While not technically a surprise, Nintendo has announced that Super Mario Run, their upcoming mobile title, will require an internet connection to play all the games modes. This news comes straight from developer Shigeru Miyamoto, who notes that there is a very simple and logical reason for this:
“We wanted to be able to leverage that network connection with all three of the [Super Mario Run] modes,” Miyamoto explained to Mashable, “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.
“Unlike our dedicated game devices, the game is not releasing in a limited number of countries. We’re launching in 150 countries and each of those countries has different network environments and things like that. So it was important for us to be able to have it secure for all users.”
He also reveals that one of the game modes was initially meant to be offline play, but that changed as development went on:
“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.”
While this is a blow to some gamers, do recall, that Pokemon GO had the same requirement, and its sales are through the roof, and still growing.
Super Mario Run releases on iPhone December 15th.
