Who doesn’t love Super Mario? Every gamer would at least once in a lifetime have played the classic game. When the news came Nintendo’s popular game series were coming out of the virtual world, then the Mario admirers were overwhelmed.
Now after months of pandemic delays Universal Studios Japan is opening the Mario-themed park. The attraction which is worth $550 million is a major leap for games maker Nintendo as this is its first theme park.
The attraction is currently part of the existing Universal Studios Japan amusement park in the western city of Osaka, which also includes other franchises such as ‘Minions’ and ‘Jurassic Park’.
“We perfectly recreated the world of the game. You’ll find life-sized piranha plants and Bowser, and you’ll see what it is like to be Mario. It took almost a year longer than we had expected to open this place, and we are really glad,” said Ayumu Yamamoto, USJ’s marketing communication manager.
The Super Nintendo World
The Super Nintendo World was originally expected to draw huge crowds last year ahead of the Tokyo 2020 Olympics, which was also postponed due to the pandemic. Then the launch was pushed back to February, later delayed again as Japan’s government declared a state of emergency in early 2021.
The bright and block-like surroundings of the park, which is inspired by the classic Super Mario games, itself gives a spectacular moment for the visitors. Then, entering through a giant warp pipe, visitors to ‘Super Nintendo World’, which is a real-world version of games creator Shigeru Miyamoto’s Mushroom Kingdom, are met with chomping piranha plants, punchable coin blocks and a flag-topped Mount Beanpole.
Throughout the park music from the classic Mario games will be played and a smartphone-linked wristband enables visitors to collect virtual coins by punching blocks, just like the Italian plumber in the game.
Augmented reality goggles attached to a plastic red visor are used in the Mario Kart ride, one of the most promising features of the park that assures to bring the racing game to life. The ride follows a track around the foreboding castle of Mario’s enemy Bowser, an evil turtle, but each seat has a steering wheel with which the players can collect and shoot items at opponents.
The zone also offers a ride based on the cute green dinosaur Yoshi, a Peach’s castle, Mario-themed restaurants and life-size characters from the Mushroom Kingdom.
The history of Super Mario
The first Super Mario Bros game came out in 1985 for Nintendo’s NES console. The platform game, in which Mario runs and jumps past obstacles to collect coins and save Princess Peach from the evil Koopa turtles, was based on the Mario Bros arcade game released earlier.
Shigeru Miyamoto, the creator of Super Mario Bros, during his tour of the park, stated that “At last, it’s complete! It makes a big impression, seeing the park in real life. There are smaller activities like the coin block, as well as bigger ones, if you manage to get three keys from various activities, you can take on the final activity, a battle with Bowser Jr.”
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