Look, there’s a slim chance we’ll actually be riding anything at the soon-to-open Super Nintendo World, but we can still marvel at it from afar.
Set to open Feb 4. at Universal Studios Japan in Osaka, the brand new Mario-themed park – which has been several years in the making – has a shiny new trailer to go with the date announcement. You’ll spy several of the park’s areas including Bowser’s Castle, where you’ll find Mario Kart: Koopa’s Challenge, the world’s first interactive Mario Kart theme park ride.
IGN Japan took a walk around the park, and noted that each kart has four seats, an AR headset for each rider, and a steering wheel that allows you to “drive” through the Mushroom Kingdom, where you can “throw shells” at other racers, just like the game.
In the trailer, you’ll also spot areas described by Nintendo as an all-new type of “Asobi” play experience, where guests can jump and punch blocks and collect virtual coins, just like Mario. Guests will be able to buy Power-Up bands and sync them to their smartphones to track their score, battling other guests for the high score. And if you look in the top right of the last frame, you can see Yoshi’s Adventure, which is a super chill and cute family ride that lets you hop on Yoshi’s back to join Toad on a treasure hunting adventure.
Super Nintendo World was scheduled to open in the summer ahead of the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, but was delayed due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.