Super Nintendo World; get to know the Mario Bros park – 03/01/2023 – Tourism

For anyone who spent their teens jumping on turtles and eating mushrooms as a mustachioed plumber, landing in the world of Super Mario Bros. it’s time travel. A green tunnel welcomes visitors to Super Nintendo World, the new wing that debuted in February at Universal Studios Hollywood in Los Angeles.

Golden coins glisten at the top of the backdrops, alongside creepy-walking mushrooms and a giant carnivorous plant. “Brick” blocks ask to be punched and still make that little noise like the video game released in the 1980s.

Park staff in blue jumpsuits welcome guests to a pink-roofed castle owned by Princess Peach and a medieval castle by the villainous turtle King Koopa, renamed Bowser. It is in the enemy’s den that the long queue begins for the new wing toy, inspired by the game “Mario Kart”, one of the many versions of the original game.

Curious details distract along the line, like Bowser’s Machiavellian plans to defeat Mario and his team in the mad race.

But if the scenarios are a bath of delicious nostalgia, the toy is almost a cold shower of disappointment. A Sheet visited the attraction before the official opening, therefore still in the testing phase. This reporter is also past 40, so the mix of augmented reality with hysterical lighting effects didn’t captivate as it should captivate younger generations.

Perhaps the problem is the high expectation. After a long wait in line, the visitor receives a kind of red visor to put on his head. And after a while, when you get to the cart, you need to attach the augmented reality glasses to the visor.

With so much paraphernalia, the toy has potential. The effects, however, are chaotic and seem to make no sense. It’s as if the simplicity of the original game was trampled by the most outrageous tricks of current games. The cart also has a steering wheel, although its piloting skills don’t matter as it runs along a fixed track.

Back in the real world of Super Mario Bros., punctuated by giant mushrooms, a parallel universe runs wild in a series of interactive activities (and with much shorter queues). But you have to spend another US$ 40 (on top of the ticket price, from US$ 109 or R$ 560) to buy a wristband that allows you to play in the games.

With the wristband, each coin captured by hitting the blocks, collected in “Mario Kart” and in the interactive activities are counted in a challenge in the park’s official application, in a competition between all visitors with wristbands.

The games are for the kids and range from turning a crank to make a mushroom appear or turning off all the alarm clocks that go off at the same time. Some give the player a “key”: if he manages to collect three, he can advance to one last battle against the evil turtle, in a game that (finally!) has more of a video game feel.

The player has his body projected on a screen and must move it to dodge bombs and bullets. If hit, the body shrinks, and a mushroom helps it grow back.

There are still many other options to leave the Super Nintendo World more impoverished. The little shop has loads of fun souvenirs, like a star-shaped lunch box with free popcorn refills ($40) or a mushroom-shaped water bottle ($20).

The Toadstool Café restaurant will have you facing another queue. However, where else can you eat “golden coins” in boxes with a question mark? The space is completely enclosed, with “windows” that display scenes from the Mario Bros universe. The menu features salads, pasta and hamburgers, all with some allusion to the game’s universe.

For dessert, the Monte Beanpole cake has a green matcha frosting and a little red flag stuck on top. It’s a great way to end the ride and go after other adventures in the park, just like Mario did, who had to jump to the little flag to get to the next level.