After you’ve mastered the hardest levels on the classic game franchise “Mario Kart,” which fans generally believe to be the Rainbow Road from “Mario Kart Wii” and Bowser's Castle from “Mario Kart 8,” some might naturally want to take things to the next level with their favorite video game plumber.
The “Mario Kart” franchise finds long-time standby characters from Nintendo’s “Super Mario” universe such as Mario, his plumber brother Luigi, Princess Peach, and the villainous Bowser racing each other around various fantastical worlds. New games in this series are released at fairly regular intervals, but what if there were something even bigger?
Nintendo's (NTDOF) Super Nintendo World opened in Comcast's (CMCSA) Universal Studios Japan last year, and now more details have been revealed about the first United States-based version, which will open next year at Universal Studios Hollywood.
And the good news for fans in North America is that next year, they’ll have a chance to race around in a real world version of “Mario Kart,” amongst other pleasures.
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Super Nintendo World Is Heading To The United States
Ever since Universal Studios added The Wizarding World of Harry Potter to Orlando’s Islands of Adventure in 2010, Disney (DIS) and Universal have been in a bit of a theme park arm’s race.
Disney responded by adding more areas based around well-known pop culture franchises, such as Star Wars: Galaxy's Edge in the Orlando and California locations, World of Avatar (based on the James Cameron film) at Animal Kingdom in Orlando, Toy Story Land at Hollywood Studios in Florida.
Universal wasn’t going to take this aggression lying down, and it began licensing even more intellectual property for themed areas, tapping the “How to Train Your Dragon'' franchise for a limited time virtual reality experience.
In 2015, it struck a deal with Nintendo to create rides and areas based around the “Super Mario Bros.” games, its best known property.
Following a covid-related delay, Super Nintendo World opened as a themed area in Universal Studios Japan last year. It featured two rides, one based on the “Mario Kart Koopa’s Challenge,” and another one based on the game “Yoshi’s Adventure,” which highlights Mario’s pet dinosaur.
A version of Super Nintendo World is set to arrive at some point at Universal’s Epic Universe in Orlando, and now some further information about the Universal Studios Hollywood edition has been revealed.
Mario Is the Star of Super Nintendo World
The star attraction of Super Nintendo World is set to be the ride “Mario Kart: Bowser's Challenge,” as revealed by Theme Park Tourist.
Guests will be outfitted with special goggles which will allow them to enjoy the Augmented Reality features of the ride, which will also feature projection mapping and physical, moving set pieces that will allow riders to collect coins, throw turtle shells and compete to win the Golden Cup.
The ride will take place in a replication of the evil Bowser’s villainous Castle. As noted by Theme Park Tourist, in Japan, the queue for the game features details from throughout Mario games, which should delight long-time fans as they wait in line.
Additionally, In Japan guests have the option to use interactive power-up band wearable devices, which will allow them to save scores and see ride data, and also makes certain characters come to life with sounds and movement, so guests can fight villains as part of a larger, area-wide game. The bands work in a fashion similar to the interactive wands at the “Wizarding World of Harry Potter.”
Though the use of bands have not been officially confirmed for the Universal Studios Hollywood edition, Theme Park Tourist expects that will be the case, and notes that in Japan character bands are available for Mario, Luigi, Princess Peach, Princess Daisy, Toad, and Yoshi.
