Brett Molina

USA TODAY

During the ascent of the Wii, Nintendo experimented with an idea.

In 2009, it launched the Wii console game New Super Mario Bros., a modern spin on the classic franchise that featured the ability for four people to break blocks and scoop up mushrooms together.

As Nintendo developers worked on the game, they tinkered with a simpler concept for Super Mario, using the Wii remote and a single button, only controlling how Mario jumps without worrying about his movement.

That experiment will come to life as Nintendo's first ever smartphone game. Next week, the video game publisher will launch Super Mario Run for the iPhone.

Shigeru Miyamoto, the famed game designer who helped bring Mario and other Nintendo icons to life, says the original idea was sparked by concerns Super Mario games were becoming too complex for a segment of the audience. He cites the original Super Mario Bros. for the Nintendo Entertainment System, noting a big reason for its popularity was how easy it was to play.

"We thought if we were to focus in on a game where you don't have to worry about controlling Mario with the plus (shaped) control pad, and instead you could just focus in on Mario's jumping, then it would make the game simpler for a wider audience to enjoy," said Miyamoto through a translator, during an interview with USA TODAY.

Super Mario Run will feature three modes: World Tour, Toad Rally and Kingdom Builder. The game will be free to download, with limited access to all three modes. The game is a free download, but accessing all the levels will cost $9.99.

World Tour features a series of courses, similar to what's available in most Super Mario games. The key difference is players only control how Mario jumps, while the character will automatically move, similar to "infinite running" games like Temple Run.

In Toad Rally, players can compete in those courses against friends, gaining approval from Toads, the mushroom-hat-wearing creatures part of Mario lore. If the player wins, those Toads go to live in the player's personal Mushroom Kingdom, customized in the game's Kingdom Builder.

"(Super Mario Run) has been designed in a way so that all three phases of the game work together and feed off of one another," says Miyamoto.

The arrival of Super Mario Run is long overdue for Nintendo, which had been hesitant to release any games for the surging mobile audience. Earlier this year, Nintendo finally launched its first mobile experience for smartphones, the social app Miitomo, leveraging "Mii" avatars introduced by the Nintendo Wii.

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December kicks off a crucial stretch for the company, between the launch of Super Mario Run and its next video game console, Nintendo Switch, which promises to be a hybrid home and portable device. Nintendo hopes Switch will ignite a rebound from the struggling Wii U home console, which failed to cross the high sales bar set by Wii.

But there is clearly a thirst for Nintendo products, between the buzz for Super Mario Run and the recent launch of NES Classic, a smaller retro console pre-loaded with 30 classic Nintendo games. The $60 console is sold out nearly everywhere, fetching bids approaching $300.

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At least Miyamoto seems to have fun during the journey, appearing on The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon to show off Switch and even play the Super Mario Bros. theme with The Roots.

Miyamoto says more kids have their first video game experiences on a smartphone instead of a dedicated video game device. Nintendo looks to Mario to possibly pull some of those new players to more in-depth experiences on Nintendo devices.

"(The game) was less about simply bringing the same experience to iPhone," he says. "Instead, it was about focusing on who is that casual player on an iPhone and what's an appropriately casual Mario (game) they can enjoy."

Follow Brett Molina on Twitter: @brettmolina23.