People have dreamed of a Nintendo theme park for years and this year was supposed to be when those dreams would finally come true. Unfortunately, the COVID-19 pandemic, which has greatly affected the gaming industry among other things, has put a damper on those plans, with Universal Studios in Japan opting to delay the park's opening.
More recently and unsurprisingly, the same thing has happened to the Super Nintendo World in Universal Studios Orlando, which was supposed to open in 2023 but has now been delayed indefinitely. While this news is disappointing, those desperate for any sort of glimpse at the park may have found images and footage of what could be the park's website.
Currently, the official website is bare-bones, but this video posted to Vimeo shows what is likely meant to be an updated version of it, one with a 3D render of the park, animations, and transitions between sections of the website.
The most interesting detail is that it features images of the Mario Kart ride, which appear to show four people riding in one kart, driving past a Chain Chomp and preparing to throw shells. While not a lot to go on, it goes give us a bit more insight into how the ride and its augmented-reality will function.
Obviously, this information wasn't meant to be shown to the public and the original video has since been removed. But this being the internet, the footage was saved and is still being shared. There is always the possibility that this is a hoax and completely fan-made, but it looks far too official for that to be the case. If it is fake, then it's certainly a very impressive fake.
In other Nintendo news, the publisher continues to be really quiet about any potential game releases it has planned for this year. Fans are still hungry for a proper Nintendo Direct, with the last one in July being only eight or so minutes long and focusing on a few third-party games. The latest rumor is that one will be held this month and will announce the next DLC character for Super Smash Bros. Ultimate but, as always, it's best to treat this with a pinch of salt.
Fans are also still digging through the recent Nintendo gigaleak, which revealed a lot of unseen information about some old games. Lately, someone found out exactly how long Super Mario 64's development time was, right down to the exact dates it started and ended.