Why getting Super Mario is such a huge win for the iPhone

Mario is coming to iPhone. Alongside the new iPhone news and headphone jack furor of Wednesday's Apple event was the unveiling of Super Mario Run, a new game that marks the first time the Nintendo mascot has made its way to mobile devices. It'll arrive on iOS later this year. (Though it's likely to arrive on Android sometime after.)

Though this isn't Nintendo's first stab at mobile, this chart from Statista should explain why it's such a big deal. The Mario franchise is the highest selling series of games in world history. Nintendo has stuck the little plumber in everything from platformers to RPGs to tennis games over the past three decades, and time after time millions of buyers have gobbled it up.

Put it all together, and you can see why Apple dedicated the first part of its showcase to a new mobile game. If anything could match the enormous popularity of "Pokémon Go," an app with Mario attached to it might do the trick. Here's hoping it's any good.

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