Super Mario Run's producer Shigeru Miyamoto recently sat down in an interview to talk a bit about the upcoming mobile game, and he revealed some interesting details about Mario's venture onto mobile.
When asked about the potential for Super Mario Run to appear on Switch or offer cross-connectivity with it, Miyamoto responded: "We do have the Nintendo accounts system and through [that] we will be able to have connections, and players will be able to — for example — keep their save data up in the cloud. And obviously, from a consumer perspective, your save data is a valuable thing. When it comes to the actual game itself, though ... we do view the mobile platform and our dedicated game platforms as very different devices where we will continue to offer different experiences. So we will continue to put our efforts into more in-depth experiences on our dedicated gaming devices."
Miyamoto also confirmed recent rumours that Super Mario Run constantly requires an internet connection. "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 [game] 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."
"But actually, the security element is one of the reasons that we decided to go with iPhone and iOS first. 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. 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."
Security, as the interviewer clarified, means in relation to privacy. "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."
For more on Super Mario Run check out our hands-on. Is this confirmation of needing an internet connection at all times a deal-breaker for you?