Universal Studios Hollywood opened Super Nintendo World and it is a glorious geek kingdom

One glorious Hanukkah nearly 40 years ago, alongside the usual assortment of socks and chocolate coins, I received the holy grail of mid-1980s gifts: a Nintendo Entertainment System, complete with Super Mario Bros. As a veteran of failed systems from the Intellivision to the TI-99/4A, the NES wasn’t my first video game console, but it was the first to overcome its 8-bit limitations with appealing characters and utterly addictive gameplay, as the painfully callused “Nintendo thumb” I swiftly developed during that winter break demonstrated.

I’ve been chasing that formative feeling in electronic entertainment ever since, and a few of Nintendo’s subsequent products have inspired similarly self-destructive obsession over the decades: going blind playing Tetris on my original GameBoy’s grey-green screen, or bruising knuckles and breaking knickknacks while waggling my Wii remote. But no video game has ever induced me to awaken at dawn and wait for hours in the freezing cold in exchange for mere minutes of gameplay, and then eagerly do it all again the next day … until I entered the larger-than-life arcade that is Universal Studios Hollywood’s new Super Nintendo World.

Ever since the world’s first Nintendo-based theme park land opened at Universal Studios Japan during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, American theme park and video game fans have been frothing to experience the acclaimed expansion firsthand. And although the ongoing construction of a Super Nintendo World at Universal Orlando’s upcoming Epic Universe park was the industry’s “worst kept secret” until officially confirmed by Mark Woodbury (chairman of the newly renamed Universal Destinations & Experiences) at last month’s long-anticipated grand opening of California’s Mushroom Kingdom, I just couldn’t wait until 2025 to punch some bricks.

So, thanks to the publishers of my Unofficial Guide travel books, I hopped a cheap-yet- comfortable direct flight to the other Orange County aboard the brand-new Breeze Airways, bought a $40 Luigi-branded Power Up band, and headed through the iconic green warp pipe saying, “Let’s a-go!”

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After emerging from the foyer of Princess Peach’s castle into the main courtyard of Super Nintendo World, my first in-person glimpse of the land made me giggle with delight. Like Universal’s Wizarding Worlds of Harry Potter and Disney’s Star Wars Galaxy’s Edge before it, SNW largely isolates guests from the outside world, immersing them in the environment of a classic Mario game. But it outdoes those antecedents through overwhelming kinetics. While Hogwarts Castle and the Millennium Falcon are scenic but static, every sightline surrounding Mount Beanpole is overstuffed with marching Koopas, waddling Goombas and snapping Piranha Plants.

Nintendo aficionados could easily spend hours simply wandering around the area identifying easter eggs, but most visitors will instead dash for Mario Kart: Bowser’s Challenge, the land’s only ride. This next-generation interactive dark ride combines a traditional tracked vehicle and physical sets with advanced augmented reality visors, which project 3D “holograms” of digital friends and foes without blocking out the real world. Guests turn the steering wheels of their four-seat cars in sync with floating arrows and aim shells at rivals by turning their heads; I found pursuing the 100 coins needed to defeat Team Bowser much more engaging than any of Disney’s shooting rides.

Although it has been subject to online com- plaints about its slowness and accessibility issues, I felt Mario Kart truly captured the franchise’s spirit without excluding thrill-averse families, and it features some of the more accommodating seats in Universal’s admittedly size-unfriendly repertoire. One issue that can’t be dismissed (at least in the short term) is the ride’s long waits and frequent downtimes, especially during the upcharge early entry hour. It’s fortunate for the guests spending hours in line that Mario Kart’s elaborate queue through King Bowser’s castle is full of clever

details, but the first ride-through is so over- stimulating that you’ll want multiple laps to improve your score. (Hot tip: Seeking out the single-rider entrance skips you past the queue and preshow entertainment, and allowed me to ride almost a dozen times over two days.)

Even if you were to visit Super Nintendo World and never get to ride Mario Kart, it could still be worth your while as long as you purchased that aforementioned Power-Up band, which is basically a battery-free Amiibo on a slap bracelet. It pairs with Universal’s smartphone app, and it’s required for track- ing scores in both Mario Kart and the many other interactive activities around the land. Games range from simply punching the soft foam undersides of the land’s signature blocks or searching through binoculars for hidden characters, to physical challenges involving slapping alarm clocks, spinning cranks and slapping screens. Only Power-Up purchasers who collect enough virtual keys by completing challenges are allowed inside Bowser Jr.’s lair for a motion-tracking “boss battle” that’s the most fun aerobic workout I’ve had in ages.

The biggest problem with Super Nintendo World is that there’s just not enough of it. Squeezed into the back corner of the lower lot, it creates such a claustrophobic bottleneck that virtual return times are being used to manage the mobs. That’s a problem Orlando’s version will hopefully solve, with more space (based on Japan’s larger footprint), more rides (a family-friendly Yoshi ride and a Donkey Kong coaster) and more eateries (Hollywood’s lone Toadstool Cafe is adorbs but underbuilt).

Epic Universe will also, I hope, avoid some cosmetic flaws in California (like obvious seams in the backdrops and exposed animatronic supports) that weren’t seen in Japan. Until it opens in Orlando, though, I’ve still got a couple of years to improve on my measly 6,459 Coins. Check out some pictures from my trip below.