Super Mario Run requires persistent Internet Connection

There seem to be three modes in Nintendo’s upcoming Super Mario Run game. All three of them need a persistent internet connection. From the looks of it in the interview, it appears that the only reason why Mario requires a persistent internet connection is to help prevent piracy. 

It’s a valid concern, but that hardly warrants giving a lesser experience to the users. Most people like to play these games while travelling to work or at a public place. Miyamoto in the September iPhone event mentioned it himself, that the reason why Mario was a single handed game on iPhone was because he realised that people multi-tasked while playing these games. 

By requiring a persistent internet connection they’ve somewhat defeated that purpose. While most people play the game while travelling, I’m not sure a lot of users would be happy about giving away their mobile data for it.