You’ll Need an Active Internet Connection to Play Super Mario Run

If you were hoping to enjoy a nice game of Super Mario Run without having to rely on an active internet connection, it looks like your dreams are about to be shattered. In a recent interview, Mario creator Shigeru Miyamoto confirmed that his upcoming game won’t work without an active internet connection, which is definitely a bit disappointing to hear. Apparently, the decision to make the game online-only was taken in order to prevent piracy:

“For us, we view our software as being a very important asset. And also for consumers who are purchasing the game, we want to make sure that we’re able to offer it to them in a way that the software is secure […] We wanted to be able to leverage that network connection with all three of the [game] modes to keep all of the modes functioning together and offering the game in a way that keeps the software secure.”

According to Miyamoto, Nintendo initially wanted to make the single-player World Tour story mode available offline, but since this would have “[complicated] the connection back to the Toad Rally and Kingdom modes,” the idea had to be scrapped. Relying on an active internet connection to play Super Mario Run is definitely not ideal, but as long as the game itself is fun enough, it still has a pretty good chance to become successful.