If you were looking forward to counting Super Mario Run as your next means of escape during those tortuous commutes to and from work, think again – Nintendo has dashed almost any hope of such a scenario. According to recent comments made by Mario creator Shigeru Miyamoto to Mashable (via Nintendo Life), the mobile game will require a constant internet connection to function, a decision that, Miyamoto says, was made due to security concerns. Super Mario Run marks the first time that a major title featuring the Italian plumber is releasing on a platform not owned by his creator, so it makes sense that Nintendo would take additional measures to protect its IP – something that an always online model will facilitate.
Detailing the reasons for the decision to Mashable, Miyamoto said:
“For us, we view our software as being a very important asset for us. And also for consumers who are purchasing the game, we want to make sure that we’re able to offer it to them in a way that the software is secure, and that they’re able to play it in a stable environment. We wanted to be able to leverage that network connection with all three of the [Super Mario Run] modes to keep all of the modes functioning together and offering the game in a way that keeps the software secure. This is something that we want to continue to work on as we continue to develop the game.”
What’s more, Miyamoto cites the added security offered by iOS as one of the reasons it opted to go with Apple’s platform first, rather than say, Google’s Android operating system.
“But actually, the security element is one of the reasons that we decided to go with iPhone and iOS first,” says Miyamoto, adding that, “So this is just — based on the current development environment — a requirement that’s been built into the game to support security and the fact that the three different modes are connecting to the network and interacting with one another.”
With that said, Nintendo did at one stage toy with the idea of making the game’s World Tour mode available as a standalone offline experience, but decided against it due to complications.
“We had thought at one point that it would be nice to have the World Tour [story] mode available standalone, to be able to play without that connection. But then the challenge is when that’s operating in a standalone mode, it actually complicates the connection back to the Toad Rally and Kingdom modes. And because those two modes are relying on the network save, we had to integrate the World Tour mode as well.”
Nintendo’s reasoning for the restriction is certainly sound, but will it hurt Super Mario Run‘s appeal in the long run? Let us know in the comments if you still intend to buy the game when it launches next week, December 15.
