Universal Studios is no stranger to recreating some of the most mesmerizing worlds amongst today's media. With park titles such as The Wizarding World of Harry Potter and Marvel Superhero Island, it was only fitting for Universal Studio's Chairman and CEO (Tom Williams) to announce the opening of another land dedicated to a beloved family franchise; Super Nintendo World!
While no North American timeline has been announced, the newest installment is set to launch in Tokyo, Japan as early as Spring 2020.-Possibly to correlate with Tokyo's 2020 Summer Olympics (what a way to draw in a crowd!)- But rest assured, Super Nintendo World has plans to stake land in all Universal Studio Parks around the world (Excluding Beijing).
The Tokyo opening will kick start with two rides: Mario Kart and an omnimover-style, Yoshi's Adventures. The World will also incorporate interactive features through the use of magnetic bracelets, dawning the Mario icon. This feature has technically yet to be announced, but some general information on the mechanics was shared. The bracelets will interact with the World's environment, which will be spread out across three levels! From there, they will keep track of scores earned by the guests, through the interactions around the World and also on the rides. The scores will then link to consoles back at home, which begs the question: Will we be seeing a new Super Nintendo World App, or even game on the Switch, to correlate with the Park's newest attraction?
It is disappointing that we will not be seeing a Super Nintendo World at either Universal Orlando Resort or Universal Studios Hollywood all that soon, (The construction is a five to six-year process) but the Park's track record with recreating these sort of immersive worlds is rock solid. The interactive features and console linking will be a huge plus for gamers and who hasn't dreamed of a real-life Mario Kart? While it was only fitting for the Nintendo attraction to launch in its own backyard, the rest of the world will be eagerly awaiting its arrival to our own!