Skip to main content

Nintendo teams up with Universal for something close to a real-life Nintendo Land

Mario
Image used with permission by copyright holder
It’s been a year of new things for Nintendo. March saw the company partnering with DeNA to develop future mobile games, and now the company is embarking on a venture that it has only hinted at before.

Nintendo and Universal announced today that the “world of Nintendo” would be coming to Universal theme parks. “The agreement brings two icons of entertainment together and represents a significant partnership for Nintendo as it expands the reach and popularity of its characters and intellectual property,” the press release states.

“The immersive experiences will include major attractions at Universal’s theme parks and will feature Nintendo’s most famous characters and games,” the press release continues. The possibilities this brings to life are exciting to say the least.

Many of the worlds and characters in Nintendo’s games seem to be made for exactly this type of thing, and a rough blueprint for a Nintendo theme park already exists in 2012’s Nintendo Land. Essentially a mini-game collection, Nintendo Land saw players making their way though a virtual theme park.

For those keeping a close eye on Nintendo, this might not come as a surprise. “Countless times, the idea of a theme park has been debated and discussed, and there have been rumors in various forms,” Nintendo president Satoru Iwata said in 2010, Kotaku reports. “But at the present moment, there are no concrete plans.” Of course, this is less a Nintendo theme park than it is Nintendo IP coming to another theme park.

There are few concrete details at this time, and there is no word of when we might begin to see the results of this deal in action. The press release concludes with “more details will be announced in the future, as the Nintendo and Universal creative teams work to create specific concepts.”

If you’re wondering where these attractions will be available, there are Universal theme parks located in Los Angeles and Orlando in the U.S., as well as in Osaka and Singapore. New parks are also in the works in Beijing and Moscow.

Editors' Recommendations

Kris Wouk
Former Digital Trends Contributor
Kris Wouk is a tech writer, gadget reviewer, blogger, and whatever it's called when someone makes videos for the web. In his…
Pokémon are coming to Universal Studios’ theme park in 2022
universal studios pokmon collab nintendo

Universal Studios and The Pokémon Company just announced a partnership that will bring the pocket monsters to Universal Studios Japan. This partnership is said to bring a new innovative experience to the theme park where innovative technology and extraordinary creativity will mix.

Super Nintendo World - Official Tour with Shigeru Miyamoto

Read more
Super Nintendo World opening delayed
super nintendo world trademark details

Nintendo fans in Japan will have to wait a little longer to visit the upcoming Super Nintendo World theme park.

The park, from Universal Studios Japan, was intended to open in Osaka this summer but has been pushed back.

Read more
Nintendo cracks down on real-money transactions in Animal Crossing: New Horizons
Animal Crossing New Horizons Clothing

Nintendo will start taking action against real-money transactions in Animal Crossing: New Horizons.

Nintendo said on Monday, June 15 that it will move to eliminate real-money transactions when players buy and sell villagers and other items in the game. In a statement to Japanese website J-Cast, Nintendo said that using real money to buy and sell virtual goods is a violation of its terms of service. The company didn't divulge how it would handle incidents but said that it will evaluate each transaction on a "case by case basis."

Read more