Super Nintendo World has announced it will be coming to Universal Park Hollywood in 2023. The original Japanese iteration of the theme park has received a lot of praise from families and critics alike, lighting the way for the U.S. addition.
The new wing of California’s Universal Studios theme park will throw guests into the world of Mario and his friends — Luigi, Princess Peach, and Yoshi, to name a few. These characters have been a beloved staple of the Nintendo world and its fans for well over four decades.
Super Nintendo World will boast lots of colors, along with themed “shopping and dining [to] enhance the entire experience.” Designers opted for the nostalgic 2D look when it came to designing the aesthetics of the park.
The first Super Nintendo World originally opened as an extension of Universal Studios in Japan in the spring of 2021. The U.S.’s new theme park addition will offer a host of similar attractions, including 3D and augmented reality (AR) rides specific to Nintendo games and characters, like Yoshi’s Adventure Ride and Mario Kart: Koopa’s Challenge.
The Mario Kart ride in Japan’s version of the park features headsets for augmented reality Mario Kart.
Universal Creative SVP Thierry Coup said, “We thought AR would be the perfect technology for this. You want to be able to go through some of the items in Mario Kart; you want to collect things; you want to see the characters fly. Certain things you cannot do with stereo, 3D, or any other kind of projection. It had to be AR.”
If the new park is like the original, much of the park will be adaptable for future developments.
“It has to be modular because augmented reality isn’t going to last as long as most of our 15- to 20-year ride vehicle experiences,” said Tom Geraghty, Universal Creative’s director of technology. “We have plans to iterate the tech to support the creative [vision] that we may change, so that it may be like that.”
This new extension to Universal Studios hopes to marry old and new gaming technologies to bring the best of both worlds to Hollywood and appeal to Nintendo lovers everywhere.