Shigeru Miyamoto Reveals They Never Intended 'Super Mario Run' To Be A Free-To-Play Game

Nintendo’s “Super Mario Run” will be available this week for all iOS devices. Shigeru Miyamoto, the creator of “Super Mario,” was interviewed recently, and he revealed some details on the creative process behind Mario’s first smartphone game.

“This time from the very beginning we decided that we wanted to make the very simplest Mario game that we possibly could,” Miyamoto told Glixel. “Gradually, Mario games have become more complex an it’s harder for people to control now. This time we started off with the idea o ‘what if we made a Mario game where all you do is jump and everything else is handled automatically?’ Then we had to think about how we could take that basic structure and make it fun.”

Miyamoto also delved deeper on his role in the development of “Super Mario Run.” He said that he is focused on the structural framework of the game which allows him to easily decide what needs to be changed. Miyamoto has been working with the same core team now for 30 years, and that longevity is one of the main reasons why they’re able to work alongside one another really well.

The game designer and producer also said that his team generally share the same opinions when it comes to what makes a game fun. “We just really trust each other, and that came into play with ‘Super Mario Run’ because it was easy for us to drill down and know what we should and shouldn’t do on mobile. We aligned very quickly,” Miyamoto said.

Miyamoto was also asked how and why they decided to partner up with Apple for “Super Mario Run.” He revealed that Nintendo has been talking a lot about making a smartphone game for a long time now. When Miyamoto’s team came up with the idea of “Super Mario Run,” they decided to show it to Apple. Miyamoto said that they believe that Apple would be able to provide development support that can ensure that the game would run the way they expected it to be.

On the business side of things, Miyamoto explained that Nintendo and Apple have very similar philosophies when it comes to trying something new. He revealed that they never really intended for “Super Mario Run” to be a free-to-play game to begin with. “We really didn't want to do something in the free to play space, but in order to make sure we had the opportunity to do what we wanted [offer a taste of the game for free, and charge $9.99 to unlock the whole thing], we had to talk to the people who are actually running the shop,” Miyamoto said.

“Super Mario Run” will be available on Dec. 15 from the Apple App Store. Miyamoto confirmed to Mashable that the game will only work while a user is connected to the internet, a feature that would curb any attempts at pirating the game.