Today was Apple’s big day. They announced some new hardware in the Apple Watch Series 2, iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus. But another big announcement was Mario. Apple worked with Nintendo to bring Mario to the App Store in Super Mario Run. It’s an endless runner that you can play on iOS fairly soon. It’s said to be launching with the iPhone 7 – which is on September 16th. However, it is coming to iOS first. Not a huge surprise, as many developers choose to go with iOS first before coming to Android. Likely due to the number of users using the same hardware, making it easier for developers to get their game (or app) out the door. But it won’t be exclusive to iOS forever.
Many Android users were wondering when it was going to come to the Google Play Store, and well Nintendo did answer that question, although the answer was still fairly vague. Stating, “we do intend to release the game on Android devices at some point in the future.” Which means there’s no word on when exactly it will be available on Android. It could be later this year, or it could be in 2017 or even further down the road than that. Nintendo hasn’t had the best experience with mobile games – their best experience is actually with Pokemon GO, which they had very little to do with, as they own The Pokemon Company who licensed Pokemon to Niantic for the game.
Mario is a game that many have wanted to come on over to mobile platforms for years and years. And now it finally has, even if it is available on the iPhone first. Hopefully this means that Nintendo is taking their time and making sure that it plays perfectly, instead of being full of bugs. During the live demonstration that they did at Apple’s event in San Francisco today, it appeared to work fairly well. Although that can be a totally different thing when playing with millions of other people. The game is said to be a paid game, but there won’t be any in-app purchases, meaning it’s just one price and you won’t need to buy things later on. Something that many games have moved away from at this point. As soon as Super Mario Run comes to Android, we’ll be sure to pass along the information.