Full Guide to Everything in Super Nintendo World at Universal Studios Hollywood

Spencer Lloyd

Full Guide to Everything in Super Nintendo World at Universal Studios Hollywood

With Super Nintendo World just about to officially open at Universal Studios Hollywood, we figured it prudent to put together a full guide to everything you could possibly want to know about the new land! So follow along to learn about Super Nintendo World, the latest addition to the park.

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The Land

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Super Nintendo World itself is a rather small area, dwarfed by other expansive areas such as Hogsmeade in The Wizarding World of Harry Potter. But it packs so much into its small rectangle of space that you’ll hardly find yourself wanting for more. We have a full walkthrough photo and video tour here which takes you through every nook and cranny.

Mario Kart: Bowser’s Challenge

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The highlight of the land is Mario Kart: Bowser’s Challenge, themed to the iconic racing game where teams of four guests race through different iconic courses and locales from the franchise to collect coins and beat Bowser and the Koopalings in the ultimate race. We, of course, have a full POV queue tour and experience with the AR headset here on Universal Parks News Today.

Unlike Universal Studios Japan, the Hollywood version does not have Yoshi’s Adventure.

Activities

The amazing thing about Super Nintendo World is how deeply integrated into the land interactivity is. Guests who purchase a Power-Up Band can link it to their Universal Studios Hollywood App and track their progress collecting coins from ? Blocks, badges from activities, and Key Challenges from around the land.

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To get a Power-Up Band, you can visit these handy vending machine kiosks near the land entrance, or 1-Up Factory.

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We have a close look at all six available Power-Up Band types here.

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The Four Key Challenges are pretty straightforward:

  • Goomba Crazy Crank challenges guests to turn a crank fast enough to knock a running Goomba down from a spinning wheel.
  • Piranha Plant Nap Mishap involves running around to turn off ringing alarm clocks around a giant animatronic Piranha Plant and keep it from waking up!
  • Koopa Troopa POWer Punch makes guests time their POW Block punch at just the right moment so a spinning shell bursts through the upper pipe exit, hitting the blue POW Block. This one can be pretty challenging, we’ve seen even some kids get the highest difficulty level.
  • And Thwomp Power Panel Panic challenges guests to flip every switch from blue to yellow. But beware, touching one switch can affect others, and you need to get them all to yellow before the Thwomp strikes down and mixes everything up again!

You can take a closer look at each of the Key Challenges as well as a video diving into each of them here.

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Once you collect three Key Coins, you can take on the Bowser Jr. Shadow Showdown, which uses motion capture tech to allow guests to take on Bowser Jr. and recover the coveted Golden Mushroom. You can watch a full walkthrough and experience of the Bowser Jr. Shadow Showdown here.

Character Meet & Greets

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If you’re interested in meeting characters, you can! Articulated versions of Mario and Luigi meet in front of the entrance to Mario Kart: Bowser’s Challenge, and even have little prerecorded lines they can say to visiting guests. Princess Peach, also articulated, meets near her castle by the entrance. You can watch our greetings with Mario, Luigi, and Princess Peach here on Universal Parks News Today.

Food

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What would a theme park expansion be without food? If you get hungry, you can chow down at a lovely restaurant full of delicious bites! Toadstool Cafe is located near the back of the land, right below Bowser’s Castle. Chef Toad has prepared delicious meals for all the guests visiting the Mushroom Kingdom, and he’s ready to host you inside his lovely and homely café. And of course, we tried every single dish on the menu. You can read our full review and watch us try everything on the menu here.

Merchandise

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There’s plenty of merchandise made exclusively for Super Nintendo World, and you can check out our full merchandise tour of 1-Up Factory, the land’s shop, including prices!

Future

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Of course, you might know that this is not the only Super Nintendo World, the first branch actually opened in Japan back in 2021, and we have a totally separate guide covering everything about the original. There’s a lot more differences than you think!

Also at Universal Studios Japan, an expansion will open in 2024 themed to Donkey Kong! The new area will contain a coaster themed to the mine carts from “Donkey Kong Country,” as well as new food and merchandise locations, and more interactive features! This expansion is rumored to be coming to Universal Studios Hollywood by some, but Universal has made no announcements.

We also know that Super Nintendo World will open in Orlando at the new Epic Universe park when it opens before summer 2025 and will have both the original Mario area as well as Donkey Kong. The land is also set to open sometime in the future at Universal Studios Singapore.

What do you think of Super Nintendo World? Let us know in the comments below!

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