Carried by umbrellas, bomb after bomb floated toward my shadow on a giant screen. I punched the air, allowing my shadow to swat the bombs away until one found its mark – right on my head.
My shadow shrunk to almost nothing, and I was sure it was game over. Luckily a mysterious box appeared. I jumped up to break it open, revealing a flower that floated down to my shadow and gave me the power to throw flames.
Pew, pew, pew, pew. The flames I threw blew up bad guys and their bombs. I had won back the golden mushroom that had been stolen from Princess Peach.
The game, Bowser Jr. Boss Battle, was the end of my journey at Super Nintendo World at Universal Studios Hollywood. Along with other reporters, I got to preview the immersive world at the end of December, nearly two months before its public opening on Feb. 17.
It’s the closest I’ll probably ever come to actually feeling like a video game character.
What does Super Nintendo World offer?
When the land opens, visitors will take a giant escalator and pass Jurassic Park, The Mummy and Transformers. Greeting them will be a green pipe that takes them Princess Peach’s Castle, where they will get their mission to recover her golden mushroom.
From there, they enter the 360-degree world of Mushroom Kingdom. They must complete four tasks to obtain four keys that will allow them to play Boss Battle.
The interactive games are physical. In Sleeping Piranha, guests must run to turn off a series of alarm clocks or risk getting eaten and failing to get a key. In Goomba Gimme, they must spin a hand crank to knock the angry-looking mushroom off his perch. In another, they must hit a series of boxes on a screen to change them from yellow to blue before the clock runs out.
How physical are the games on Super Nintendo World?
One woman sampling the games before the public opening was positively winded after the jumping and punching in Boss Battle. Another couldn’t believe how anyone could possibly turn all the boxes blue before time ran out.
To get all four keys, many users will need to play the games multiple times. But the challenge is part of the fun.
“The real objective behind all this is actually to immerse them into a game,” Jon Corfino, vice president of Universal Creative, said as he guided tours of Super Nintendo World in late December.
At most other Universal attractions, visitors are swept away into the land of movies. But with Super Nintendo World, “it’s actually putting you in the full-blown game experience.”
“There’s really nowhere else you can go here that you’re not fully surrounded by it,” he said of the Mushroom Kingdom. “You can’t see any other part of the park … and everything is connected to each other. So no matter what you do, you’re tracking your score, you’re engaging with all the characters.”
How do you win the games?
Helping keep track of the score are Power-Up Bands, large $40 wristbands that will pair with Universal Studios Hollywood’s app. The take-home bands will also keep track of the keys that have been won and will pair up with devices at home.
Other interactive aspects of the Nintendo World include real-life gameplay like punching question mark blocks to collect digital coins and interactive binoculars using augmented reality.
The new experience at Universal comes almost two years after Super Nintendo World opened in Osaka, Japan. Universal also has plans to open Nintendo lands at its parks in Florida and Singapore.
Can you play Mario Kart at Super Nintendo World?
Just like Japan’s Nintendo land, California’s culminates with an ultra-sophisticated Mario Kart ride, which “seamlessly fuses augmented reality with projection mapping technology and actual set pieces along a moving ride track,” according to Universal.
Inside Bowser’s Castle, guests will get on tricked-out vehicles and race alongside Mario and Peach and against an opposing team on the dual-track course. Each rider in the four-person vehicles has a steering wheel and controller buttons to throw virtual shells in the race for the Golden Cup. Everyone will wear head-mounted augmented reality goggles.
Will there be food at Super Nintendo World?
Super Nintendo World will include a retail store, the 1-UP Factory, and a sit-down restaurant called the Toadstool Cafe, where menu items will include Super Mushroom Soup, Piranha Plant Caprese, Mario Bacon Cheeseburgers, Luigi Pesto Chicken Burgers and Princess Peach Cupcakes.
How much are tickets to Super Nintendo World?
Super Nintendo World will be included with admission to Universal Studios Hollywood. One-day tickets start at $109.
When does Super Nintendo World open?
Super Nintendo World is expected to open on Feb. 17.
In late December, crews were still pouring cement, installing speakers and constructing much of the land.
“We’re working as hard as we can,” Corfino said. “The land looks great, but we’re still going to be working and making sure everything is perfect for opening.”
