Nintendo Surprise! Super Mario Runs With Apple
Nintendo made an totally unexpected announcement at Apple Inc's iPhone 7 launch stating that its iconic Italian plumber, Super Mario, will debut into mobile gaming through the new iPhone 7 Reuters reported.
Nintendo stated that it would launch Mario which is their biggest and most successful game character on Apple's App Store this coming December. Nintendo has not released information when the Super Mario game will be available in Google Play Store for Android users.
Shigeru Miyamoto, the creator of the universally loved Mario character more than three decades ago, surprised both Apple and Nintendo fans when he took the stage wearing his iconic smile and gave a demonstration of the iOS based Super Mario game at Apple's iPhone release event on Wednesday. A Nintendo spokesman confirmed that Miyamoto led the game's development.
Prior to the announcement, no buzz in social media or leaks spoke of Nintendo's involvement with Apple's latest iPhone.
Reuters said that players control Mario through a series of obstacle courses while collecting coins along the way. In higher levels, players can compete with other players' scores and create their own "kingdom"
Miyamoto said in a statement on Thursday that Super Mario had "evolved whenever he has encountered a new platform".
"For the first time ever, players will be able to enjoy a full-fledged Super Mario game with just one hand, giving them the freedom to play while riding the subway or my favorite, eating a hamburger," he said.
According to Reuters as smartphone games such as Candy Crush Saga and Angry Birds captured the casual, non-committed gaming population, the sales of Nintendo's console, which targeted dedicated gamers, struggled. Investors and even hardcore fans began questioning Nintendo's strategy of focusing on consoles at all costs denying the reality that the momentum of video gaming is shifting to mobile.
Nintendo for years had stubbornly resisted introducing mobile games with its best-known characters like Pokemon and Legend of Zelda in an effort to protect its console business, despite creating massive revenue and profit losses for the company
However, the company finally yielded to investor and fans clamor to release games for mobile devices when last year it announced a tie-up with mobile game specialist DeNA Co. Nintendo became a majorit stockholder in DeNA and together they jointly developed Super Mario Run, with Nintendo in charge of content and DeNA responsible for back-end operations such as servers.
