"Super Mario Run" will launch for iOS devices this Dec. 15, Thursday and an Android port is scheduled for early 2017. However, "Mario" franchise creator Shigeru Miyamoto has confirmed that the game will require an Internet connection to be played and there are no plans for an offline mode.
Speaking to Mashable, Miyamoto explained that the reason to require an online connection boiled down to security purposes. It will also guarantee steady connection between the three game modes: the main "World Tour" campaign, the "Toad Rally" multiplayer mode and the "Mushroom Kingdom" mode.
Miyamoto further explained that the issue of security was also why they decided to release the game on iOS first. This is the first "Mario" game Nintendo is releasing on mobile devices and guaranteeing the protection of their IP from piracy while still providing a high-quality gaming experience were the company's priorities.
It was noted that they did attempt to keep the "World Tour" story campaign offline but this created complications when synching it with the online portions of the game.
"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," Miyamoto explained.
Requiring an online connection will also allow players to link and access saved data across multiple devices Polygon reported. A player can save their game on an iPhone and then later load and continue their game on an iPad. However, a single save file cannot be accessed by two different devices at the same time.
iOS players can already access the demo of the game from the Apple App Store. No official release date has yet been announced for the Android port of the game. It is scheduled to release sometime in 2017.