So I didn't see any discussions about this, and I apologize if I'm stealing thunder by doing this, but I thought it'd be nice to see what everyone else had to say on the matter.
For those who don't know, a Mario themed area will be created in Universal Japan. I would post a picture of the plans but sadly I'm not going to be near a computer anytime soon.
I will say that it surprises me that they aren't doing anything with any of Nintendo's other IPs. Of course, more might be coming for Orlando, but I would've thought Pokémon would've gotten some attention.
Any thoughts?
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The statement came out a few days ago, but maybe the articles I read got their facts wrong, but so far, everyone's saying it'll be solely Mario. One thing I forgot to say is that the budget is ¥40 billion ($356 million).
From what I heard, the main attraction in the area will be Mario but the entire land will not necessarily be Mario. Given the budget of this area, I'm expecting something similar to the Wizarding World of Harry Potter...one E-ticket level attraction, one C-ticket level attraction, a restaurant or two, some meet and greet opportunities, and plenty of merchandise. Even if the main E-ticket attraction is Mario, that doesn't mean the entire land needs to be Mushroom Kingdom.
However, the other day I was talking about this with my brother (who is a huge video gamer), and we came to the consensus that Mario is really the only Nintendo IP that would be viable as a fully immersive land. Even in Japan, it is necessary to operate under the assumption that while visitors may have heard of the property, not everyone will be intimately familiar with it. With the exception of Mario and perhaps Pokemon, how many of the Nintendo franchises would a non-gamer know about? Possibly Legend of Zelda and/or Donkey Kong, but nothing else is really big enough to be likely. So I think exactly what we will see depends on whether this is meant to be a fully immersive land like Wizarding World of Harry Potter or more of a Fantasyland-esque area with each franchise getting a corner. If the former, I'd expect Mario dominance. If the latter, other franchises may slip in, but I highly doubt anything but the most popular would feature (I could see the four I mentioned above, plus Kirby, Animal Crossing, and perhaps Super Smash Brothers) and not everything will be added, especially not right away.
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Is it confirmed that it's only gonna be Mario ? Last time I checked they just said the main ride was Mario but not the whole thing , maybe I'm mistaken I'm not sure.