Nintendo partnering with Universal to make attractions.

Brer Oswald

Well-Known Member
Okay just jumping in here as a huge Nintendo fan and not a Universal or Disney fan. While Mario Kart is *technically* a racing game (the goal is to reach the finish line as the first one), the racing aspect is not what defines Mario Kart. Mario Kart's identity comes from the items in combination with racing which created chaos. The Mario Kart 8 competitive rules even allow items, unlike Smash Bros which is a similar party take on the fighting genre. And even though there is a 200 cc mode (which was added as paid DLC!), the majority of the players are racing in either 100 or 150cc depending on the skills of the players. The chaos that you see in the video is pure landmark Nintendo design; see for other recent examples Splatoon, 3D World and Arms. Removing that would be removing the brand identity.

To come back to the actual ride. Making the Mario Kart ride without AR would be a huge mistake and speeding up the ride is probably not possible due to a combination of motion sickness and technological restrictions with AR. Is the ride a hit or miss? Not sure would have to see it for real first. Spiderman and Harry Potter translate quite terribly on video. I am well aware that Mario Kart doesn't have the same motion (luckely) as the other two, but AR is not something you can just film with a smartphone camera. If you really wanted a faster darkride ala test track it should be Fast and the Furious, not Mario Kart.

But looking at the land, Nintendo and Universal pulled off gamification way better than Disney did with Galaxy's Edge. There is a deeper integration, there is actual progression and it has Nintendo's clear visual design language stamped all over the land. This is without doubt Universals finest work since Harry Potter.
Exactly.

A couple side notes though:
- 200 cc was added as free DLC in Mario Kart 8. However, I don’t know a Mario Kart player that loves it. It’s too fast and hard to control. The tracks aren’t designed around that speed. Most beginners play on 50 cc anyways.
- Mario Kart’s identity is items combined with racing, but there’s a third element. The Mario characters! And they did pretty good with this, only having a few notable absences. Even Kamek, a character iconic to the main series who’s unfortunately been snubbed twice from his MK debut, has a significant appearance!

To me, this is the best theme park land I’ve seen. I do have some bias, but I’m not too partial to the aesthetic they chose and it still looks great.
 

erasure fan1

Well-Known Member
Personally I'm not a huge Nintendo guy, but I am a huge video game guy in general. That said I was really looking forward to this land. I think the land itself does look cool. But oh my, that mario kart ride might be one of the most disappointing rides I've ever scene. I know it is hard to gage a ride based on videos. But this just doesn't look like it lives up to the potential of a mario kart attraction. Maybe my expectations were out of whack or the ride is one of those once you ride, it all clicks. But for now it just looks to be a solid Meh. And the Yoshi ride looks very not awesome as well.
 

Brer Oswald

Well-Known Member
Personally I'm not a huge Nintendo guy, but I am a huge video game guy in general. That said I was really looking forward to this land. I think the land itself does look cool. But oh my, that mario kart ride might be one of the most disappointing rides I've ever scene. I know it is hard to gage a ride based on videos. But this just doesn't look like it lives up to the potential of a mario kart attraction. Maybe my expectations were out of whack or the ride is one of those once you ride, it all clicks. But for now it just looks to be a solid Meh. And the Yoshi ride looks very not awesome as well.
Out of curiosity, what video games do you like?
 

erasure fan1

Well-Known Member
Out of curiosity, what video games do you like?
A few of my top games are:
Knights of the old republic
Mass effect
Elders scrolls
Borderlands
Assassins creed
Zelda
I'm also a big retro guy and an old school sega fanboy. I love my sega cd, saturn and dreamcast. Give me a good adventure/rpg, and Im a happy camper.
 

Brer Oswald

Well-Known Member
A few of my top games are:
Knights of the old republic
Mass effect
Elders scrolls
Borderlands
Assassins creed
Zelda
I'm also a big retro guy and an old school sega fanboy. I love my sega cd, saturn and dreamcast. Give me a good adventure/rpg, and Im a happy camper.
Very different tastes than I have, but from what I've heard, seems like you've got some good ones in there. I've dabbled in Zelda, and I am a big Sonic fan (particularly of the Dreamcast/GameCube era).
 

erasure fan1

Well-Known Member
Very different tastes than I have, but from what I've heard, seems like you've got some good ones in there. I've dabbled in Zelda, and I am a big Sonic fan (particularly of the Dreamcast/GameCube era).
I love 2d sonic from sega genesis/cd. Sonic hasn't translated to 3d as well as mario has. I was a fan of sonic adventure when it came to dreamcast. I recently picked up the dreamcast collection for the xbox 360. So I decided to go through sonic again, and ohh man, it did not age well. lol

I'd love to see them do something with zelda and metroid in the land as they are my 2 favorite nintendo IPs. A splash mountain type zelda ride could be fantastic.
 

Brer Oswald

Well-Known Member
I love 2d sonic from sega genesis/cd. Sonic hasn't translated to 3d as well as mario has. I was a fan of sonic adventure when it came to dreamcast. I recently picked up the dreamcast collection for the xbox 360. So I decided to go through sonic again, and ohh man, it did not age well. lol

I'd love to see them do something with zelda and metroid in the land as they are my 2 favorite nintendo IPs. A splash mountain type zelda ride could be fantastic.
I think the base gameplay of the Adventure games was pretty great. It’s the extra stuff, like Big the Cat, Treasure Hunting, Mech stages, etc. that fall flat. I don’t think 3D Mario has aged that well either, aside from Galaxy.
 

Tonto

Well-Known Member
I had other options. But if you were able to call it, that proves my point, doesn't it?

"No other theme park company misses the mark so consistently, so thoroughly, and so inexcusably as Disney. I really don't get it. We know they are capable of greatness."

When's the last time you saw anyone on this forum say anything remotely like this?
Go on the Disney board. They are the toughest critics I have ever witnessed. They are brutal! Universal gets way, way more free passes.

Disney finally has had some good wins in the past 5-7 years and there has been a consistency to quality. I will agree that Pre-Avatar Disney’s new offerings were a bit underwhelming.

At this point Mario does appear to be a swing and a miss for me, so I’m going to call them out on it. Just seems like this ride should not have been a slow dark ride, and the effects appear concerning. There is a chance that maybe these effects don’t translate well to video.

I envisioned this ride doing better with a “Cars” type of ride system. I think it would have had better pacing, especially with the frantic type of animation style.

However the Kupa effect is cool!
 
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Tonto

Well-Known Member
Yep. Children's video game with a racing aspect.

Actual racing games...



I didn't see turtle shells, bananas, coins are ANYTHING like that in ANY of those racing games.

It’s a arcade racer. Calling Mario Kart a shooter is not how I or most people would describe it.
However you are allowed your opinion even though it is one that few people share.
 

Giss Neric

Well-Known Member
What will happen to the Yoshi ride when it rains as a portion of the ride is outdoors and it's a slow moving ride. So they'll close it due to weather?
 

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