Super Mario World Is Finally Opening In Los Angeles

The famous plumber Super Mario is back with an amazing announcement, which is the opening of Super Mario World in California on the 17th of February. The theme park already opened in Osaka, Japan in 2021, and had a big success in the country. The theme itself brought a lot of tourists.

And the fact that Universal Studios Hollywood is one of the first places outside of Japan to get it is not that surprising. Why? Because California is the home for most theme park franchises around the world, like Orlando. California already has Disneyland, of course, but also Harry Potter and many others, so It's logical that they get Super Mario too, thanks to a deal with Nintendo.

The Park is mostly the same as Japan, and it reproduces very faithfully the game's universe. But what's inside it? What's the point? Well, in reality, this park isn't like any other, It provides a unique experience and is one of the greatest a fan of the game can expect. The theme park is interactive.

But what does interactive mean? Well, the word is clear, It means that you will be able to interact with all the objects of the theme park. It means you will not visit this theme park, you will play this theme park like a video game, like Super Mario World on your Nintendo console. But what are the features to make all of that possible?

Well, It all begins, like any video game, with a storyline. You will be walking through a green pipe as you can do in a Mario game, and you will find yourself in the iconic castle of Princess Peach. Then, you find out her golden mushroom has been stolen and that your mission is to get it back. So once you enter the world, If you really want to get the full experience, you need to follow the storyline. You need to collect objects, find clues, make a team and even fight against a boss. But don't worry, the designers of the park promised it, It will be so intuitive that you will never find what you're doing boring or too hard. After all, It has been designed for the whole family.

But interaction is not the first thing people are looking for in this theme park, and Universal Studios know it. What's popular is of course the immersive experience of Mario Kart, the most famous game of the franchise, that has been promised to the visitors.

Named Mario Kart: Bowser's Challenge, the revolutionary coaster has two parts in it. The first part is a good old dark ride with the theme of Mario kart where you will follow a track and just admire the decoration, and another part is game playing where physical sets meld with augmented reality will respond to guest positions. What does that mean? It means that like in the real Mario Kart, you will be able to throw objects to slow down people in front or behind you to win the game. Yes, It's like playing a real-life Mario Kart game, as simple as that.

Opening 2 months before the release of the Super Mario Bros. Movie, which is expected to premiere in theaters on April 7th, this theme park is the perfect way to bring back the fans that have been criticizing a lot the movie since the first trailer, particularly the casting choices.

As you may know, Chris Pratt has been chosen as the voice of the most famous plumber in the world, but It has been a very criticized choice. For most of the fans, Chris Pratt's voice is too deep to be Mario's voice and also, he didn't reproduce well the iconic sounds Mario can make, unlike... The French voice.

Yes, many people liked the French voice of Mario and said It sounded way better than Chris Pratt's voice.

Some others even said they want to watch the movie in French now.

But why so much hate against Chris Pratt? Well, because maybe he is not a voice actor, but an actor, and these are very different jobs. These days, many projects want famous actors in Animation just to have famous voices that can be recognized by the spectators. It worked well in Detective Pikachu because Ryan Reynold's voice made sense when we look at the plot (no spoilers here).

But for the Super Mario Bros. Movie, there's no real justification for his presence, It's just: "Hey, look, we have Chris Pratt, that guy from the Guardians of the Galaxy, go watch the movie!", and that's it. Of course, we cannot deny the great actor he is, but maybe the fans expected a real voice actor, that maybe nobody knows, but who stays true to Mario's identity.

However, even though people were not happy about this casting, they're still going to watch the movie in theaters and we can be sure It will be a huge success, like the theme park.