Super Nintendo World in Universal Studios Hollywood is now open, and while stepping through a warp pipe into a land dominated by Mario is a wonderful experience, it's notably called Super Nintendo World and not Super Mario World. Of course, Mario is essentially the face of Nintendo, so the focus comes as no surprise.

However, during a recent group interview with Shigeru Miyamoto and Shinya Takahashi at Super Nintendo World in Hollywood, Game Rant asked why Nintendo chose to have this Mario focus. It should be noted that there are a few secrets scattered across the theme park, like a little Pikmin representation, but by and large, it's all Mario.

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Acknowledging the small disparity between calling it Super Nintendo World and only having Mario there, Miyamoto explained it came down to having a focus rather than being scattered.

"There was discussion about adding other IP like Splatoon, but instead of being scattered, we thought it would be best to have something focused and make something that is quality and good. That's why we ended up starting with Mario."

promotional picture for super nintendo world hollywood

Splatoon is a super popular Nintendo IP and imagining what it would look like in an interactive theme park is pretty simple. Of course, some Nintendo fans want to see other IPs like Zelda, Pokemon, Pikmin, or Animal Crossing get similar treatments, but since the idea was to be focused, picking Mario is the obvious answer. Some version of Mario has appeared on every Nintendo console, Mario is leading the company's charge on the movie front, and using him for a theme park just makes sense. But there are many fans who, no doubt, want to see other Nintendo IPs get similar treatment.

Perhaps someday Nintendo and Universal Studios will incorporate elements of Splatoon into one of the Super Nintendo World locations around the world. Super Nintendo World has a lot of potential for expansion, after all, but nothing is currently confirmed of course. Super Nintendo World in Japan has a Donkey Kong expansion in the works, set to open in 2024, that will include a roller coaster, food, merch, and more. Something similar would be welcome at the Hollywood location too, but it may not be as simple due to the size differences (the land space in Hollywood is somewhat smaller than Osaka). But starting with Mario makes as much sense as hopefully expanding the park somewhere down the line.

Super Nintendo World is now open.

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