Universal Studios Hollywood to open Super Nintendo World next year

Super Mario World
Opening announcement of Super Mario World (© Universal Studios Hollywood on Twitter)

Universal Studios Hollywood (California, U.S.A.) has announced the opening of Super Nintendo World. The park announced on Twitter that the new themed area, that will contain the interactive dark ride Mario Kart: Bowser’s Challenge, will open in early 2023.

Super Nintendo World is a collaboration between Universal Theme Parks and the Japanese Nintendo Company, mostly known for its video games. The themed zone will be similar to the zone with the same name that opened in Universal Studios Japan in March 2021.

Hollywood’s Super Nintendo World will feature an interactive dark ride, called Mario Kart: Bowser’s Challenge, as its main attraction. The zone in Japan contains a similar dark ride, called Mario Kart: Koopa’s Challenge. The ride is based on the Mario Kart-video game series and features augmented reality for which it won the Thea Award for “Outstanding Achievement – Technical Innovation”. Bowser is the main antagonist of the Mario franchise. The character is known as Koopa in Japan, hence the name change between these two rides.

The opening of Super Nintendo World in early 2023, falls roughly together with the premiere of a new Super Mario Bros. movie (April, 2023). The zone in Japan also contains an outdoor ride called Yoshi’s Adventure. It has not been confirmed if this ride will also be present at Super Nintendo World in Hollywood.

Mario Kart
Mario Kart: Koopa’s Challenge (© Universal Studios Japan)