Nintendo-themed land will be coming to Universal Studios Japan that will cost $351 million in total.
In 2015, there have been reports about the additional theme area of Universal Studios Japan. Currently, reports say that namely, how large the Nintendo area will be, how much will be spent, and when it should be completed have been made public.
It is a deal similar to the investment Universal Studios made in the Harry Potter franchise. Just as a comparison, the $351 million investment the is more than the total estimated cost of Universal's Wizarding World of Harry Potter addition to Universal Studios Orlando, which is $265 million.
Universal Studios Japan has marked a large section of the park to house the Mario and co. themed area, PCMag reported. Currently, the area is being used as an event space, located near the left side of the main entrance. The upcoming Nintendo-themed area is marked in red on the map and the current attractions are in green.
However, the plan did not give away the details of the specific rides, attractions, or experiences that might hit the new Nintendo section of the park.
The immersive experiences will include major attractions at Universal’s theme parks and will feature Nintendo’s most famous characters and games. Universal theme parks will create fantastic, dedicated experiences based on Nintendo’s wildly popular games, characters and worlds, such as Super Mario.
The attractions at Universal Japan are arranged in ten areas of the park, with the latest being “The Wizarding World of Harry Potter.” It opened in 2014 with its flagship attraction, “Harry Potter and the Forbidden Journey.” The area was modelled after the same thrilling ride adventure at Universal Orlando and Universal Studios Hollywood, which gives riders the feeling that they are flying with Harry as they avoid dragons and spiders. There are also unique attractions in Japan that are not in the U.S., such as “Black Lake” and “Hogwarts Express Photo Op.”
Nintendo is the world’s largest video game company by revenue, and is known for creating some of the most iconic video game franchises, including Mario, Pokemon, and The Legend of Zelda.
Universal Studio Japan aims to complete the Nintendo section by 2020, when the Olympics will be held in Tokyo with the hope that visitors will also want to visit Universal Studios Japan in Osaka, according to Kotaku.