Super Nintendo World Reaches New Heights at Epic Universe
Main photo courtesy of Universal, Mine-Cart Madness photo by Garrett Martin
Super Nintendo World, the first theme park land based on Nintendo games, has been welcoming guests in California since 2023, and even longer in Japan. The East Coast will finally get their chance to enter the Mushroom Kingdom when Universal’s new park Epic Universe opens in Orlando on May 22, and what guests will find will make Hollywood’s version feel pretty small-time. There’s a cliche used routinely used in videogame marketing for sequels: they’re always “bigger and better.” So it’s fitting that that term is absolutely perfect when comparing Epic Universe’s Super Nintendo World to Universal Studios Hollywood’s.
This Super Nintendo World is significantly larger than the one in California. It’s spread out across two stories, with more interactive Power-Up band games, and two additional rides—including a whole Donkey Kong-themed sub-section not found in Hollywood. Everything in Hollywood’s version can be found in Orlando’s, with so much else on top. If you’re wondering which one to go to, and if a trip to Orlando is feasible for you, there’s really no question which Super Nintendo World you should visit. Epic Universe’s outclasses Universal Hollywood’s in every way.
Mario Kart: Bowser’s Challenge is a fun dark ride that uses augmented reality to add elements from the game and imbue a sense of speed into its slow-moving technology. It’s a perfectly fine theme park attraction, but has enough problems that it doesn’t work well as the primary anchor of an entire land. And yet that’s what it has to do at Universal Studios Hollywood. It’s the only ride in that park’s version of Super Nintendo World, and although there is a bit of an upside to that—it helps shift the focus to the land’s interactive games, which are fantastic, and might be overlooked by people who immediately flock to rides before anything else in a theme park—it mostly just reinforces its negatives.
That’s not a problem at Epic Universe’s Super Nintendo World. Mario Kart: Bowser’s Challenge is one of three rides there, and not even the biggest or most eye-catching. That would be Mine-Cart Madness, a family-friendly roller coaster in the Donkey Kong Country part of the land. With a faster, more thrilling roller coaster next door, and the slower, more simplistic Yoshi’s Adventure dark ride above it, guest expectations for Mario Kart: Bowser’s Challenge can be kept in check. Not only does it not have to shoulder the weight as the land’s main attraction, but Mine-Cart Madness compensates for Mario Kart’s lack of speed and physical excitement, and Yoshi’s Adventure’s spartan design underlines how beautiful Mario Kart’s physical sets are, while also accentuating how much the augmented reality adds to the ride. The Epic Universe ride is basically exactly the same as the Hollywood one, but the new context lets it shine more brightly than ever.
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