Theme park goers will finally be able to visit the highly anticipated Super Nintendo World area at Universal Studios Japan in Osaka starting on March 18th, 2021.

Super Nintendo World is a fully Nintendo-themed section of the Universal Studios Japan theme park. The new park area was announced in December in a dedicated Nintendo Direct and was originally slated to open on February 4th, 2021.

Since the initial announcement of the project, Nintendo delayed the park several times, but now park visitors in Japan only have to wait for a little over a week before they can see the new land.

What we know about Nintendo World theme park

While Nintendo has a wealth of properties they could draw from, Super Nintendo World focuses entirely on the world of Mario. The land is experience and spectacle-driven. There are multiple rides to enjoy, but the design of the park is primarily about discovering the world of Mario and participating in various Mario-themed activities.

Park visitors will enter the land through a life-size warp pipe, complete with classic Mario warp pipe sound effects. The pipe leads to the lobby of Peach’s castle, a site that many will recognize as coming directly from the castle featured in Mario 64.

Nintendo plays iconic Mario tunes in Super Nintendo World, with different Mario tunes playing at various attractions around the park.

Nintendo drew inspiration from classic Disney park entertainment designs by including mascot versions of various characters that wander around the park greeting guests. There are confirmed mascot versions of:

• Mario
• Luigi
• Peach
• Toad

The exterior area is filled with incredible animatronic renderings of various scenes and characters from Mario games. There are spinning coins, stacked goombas, infinitely bouncing koopa shells, and even a gigantic, interactive piranha plant. When all the animatronics combine with the forced perspective of the production design, Super Nintendo World really sells the illusion that you are inside the world of Mario.

Many activities inside the park are activated using wearable Power-Up bands. With these bands, you will be able to search for secrets hidden around the park and activate various activities and animatronic displays scattered around the area. 

You will be able to choose from six different styles of Power-Up Bands, including:

• Mario Power-Up Band
• Luigi Power-Up Band
• Peach Power-Up Band
• Daisy Power-Up Band
• Toad Power-Up Band
• Yoshi Power-Up Band

Super Nintendo World features a number of locations of interest for visitors to visit, many of which have been shown in various walkthrough videos. Some of the attractions that have been spotted in videos include:

• Yoshi’s Adventure (ride)
• Mario's Motors (ride)
• 1Up Factory (gift shop)
• Yoshi’s Snack Island (snack bar)
• Kinopio's Cafe (restaurant)
• Bowser’s Castle (maze attraction)
• Peach's Castle (opening lobby)

While the news of the park's imminent opening is exciting for Japanese fans, it will be difficult for many Nintendo fans who don't live in Japan to visit the park after it opens, due to the global pandemic. Luckily Nintendo announced plans to open a number of Super Nintendo Worlds, with other versions set to come to Orlando and L.A. in the future, so stay tuned.