Japan's "Super Nintendo World" Set to Open in 2021

Japan's "Super Nintendo World" Set to Open in 2021

Universal Studios Japan released new images of their upcoming 2021 theme park, including photos of an AR based MarioKart ride.

Universal Studios Japan released new images of their upcoming 2021 theme park, including photos of an AR based MarioKart ride.

Credit | The Sun

The really long-awaited Super Nintendo World at a Universal Studios resort has finally been confirmed arriving in 2021. The Osaka located Universal Studios Japan announced that the park will be opened on February 4th, 2021.

The land was first scheduled to open last summer, but was delayed due to the pandemic, and extenuating circumstances arriving from that delay. Even with COVID against its opening, you’ll soon be able to enter a real-life video game, including riding the park’s AR MarioKart ride.

Alongside the announcement, Universal Studios Japan released some photos of the new land, both of the land in the park, and the park’s main attraction, Mario Kart Koopa’s Challenge.

Inside the park, visitors will find “a mysterious atmosphere with stone walls, spiked fences and heavy iron doors along with a massive statue of Bowser at the center of a grand staircase,” according to Universal’s press release. This sounds like the entire park will be completely immersive with Mario styled (and sized) massive objects scattered throughout the park.

Included in the barrage of images, there were some notable ones, (ok, i may be lying there, they’re all pretty cool), including the one above of Bowser standing menacingly at the top of a velvet staircase, presumably leading into the Mario Kart attraction.

This photo of the Mario Kart ride was included, giving some insight into the surprisingly high-tech looking ride. Immediately noticeable is the incredible theming, including the multicolored cars based around different Mario characters.

You can also notice that the cars are two seats with side bars and lap bars, showing that this ride is likely going to be a roller coaster, and with this padded lap bars, it’s going to be a fast one.

The press report also featured this photo of a person with a Mario band on their wrist, with an app on their phone corresponding with the park?

I’m not completely sure what this is, but it looks like an interactive map to the park, that syncs with a MagicBand-esque device on your wrist that likely tracks your position and possibly certain items or places that you passed by.

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The last photo shows a kid and his mother riding in a Yoshi, possibly on a floorless, magnetic/GPS controlled free ride that moves around the park on an upper edge. That would allow the ride to explore the entire park, without exposing the tightly packed, industrial exterior outside of the park.

The park so far looks incredibly entertaining and really interesting, even if it seems slightly, at least space-wise, small.

We’ve seen companies such as Universal (/NBC/Comcast) and Disney pack some incredible content and rides into a small space, such as with both companies’ respective Hollywood/Anaheim parks.

To finish this off, Comcast included in the press release this bit of information to help clarify some questions and give an overall description:

“Universal Studios Japan will hold its grand opening of the world’s first Super Nintendo World on February 4, 2021 – bringing to life a highly themed and immersive land featuring Nintendo’s legendary worlds, characters and adventures where guests will be able to play inside their favorite Nintendo games.

The grand opening of Super Nintendo World will kick off the park’s year-long 20th Anniversary Celebration.

Super Nintendo World will feature Mario Kart- and Yoshi-themed rides and attractions, as well as restaurants, shops and other experiences that can only be found at Universal Studios Japan. The colorful and interactive area offers a new theme park experience that lets guests immerse themselves in the world by wearing a Power-Up Band, an innovative technology to help bring gameplay to life and allow guests to keep score. Guests with a Power-Up Band can also punch ? Blocks, collect virtual coins and more to bring the experience of playing Super Mario games to the real world.

Universal Studios Japan released exclusive new footage of the world’s first*2 Mario Kart theme park ride, Mario Kart: Koopa’s Challenge as well as new images of the land, rides and the interior of Bowser’s Castle.”