Miyamoto said in the same interview. This is in contrast to inexperienced Mario players who take their time and go through the game timidly. According to Miyamoto, making the game an auto-runner allows all Mario players the feeling of a thrilling speedrun and the chance to execute some clever maneuvers. "By taking that approach, it would give even beginner players an opportunity to get a taste of what's fun about the more skilled style of Mario play," he explained.
"Super Mario Run" isn't coming to the Nintendo Switch. Miyamoto explained that Nintendo views the gaming system platform and the mobile platform as very different devices offering different experiences. "[W]e will continue to put our efforts into more in-depth experiences on our dedicated gaming devices," he told Mashable.
Unlike "Super Mario Run," the original "Super Mario Bros." isn't coming to mobile. Miyamoto shut down the possibility of a mobile version of the classic "Super Mario Bros.," saying that the idea of taking the game and plopping it on an iPhone is "boring." He also spoke about the financial aspect of such a thing, explaining that people would question why the mobile version isn't free. "We try to create products that have value that people are willing to pay for," he said.
The "Super Mario Run" World Tour mode was almost a standalone. Miyamoto told Mashable that they had considered making World Tour available as a standalone that can be played without an internet connection. However, this would have complicated the connection to the two other game modes -- Toad Rally and Kingdom Builder -- and because these two relied on the network save, they had to nix the idea of making World Tour a standalone.