Super Nintendo World (Osaka)

[Legacy]

Watching the non-AR version, I legit thought the lava Bowser projection was an animatronic. And that was after I knew it was a projection.

That’s a good problem to have.

 

[tanneradam90]

[Q

 

[shiekra38]

Let's all recognize its true inspiration!

View attachment 14021

The obsession for this ride by some folks is something I don't get...but I also don't hate

As far as the Yoshi ride, I think it's great, there's just a few things I would change in the showscene

But those are very small nitpicks

 

[SpatulaShack]

I'm confused. Wasn't there a patent showing how transitions and a sense of speed would be created on Mario Kart despite the vehicles technically moving slowly? Was that just thrown in the garbage and replaced with a short section of projection mapping at the end? So we move at a crawl pace and then randomly go fast at the end of the ride? It looks spectacular but it is puzzling. Also has anyone mentioned whether this is truly a replica of the Cat in the Hat / Men in Black ride system with AR goggles? It truly looks identical which is strange considering the original location picked for the US version was next door to Men in Black.

 

[shiekra38]

I'm confused. Wasn't there a patent showing how transitions and a sense of speed would be created on Mario Kart despite the vehicles technically moving slowly? Was that just thrown in the garbage and replaced with a short section of projection mapping at the end? So we move at a crawl pace and then randomly go fast at the end of the ride? It looks spectacular but it is puzzling. Also has anyone mentioned whether this is truly a replica of the Cat in the Hat / Men in Black ride system with AR goggles? It truly looks identical which is strange considering the original location picked for the US version was next door to Men in Black.

It seems the fast paced simulation was abandoned intentionally somewhere in the process in favor of a more gentle all-ages ride

Minus the ending which shows that the simulated speed is entirely possible

 

[JungleSkip]

Also, just because something is patented doesn't mean it's ever actually going to be used.

 

[Parkscope Joe]

Also, just because something is patented doesn't mean it's ever actually going to be used.

Or that they figured out *how* to do it. This reminds me of when people were going over Apple patents in the early 2000s trying to predict their every move. In the end hindsight is the only way to understand.

 

[Disneyson1]

I think it’s really interesting that MK is a higher height requirement than Cat in the Hat. I am one of the people that think that Cat REALLY suffered when they took out much of the spinning, especially in the sequences after Thing 1 and Thing 2. I understand the myriad reasons it was done, but the ride really does suffer, as the lack of spinning really affects the level of chaos the attraction is trying to evoke, and you are able to see a lot of things that you probably shouldn’t be seeing.

Onto MK, I wonder if anyone here agrees with me that Universal probably realized this problem and designed the ride in the best way possible to finally design a true children’s attraction. I’ve heard a lot of arguments from the Universal fan community that amount to “if you wanted a slow ride, go to Magic Kingdom.” In fact, I believe this has essentially been the marketing push of the “Universal Difference” for so many years, that even their slow moving rides were about bloody shark attacks and it’s most heartwarming is built around a sequence where you evade the police. I think this is a major reason why some in the theme park community, like me, are shocked to see the speed of this ride. Even a ride about Cat in the Hat used to whip grandma around, and your ride vehicle was a couch, not a go-kart. It’s interesting to see the narrative of the fan community change due to this attraction, not only admitting that there is a lack of slow moving dark rides but calling people out for wanting a ride that Universal would have absolutely made ten years ago. I don’t think this is a bad thing, per se - I think Universal DOES need these less scary attractions. I think I also need to ride it before judging how it stacks up in terms of speed and frantic-ness.

If you are a person that wishes the spinning was back on Cat in the Hat, yet will defend Mario Kart even for it’s lack of speed aspects, are you contrarian? I am still trying to decide how I feel about it myself, but all I know is that Cat was a superior ride (for me) before. I need to ride the attraction before I can make a call on MK, but I think I might have a similar feeling for me, a 26 year old that grew up with Universal Studios being “the fast park”.

As for the characters...

I think that you can justify Waluigi and Wario not being there because they seem to have their own alternate dimension to tend to (anyone else play WarioWare?) and Universal probably didn’t want to invite characters that would likely fart on you in a M&G. Rosalina doesn’t have time to be in the Mushroom Kingdom, she’s far too busy with the Lumas and actually taking care of her kingdom, which, you know, Daisy doesn’t because she’s the worst.

There, the story we all needed to justify it.

 

[Alicia]

The patents we discussed for the land’s interactive elements, power up bands, and ar binoculars were used exactly as seen!

The patents we talked about for Mario Kart seemed to have been for the early version of the ride, and other than the AR related ones (which there were a lot,) the rest weren’t utilized.

Honestly I’m happy with the direction they went in, a lot of the early one looked like LED tunnels, projection walls, and a lot of plain brick walls between. Much rather have fleshed out scenes with interacted media like the Twisted Mansion scene.

 

[Brer Oswald]

As for the characters...

I think that you can justify Waluigi and Wario not being there because they seem to have their own alternate dimension to tend to (anyone else play WarioWare?) and Universal probably didn’t want to invite characters that would likely fart on you in a M&G. Rosalina doesn’t have time to be in the Mushroom Kingdom, she’s far too busy with the Lumas and actually taking care of her kingdom, which, you know, Daisy doesn’t because she’s the worst.

There, the story we all needed to justify it.

A few things. Wario only does that in Super Smash Bros. His Smash personality is a bizarro version of his character. Bowser is similar. He’s much more like Godzilla in those games. He doesn’t have a voice nor a personality. Donkey Kong sounds like an actual gorilla. Smash Bros was really inaccurate with Nintendo Character portrayals up until the Wii U version.

I also don’t believe Wario and Waluigi live in an alternate dimension. Waluigi hasn’t even been in a Wario game oddly enough.

As for Rosalina, she doesn’t have a kingdom.I guess she does tend to the whole cosmos. But she’s in a picture on the App data mine, that has the 6 band characters and Toadette. I’d imagine they’ll do meet and greets.

The only reasoning behind character absences to me seems to be staggered rollout.

 

[jseal777]

A few things. Wario only does that in Super Smash Bros. His Smash personality is a bizarro version of his character. Bowser is similar. He’s much more like Godzilla in those games. He doesn’t have a voice nor a personality. Donkey Kong sounds like an actual gorilla. Smash Bros was really inaccurate with Nintendo Character portrayals up until the Wii U version.

I also don’t believe Wario and Waluigi live in an alternate dimension. Waluigi hasn’t even been in a Wario game oddly enough.

As for Rosalina, she doesn’t have a kingdom.I guess she does tend to the whole cosmos. But she’s in a picture on the App data mine, that has the 6 band characters and Toadette. I’d imagine they’ll do meet and greets.

The only reasoning behind character absences to me seems to be staggered rollout.

Watch Wario be an April fools only M&G

 

[Parkscope Joe]

I swear, it’s all “only positive” or “only negative” with this one. I go on WDWMagic and I’m defending the ride from people who are complaining that it’s nothing like Mario Kart (it is). Then I come on here and lament that I would have liked a bit more and would have preferred to see my favourite characters and locations from the Mario games in a physical form, and I’m mocked for not being appreciative enough. I can’t win.

This has been stuck in my head for a day now and I wanted to say something about this.

This is a multi-billion dollar company, you do not need to defend it or tie your self worth to it. You are more than a Nintendo character or a theme park attraction.

 

[Brer Oswald]

This has been stuck in my head for a day now and I wanted to say something about this.

This is a multi-billion dollar company, you do not need to defend it or tie your self worth to it. You are more than a Nintendo character or a theme park attraction.

That wasn’t at all what I was getting at in my post. I’m not required to do anything. I’m only offering my opinions.

 

[Disneyson1]

A few things. Wario only does that in Super Smash Bros. His Smash personality is a bizarro version of his character. Bowser is similar. He’s much more like Godzilla in those games. He doesn’t have a voice nor a personality. Donkey Kong sounds like an actual gorilla. Smash Bros was really inaccurate with Nintendo Character portrayals up until the Wii U version.

I also don’t believe Wario and Waluigi live in an alternate dimension. Waluigi hasn’t even been in a Wario game oddly enough.

As for Rosalina, she doesn’t have a kingdom.I guess she does tend to the whole cosmos. But she’s in a picture on the App data mine, that has the 6 band characters and Toadette. I’d imagine they’ll do meet and greets.

The only reasoning behind character absences to me seems to be staggered rollout.

Oh, I'm not sure about that, Wario does a lot of heinous things in the WarioWare cut-scenes.I feel like he'd be a good pull for a Halloween event, he reminds me of a cross between Stitch and Jack the Clown. If we're gonna get technical, Wario lives in "Diamond City" and drools over money. As for Rosalina, I'd buy that she's busy tending to the planets, though I feel like she could be a Christmas character. I imagine she might appear for the Lunar Festival in Japan, that to me makes the most sense. I mean. Any character from the Mario franchise could appear in the parks in terms of "story" (as has been said, Mario and Baby Mario race against each other, though I DO think they'll not do this sort of double exposure in the parks, I think they will stick to some integrity). I'm just saying that this is story that a character attendant might tell a disappointed guest.

At the end of the day, these four are absolutely the correct characters to put on as meet-and-greets. While some might want to meet Bowser, I think that would necessitate an extra turret extension onto the Bowser's Castle set piece to have Bowser be a puppet on a throne for the same reasons Donkey and Ariel can't move. But I'd rather have the Bower Jr. Boss Battle.

I also want to shout out to Joe. Excellent post.

 

[Brer Oswald]

Oh, I'm not sure about that, Wario does a lot of heinous things in the WarioWare cut-scenes.I feel like he'd be a good pull for a Halloween event, he reminds me of a cross between Stitch and Jack the Clown. If we're gonna get technical, Wario lives in "Diamond City" and drools over money. As for Rosalina, I'd buy that she's busy tending to the planets, though I feel like she could be a Christmas character. I imagine she might appear for the Lunar Festival in Japan, that to me makes the most sense. I mean. Any character from the Mario franchise could appear in the parks in terms of "story" (as has been said, Mario and Baby Mario race against each other, though I DO think they'll not do this sort of double exposure in the parks, I think they will stick to some integrity). I'm just saying that this is story that a character attendant might tell a disappointed guest.

At the end of the day, these four are absolutely the correct characters to put on as meet-and-greets. While some might want to meet Bowser, I think that would necessitate an extra turret extension onto the Bowser's Castle set piece to have Bowser be a puppet on a throne for the same reasons Donkey and Ariel can't move. But I'd rather have the Bower Jr. Boss Battle.

I also want to shout out to Joe. Excellent post.

It was a good post, but it didn’t really apply to what I was saying. My point was, I’m tired of seeing extremist opinions. You can like something and still have reservations about aspects of it.

 

[Legacy]

It was a good post, but it didn’t really apply to what I was saying. My point was, I’m tired of seeing extremist opinions. You can like something and still have reservations about aspects of it.

The mockery came from the focus on storyline and canon in the Mario universe as a foundation for a number of your criticisms about a kid-oriented theme park land. That’s not mocking you. It’s dismissing your critique because it’s coming from a such detail-focused level it reads like you can’t see the forest for the trees. Whether you actually can or not, from the way I read them, did not originally come across in your posts.

You said that “[you] can’t win.” I understand the tone of several posts directed at you that chaff, especially when a number of the posters doing it are some of the more active posters, but this is an online discussion board talking about a theme park land centered around a video game. In the grand scheme, none of our opinions on the matter are “important”—mine, yours, Joe’s, Nick’s. None of them.

 

[Nemesis Inferno]

Looking at the Previews lets put it this way

When Hogsmeade opened it created the new bar for theming, rides and the whole experience (added further with the interactive wands later on)

This bar was attempted to be matched by Pandora, Diagon Alley and Galaxy's edge as this bar shift was crazy

I can see the same thing happening again, When Universal run on there top game they can massively raise the bar for years to come, I mean they did it with Spiderman all those years ago

It does feel like though if the Donkey Kong area was built as phase 1 not phase 2 this land would be more or less perfect, still lets hope the gap between the two at least for japan isnt too long

 

[Brer Oswald]

The Donkey Kong Country area does have me very excited. Not expecting anything too thrilling with the coaster, but that doesn’t matter much if they are able to pull off the track jumping effect.

I’m also a huge fan of the modern DKC games, of which the land seems to take most inspiration from.

 

[OhHaiInternet95]

So do we really think there's going to be a massive dissonance between judgments from the POVs and from when people actually ride it? I'm in the relative minority who's pleased by what I've seen, but if the reviews from people who have ridden turn out to be like the impressions from the POVs, then would they have to consider this a flop? Once again I'm pretty happy with what I've seen, possibly because A) I follow this stuff heavily like a lot of you and therefore knew it would be slow B) I'm not a big Nintendo fan C) I'm just thankful there's a lot of practical sets.

Expectations are a b. Like, I dream of a clone of FD with a similar theme/plot as Bride of Frankenstein Lives ("Dracula: The Escape" or something like that) but I know that people would be expecting a dark ride and would get all pissy when it's not that.

 

[JungleSkip]

So do we really think there's going to be a massive dissonance between judgments from the POVs and from when people actually ride it? I'm in the relative minority who's pleased by what I've seen, but if the reviews from people who have ridden turn out to be like the impressions from the POVs, then would they have to consider this a flop? Once again I'm pretty happy with what I've seen, possibly because A) I follow this stuff heavily like a lot of you and therefore knew it would be slow B) I'm not a big Nintendo fan C) I'm just thankful there's a lot of practical sets.

Expectations are a b. Like, I dream of a clone of FD with a similar theme/plot as Bride of Frankenstein Lives ("Dracula: The Escape" or something like that) but I know that people would be expecting a dark ride and would get all pissy when it's not that.

I will be *shocked* if the reception of Mario Kart from people who ride it is anything but positive. There will be the “theme park fans” who whinge about it forever probably, because they don’t want to look “wrong”. But I don’t foresee this being anything close to a flop. It may not be the greatest ride ever, who knows. But it will be wildly popular.