Super Mario Debuts On The iPhone, Shares Skyrocketed Following The Announcement

Nintendo missed out on a tremendous opportunity by not investing more in Niantic Labs’ “Pokemon Go.” Now, the company is making sure not to repeat their mistake by releasing a mobile game of their popular “Super Mario” franchise for the iOS. Its decision to finally debut a major IP on a mobile platform also resulted in an 18 percent jump of its share prices.

Nintendo’s announcement that its popular “Super Mario” game would be added to the App Store for iOS devices came as a surprise to many during the iPhone 7 launch event, Reuters reports. It seems it was a pleasant one, however, as investors clearly thought that it would be a profitable move.

A similar trend happened when “Pokemon Go” saw a leftfield explosion in user numbers, but the initial excitement faded when Nintendo made it clear that it would not actually get a huge payout from the app. This time, the company will be taking in a huge chunk of the pie, which should make investor confidence easier to justify, according to Iwai Cosmo Securities analyst, Tomoaki Kawasaki.

"Launching a well-known Nintendo character on the globally penetrated iPhone is one of the best scenarios that investors have hoped for,” Kawasaki said.

This is also great for fans of the long-standing franchise as they can now play their favorite plumber while on the move, CNET notes. The announcement was made by Shigeru Miyamoto, the creator of the Super Mario Bros. series.

The gameplay video released alongside the reveal clearly shows mechanics that are similar to the classic Super Mario Bros. of the NES era. It’s a side-scroller where players can go left, right, up, and down.

For now, the game will be available for both the iPhone and the iPad, which should provide the title with massive scope in terms of potential users. However, Kotaku reports that Nintendo could actually be planning on releasing the game for Android as well.