Many were excited back in 2015 when Universal signed a deal with Nintendo to bring the company’s characters and video game worlds to its theme parks all over the world.
And expectations were sky high when it was revealed that Super Nintendo World in Osaka would be opening its doors in time for the summer Olympics, which were to be held in Tokyo this year.
Sadly, though, the COVID-19 crisis struck the world this year and the Tokyo Olympics have been delayed, and apparently so had the opening of Super Nintendo World as was recently reported on Eurogamer.
This has now been officially confirmed by Universal Studios Japan in a statement in which the company says Super Nintendo World’s opening date will be announced this autumn.
“Regarding “SUPER NINTENDO WORLD,” which aims to open before the Tokyo Olympics, we are considering introducing it in line with the future increase in the number of customers and will announce the opening time around this fall”, said Universal.
But although this must be a disappointment to those looking to travel to Osaka this year and enjoy the sights and sounds of Universal’s new Super Nintendo World area, a new video which has emerged on Twitter (via Screen Rant) gives the best look at the park yet, which looks pretty much like one of Super Mario 3D levels to be frank… It’s clear this was not a simple licensing deal, but that Nintendo is heavily involved in the design of this new land at Universal as we covered back in 2017.
6/29
パークフロントホテルから見たSUPER NINTENDO WORLD
3/31にも見ましたがかなり出来上がっている
オブジェクトもいろいろ動いていたし点検も行っている様子
オープン延期にはなったけどエリアに入れる日まで気長に待ってます#USJ#USJファン #SUPERNINTENDOWORLD pic.twitter.com/GMPGxa48sr— 29Qu (@29QuP2) July 1, 2020
Regarding the attractions featured at Super Nintendo World, it appears two will be available at launch, one based on racing game Super Mario Kart, while the other will be themed around Nintendo character Yoshi.
And it seems Universal and Nintendo are taking things a bit further when it comes to visitor interaction, as guests will get to wear magnetic wristbands which can be used to interact with the park’s rides and increase your “score”, information which can later be downloaded to a Nintendo console.
This is something which could encourage visitors to return to Universal Japan in the future, as well as lead to more sales of Nintendo consoles and games, even though it doesn’t seem Nintendo needs much help in this regard, with its Switch console breaking sales records this year.
But while many people have been staying at home in 2020 playing with their Switch and other game consoles, many will still be looking forward to the opening of Super Nintendo World, something which hopefully won’t be delayed for too long.
Super Nintendo World (Universal Studios Japan / Nintendo)