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'Super Nintendo World' Commercial: Nintendo Theme Park Will Feature Mario Kart Ride

super nintendo world
By Peter Sciretta

Universal Studios Japan held a special event to announce the first official details about their upcoming Nintendo theme park land, Super Nintendo World. Keep on reading to learn the details that were revealed about the land's signature ride and watch the first commercial, which gives us a peek at the new land.

Universal and Nintendo executives appeared on a stage that was a recreation of Mario's Mushroom Kingdom to announce the first details of the new themed land. After a lot of speculation (and leaked ride system plans), they confirmed that Super Nintendo World's signature ride would be based on the popular video game Mario Kart, which pits classic Super Mario Bros. characters against each other in go-kart races.

The ride adaptation is said to have the "world's most advanced tech" powering it, yet they didn't reveal much more at the event. Previously patent documents showed a ride vehicle built for two riders that is constructed to simulate a "drifting" effect. One rider would have control over the steering and speed of the vehicle while the other rider could provide the vehicle with various boosts and hinder other vehicles. Another patent for a "boom coaster" showed a ride vehicle that appears to be traveling along a track but is actually operated by a mechanical arm, allowing it to "leap" over obstructions, simulating death-defying aerial maneuvers over holes in the tracks like those mine cart from Donkey Kong Country (a video game property that has yet to be confirmed for the park).

Super Nintendo World Commercial

Universal Studios Japan released a Super Nintendo World commercial, which looks more like a concept video showing a 3D CG rendering of the upcoming theme park land, with Mario surprising a few composited live-action tourists. You can watch that video above. The locations in this concept video seem to confirm a couple of aspects of the upcoming land:

  • The entrance appears to be a giant green warp pipe, which transports guests into Super Nintendo World. This is the perfect transition point to enter of leave this land.
  • A central plaza which will probably serve as a meet-n-greet area for classic Nintendo characters (such as Mario, Princess Peach, Toadstool and Donkey Kong).
  • The area features Peach's and Bowser's castles, which will probably serve as entrances to some rides or eateries.
  • A tall Super Mario Bro.s landscape with a flagpole on top of it, which will likely act as a photo point with animatronic Yoshis.
  • Giant Piranha Plants, which may be translated in real life using audio-animatronics.
  • We can't tell which of these buildings is for the signature Mario Cart Ride, but since the video game features races in various worlds based on the popular video game series, the attraction exterior may take on the location of the race.
  • The theme park land will be two levels with attractions, shops, and restaurants.
  • It's unclear what else the world will hold, but the area is being described as "interactive," so probably expect some kind of technology like the interactive wands at Harry Potter.

    • Super Nintendo World is being built in part of the park's parking lot. You can see an early look at the start of construction in the below tweet:

    Universal is reportedly dedicating 40 billion yen (or around $352 million) to the project, which is $87 million more than they spent on The Wizarding World of Harry Potter. Super Nintendo World is expected to arrive in Osaka's Universal Studios Japan by 2020, before the Olympic games, and sometime after that at both Universal Studios Florida and Universal Studios Hollywood.

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