“The Happiest Place on Earth” might be Disneyland, but Nintendo and Universal Studios have announced they are working together to create the Smashiest Place on Earth.
In a joint statement, the two entertainment companies revealed they will join forces to design a variety of Nintendo-themed attractions for Universal’s amusement parks. According to the consolemaker, the attractions will be “spectacular, dedicated experiences based on Nintendo’s wildly popular games, characters and worlds.”
This agreement likely came about as part of Nintendo’s recent push to license their vast array of characters to other companies. Announced last year, the initiative also spurred Nintendo’s recent move into mobile game development with DeNA. The Universal Studios deal is still in the very early stages, so it’s unknown which Nintendo characters or games will get the theme park treatment, but I’m holding out for “Ms. Aran’s Wild Ride” myself.
Universal’s last major addition, “The Wizarding World of Harry Potter,” went from announcement to opening in about three years. So hopefully we’ll all be able to romp through a real world Mushroom Kingdom sometime in 2018.
