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Nintendo Themed World for Universal Japan

nealbie

CF Legend
Yay! Not until the 2020 Olympics, but yay nonetheless.

I'm guessing it's Mario leaning for the international market as the Japanese don't actually seem to give a **** about him and it's all about Pikachu

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/technolo...o-build-250m-super-mario-theme-park-in-japan/

Will be interesting to see what rides and concepts they make. I'd love to see an even more elaborate version of the Crystal Maze inspired interactive Pokémon adventure at Nagashima Spaland!
 

Shirofukurou

Mega Poster
250 million? That's **** huge! They're spending as much on Mario and Pokemon as they did on Diagon Alley in Florida... That's quite something.

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gavin

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I could've sworn we had a topic for this? Anyway...

Everything is pointing towards them getting rid of Back to the Future and Backdraft to make space for this. The area they sit on is quite big and there's also some backstage space that they could incorporate. My first thoughts were a BTTF retheme as Mario Cart, but with that kind of money being spent I'm assuming/hoping it won't be as simple as that.

The rumoured area (very roughly):

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uni%202_zpsfmpgnx6b.jpg
 

gavin

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Double post because I was talking out of my arse.

Screamscape said:
According to the latest news posted to Kotaku, the location of the new Nintendo themed land at Universal Studios Japan will actually be immediately to the left of the main entrance, which in the location where the park has been putting many of their temporary attractions like Universal Cool Japan. I believe Monster Hunter and the Biohazard attractions are in the big special events soundstage, while I think Evangelion 4D is in the nearby 4D theater where they normally show Shrek 4D and Sesame Street 4D during the rest of the year. The area also looks to include what appears to be an employee parking lot and the turn-around for the Hollywood Dream coaster.
According to the article the Nintendo land will cost an estimated 40-billion yen ($351 million US) and they say that their goal is to have it open by 2020 in time for the when the Olympics come to Tokyo, which is expected to be between July 24 - August 9. With that in mind however, the last word from our sources indicated that 2020 was the old original opening date, and since Comcast has bought the park they have revised the time-table on many things, which would see bumped up to open in 2018 in Japan, and Diagon Alley pushed back to 2020. Either way, the two major new attraction areas should definitely lure in the tourists from the 2020 games.

http://www.screamscape.com/html/universal_studios_japan.htm#Nintendo

There doesn't seem to be any actual space there at the moment apart from the buildings used for temporary attractions. I guess that's a good thing though since it means that there's still space for new additions when they finally get rid of Back to the Future, which can only be a matter of time.
 

gavin

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^ The whole BTTF thing is 25 years old, at least. My tired old carcass rode it in Florida as an 11-year-old, and while it was amazing at the time, simulators just don't age well. Coasters and some dark rides can, but not this.
 

Shirofukurou

Mega Poster
Not to mention the "future" in BTTF is 2015, so it was bound to become dated anyways. I'm just glad I got to ride the Florida version a year before it closed.
 

SaiyanHajime

CF Legend
^ That has nostalgic value though, I agree with Sue, an anniversary event last year would have been awesome. As would a retro styled sequel movie. There's tonnes of 80s inspired stuff flooding media at the moment, think they missed a trick...

That said, a Nintendo themed land will be AMAZING. I just hope to god it's not just a retheme like Simpsons with some other mediocre turds and is instead more along the lines of potter in execution.

Frankly, I would just love to see an excursion ride with Pokemon.

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peep

CF Legend
Ah yes. I'm sure they'll put in a B&M flyer just after they built one for this year

I think back to the future is horribly dated and it needs to go, despite loving the films. Is weird they didn't do something for last year though, unless they did and we didn't hear about it - which is possible.

Rumours have been running on the American forums since the initial partnership announcement and recently the insiders have been hinting at exciting things. Sounds like the whole area will be completely different to what we've seen in a theme park before. They're going to be using technology to create something even more immersive and interactive as the Potter lands.

I personally think we'll see at least a Mario kart ride but Universal are unpredictable so, no idea.

I also don't think we'll see anything Pokemon related. Too many parks in Japan already use the Pokemon IP and I think it's also something that'd fall under whatever company owns that, rather than Nintendo.

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nealbie

CF Legend
Game Freak develop the Pokémon games, but the Pokémon characters and IP are owned exclusively by Nintendo.
 

peep

CF Legend
Oh fair enough, I could have sworn their IP belonged to someone else.

I still don't think we'll see a Pokemon attraction though, maybe a shop?

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nealbie

CF Legend
I'd be more surprised if there wasn't. Pokémon is part of the public conscience in Japan. It was scary even for me (and I love Pokémon)!
 

TheCoasterCruiser

Giga Poster
This is so exciting when you see what they've done with HP.
I'm no Nintendo fan, but I bet a lot of people felt the same way with HP back when that was announced.

I'm thinking a Mario Kart ride for the big E-Ticket is a no brainer and this would be cool as well:
Joey said:
Frankly, I would just love to see an excursion ride with Pokemon.
 

andrus

Giga Poster
So glad this is actually happening!! And since it's Universal, it's bound to be executed well :--D

There ar soo many awesome possibilities for rides; like a Mario Kart one like some of you guys already stated, a Pokemon hunting attraction or exploring one of the caves in Zelda! All of them would be amazing stuff :--D Can't wait to see what will become of this!!*


*slightly overexcited ^^
 

GuyWithAStick

Captain Basic
Oh, I thought Flying Dinosaur was at Singapore. Oh well.

I think they could incorporate VR quite well with this(maybe a first person Nintendo game like LOZ or Mario?)...
 

Pink Cadillac

Giga Poster
This is really exciting and perfect for USJ. I don't really play video games, but I loved the nintendo ones as a child. I know it will be heavily screen-oriented but I hope there is some good physical theming.
 

SaiyanHajime

CF Legend
Pokemon is the second most lucrative video game franchise in the world, after Mario, and has worldwide fame and appeal. Granted it's only licenced by Nintendo, but I would be shocked not to see it in the lineup, especially in Japan itself.

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Serena

Miss CoasterForce 2016
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I am so excited for this!

Would love to see a dueling Maurer spinner - a bit like Winjas, but with controlled spinning for a Mario Kart coaster.

Just think, you could slip over a banana skin and spin for a bit. Cars could turn on the horseshoe element for that skidding feeling. Add rumbly seats and trick track like Winjas, for moments where you get hit by weapons. It would work so well. Especially if it had a launch at the start.

For the Pokémon attraction, they should just build Temple De Fuego and theme it to Charizard!
 
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