During Apple's special September event surprise guest Shigeru Miyamoto, the chief game designer at Nintendo came on stage to announce and demo Super Mario Run. The game looks visually similar to previous Super Mario games but removes direct user control of Mario's direction and pace. Instead Mario will run, thus the name. The mechanic of having the screen be one large button feels similar to Flappy Bird. How long you press the screen will change how how high and far Mario will jump. Super Mario Run's new mechanic is that there will be special blocks that can change Mario's direction, pace, or to do special actions.
Miyamoto and the Nintendo also demoed a kind of versus mode where you race ghost runs of friends to compete for the love of toads. This looks like a hit and I'm sure the first of many smartphone games of Nintendo. Super Mario Run should hit the iOS app store this holiday season.
