Shigeru Miyamoto Takes a Video Tour of the Super Nintendo World Theme Park
Last month, we reported that Universal Studios Japan is preparing to open a Super Nintendo World themed area at Osaka Amusement Park. It promises visitors an immersion in a life-size video game. Mario creator Shigeru Miyamoto now took a tour of the area as part of the latest Nintendo Direct broadcast.
He showed the various attractions of the Mushroom Kingdom embodied in reality and the Power Up Band wearable on the wrist, which helps to interact with the environment and turn everything into an interactive video game. Characters from different Mario games, music and key places like Princess Peach’s castle are everywhere.
In the park, which was created to coincide with the 35th anniversary of the first Super Mario Bros. for the NES, lots of activities, entertainment, mini-puzzles and themed pavilions with exclusive items like toys and t-shirts. There are also cafes with food in the form of various mushroom dishes (by the way, there are also mushroom desserts there).
Unfortunately, not everything was shown in this video tour. For example, the roller coaster in Mario Kart, which was described earlier, is not demonstrated. Located inside Bowser’s Castle, they use augmented reality and projection mapping technologies, and visitors are encouraged to wear AR headsets in the shape of a Mario cap.
In the future, similar parks are planned to be launched also in the United States: in Los Angeles and Orlando. The opening of the Super Nintendo World comes in a challenging environment, with the amusement park industry hit hard by COVID-19. For example, last month Walt Disney announced plans to lay off 32,000 employees, most of them from this area.
