One of the most popular video game characters of all time is finally coming to Apple devices.
Mario, the plump plumber who is the familiar face of several of Nintendo’s most successful video games, will be getting his own mobile game on Apple’s app store sometime before holiday season, Nintendo announced at an Apple event on Wednesday in San Francisco.
Although Apple has over 500,000 games in its app store, Apple CEO Tim Cook said, “There’s been something or rather someone missing.” Cook was, of course, talking about Mario, who has yet to star in a sanctioned iOS game.
Cook then introduced Nintendo video game designer and producer Shigeru Miyamoto to the stage to talk about the new Mario game. Besides helping to create the popular Mario franchise, Miyamoto also helped create the Donkey Kong and The Legend of Zelda franchises .
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Unlike other popular mobile games, the new Nintendo game, Super Mario Run, will be available for a set price instead of a so-called freemium model. In a freemium model, users can download games for free but must pay money for additional features.
Miyamoto did not reveal the price.
“The magic of Mario is that anyone can pick up a game and everyone can start playing,” Miyamoto said.
The new game resembles preceding Marios, except in the iOS version, Mario is constantly running, Miyamoto explained. Users can make Mario jump and collect coins, play against other users on a global network, and build and customize their own so-called “mushroom kingdom” using the coins they collect from their matches.
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“We want as many people as possible around the world playing Mario,” Miyamoto said.
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