We've already heard that Mario isn't coming to the iPhone 14 anymore, but what does his creator have to say about Apple kit?
In an interview with CNET about the Super Mario movie (that new one with Chris Pratt in it, not the Dennis Hopper one), Mario creator Shigeru Miyamoto has revealed that he's a big fan of Apple. This, coming after the news that Nintendo would be ending its Super Mario experiment on the iPhone, is extremely interesting, especially after what Miyamoto says about the similarities between Nintendo and Apple.
So while we may not see the jolly jumping Italian plumber on Apple hardware again soon, it says something for the future of Nintendo software on Apple hardware.
Deeply integrated
In the interview, Miyamoto tells us that he has "an iPhone for work and an iPhone for personal use, and I have an iPad for work and I have iPad for work use." That's more than twice the iPhones and iPads that most of us have – he's about as integrated into the Apple ecosystem as one can be. What's interesting however is how he sees the two companies as similar entities, with shared interests and goals.
"I really feel like the way that Apple thinks of things and the way Nintendo approaches things has a commonality," Miyamoto tells CNET. He talks about giving users unique experiences, in Nintendo's case those beyond just gaming, such as DS software that guides users through the Louvre in Paris.
In extension to this, he talks about how he compares the iPhone and his own Nintendo Switch. Both are mobile devices, and both can play games, but Miyamoto sees how much bigger the mobile gaming market is on devices that everyone has in their pockets, rather than just a few with a Nintendo Switch. "there's just no comparing the number of install base of smart devices compared to gaming devices," he says. So while we may not see any more Mario for the best iPhones, it looks like Nintendo's top dogs still see the potential in the iPhone for Nintendo experiences.
And if you're interested, Miyamoto uses an iPhone 13 Pro – maybe he's waiting for his contract to come to an end.
