Nintendo Coming to Universal Parks

[anihilnation]

What I find most fascinating about the Nintendo IP is that I think it's the first time that Universal has an IP that will have passed down a generation. There will be a lot of people in their late 20s/early 30s who grew up with these games and they will now have young kids who will have grown up with them also.

I think I'm of a certain age now that I'm starting to appreciate the bonding experience that rides like this can have and Disney have dominated this with Mickey Mouse and the nostalgia that many people will have when their parents took them to Disneyland/world when they were young and that they can now recreate that feeling with their own kids.

And now you've added this into the mix.

Definitely, my daughter is 11, I got her into video games through retro stuff. An 11 year old getting the vibe of retro gaming, that is cool.

 

[anihilnation]

And a game like Mario Kart, real generation-gap-bridging fun!

 

[captainmoch]

Mario is one of the few characters that comes legitimately close to Mickey Mouse in popularity, it makes sense that he gets something this huge. He's Universal's first character to be that huge in popularity. Eat your heart out, Woody Woodpecker.

 

[Scott W.]

And a game like Mario Kart, real generation-gap-bridging fun!

The potential for a Mario Kart game is so huge. I'd really love to see a competitive element to it with single or double rider karts but I don't know how that would even be possible technology wise and without having a terrible capacity per hour.

 

[boomerthom]

Goodness, I have received confirmation. I have such a good analogy for it, but I am forced to hold off. I cannot imagine liking the franchise so much that they would throw the everything including the kitchen sink at it as they are.

I've seen an unhealthy amount of people in the parks wearing Zelda shirts - Nintendo is a way of life for some people. I think Universal over delivering for them is great, since those hardcore fans are going to be the ones evangelizing the parks to their friends.

 

[IAmFloridaBorn]

Ever think Nintendo will make a movie involving it's characters at some point? Is't EVERY universal attraction about t TV series or Movie? UOR that is. Except Rip Ride and what was Dueling Dragons and Flying Unicorn.

 

[martymcflyy85]

Me and my wife grew up on Nintendo and our kids also grew up on Nintendo. So we are obviously very excited.

 

[AlexanderMBush]

With Nintendo, it is a gold mine of ideas and possibilitys. No matter what; this is going to be something extremely special for a lot of people, not just the Theme park community but in pop culture. I can't wait to hear more out of it.

But I have a quick question to any insider that could answer..if you were to say a one out of 100 chance, what do you think of the odds for Kenta Nagata to help with the making of the Mario Kart Ride Soundtrack? I mean more on the score of the ride, from start to finish; much like how Danny Elfman had a involvement on Mystic Manor.

 

[chocotaco]

Ever think Nintendo will make a movie involving it's characters at some point? Is't EVERY universal attraction about t TV series or Movie? UOR that is. Except Rip Ride and what was Dueling Dragons and Flying Unicorn.

Yes, I think they will eventually.
Back from June (article came out in August):

“We’ve had, over the years, a number of people who have come to us and said ‘Why don’t we make a movie together—or we make a movie and you make a game and we’ll release them at the same time?’,” Miyamoto told Fortune at this year’s E3. “Because games and movies seem like similar mediums, people’s natural expectation is we want to take our games and turn them into movies. … I’ve always felt video games, being an interactive medium, and movies, being a passive medium, mean the two are quite different.”

Still, he says, as times change and the company looks to broaden its focus, Nintendo is open to discussions.

“As we look more broadly at what is Nintendo’s role as an entertainment company, we’re starting to think more and more about how movies can fit in with that—and we’ll potentially be looking at things like movies in the future,” said Miyamoto.
Shigeru Miyamoto talks Nintendo's return to the movie world - Fortune

 

[JungleSkip]

In reality, it means nothing, but Woodbury said to expect to hear more about Nintendo in the "near future" today at IAAPA

 

[Scott W.]

Ever think Nintendo will make a movie involving it's characters at some point? Is't EVERY universal attraction about t TV series or Movie? UOR that is. Except Rip Ride and what was Dueling Dragons and Flying Unicorn.

They did.

 

[JungleSkip]

They did.

We all agreed that never happened.

:ban:

 

[Scott W.]

We all agreed that never happened.

:ban:

As a kid, I enjoyed it. Reading about the production in Wikipedia is fascinating. Tom Hanks was in the running to play Mario at one point.

 

[Teebin]

Here is the old picture I created of the massive gringotts building (white) superimposed in kidzone. Didn't know I still had it on photobucket.

Is there a way to see the date you uploaded a picture on photobucket?

 

[WAJAS]

Yellow = future NintendoLand area (Animal Actors stage too?)
Black = Spongebob Storepants building
Red = outline of rerouted E.T. Adventure entrance path
Blue = edge of NintendoLand where entrance will be (maybe a bit closer to the Spongebob Storepants building)

Just re-posting this as it seems to have become relevant again. Just include AA in the yellow high area.

 

[Teebin]

What is the maximum height on parade floats? I would assume it is around 20' but I could be way off.

 

[Scott W.]

Here is the old picture I created of the massive gringotts building (white) superimposed in kidzone. Didn't know I still had it on photobucket.

Is there a way to see the date you uploaded a picture on photobucket?

I've had a good look about but can't find anything that works on a computer.

If you have the app for your phone. There is an info button on each photo and it shows when the picture was taken, I'm not sure if it works with something created in photoshop or whatever but it might be worth a shot if you're really keen to find out.

 

[cameronw99]

I've seen an unhealthy amount of people in the parks wearing Zelda shirts - Nintendo is a way of life for some people. I think Universal over delivering for them is great, since those hardcore fans are going to be the ones evangelizing the parks to their friends.

I played Zelda when i was in the 3rd grade on N64. And only one other Zelda game since then. I'm 24 now and I still consider it the best game I've ever played. Even replayed it through the years. I think its a timeless IP. This addition to the park will be equivalent to Hp I think

 

[AlexanderMBush]

If its been said that we may see four experiences, it could go in this way of possiblilitys.



With the amount of space being used for Nintendo, it could make sense that they want to thematically immerse you into the worlds that they're displaying. And if I was to make a list,

~Red: Donkey Kong family coaster
~Orange: Retail/Dining
~Blue: Mariokart
~Yellow: Yoshi or Captain Toad

It makes sense if they're planning on going with the Mario brand as you can create a mushroom world featuring Princess Peaches castle at the top right, a desert world with Captain Toad, a Jungle realm with Donkey Kong and with the orange, the mushroom village where you can taste food from the Mario series and shop for exclusive Nintendo merchandise.

 

[Scott W.]

If its been said that we may see four experiences, it could go in this way of possiblilitys.

View attachment 1207

With the amount of space being used for Nintendo, it could make sense that they want to thematically immerse you into the worlds that they're displaying. And if I was to make a list,

~Red: Donkey Kong family coaster
~Orange: Retail/Dining
~Blue: Mariokart
~Yellow: Yoshi or Captain Toad

It makes sense if they're planning on going with the Mario brand as you can create a mushroom world featuring Princess Peaches castle at the top right, a desert world with Captain Toad, a Jungle realm with Donkey Kong and with the orange, the mushroom village where you can taste food from the Mario series and shop for exclusive Nintendo merchandise.

Do you think that would be a rebranding of the Woody Woodpecker coaster?