The Super Nintendo World portion of the Universal Studios Japan theme park will be getting an area themed after Donkey Kong in the next few years.
“To further immerse guests into Nintendo’s well-known series of games, Universal Studios Japan will expand the land to include a new area themed after Donkey Kong. The area will feature a roller coaster, interactive experiences and themed merchandise and food. Guests will be able to take a walk on the wild side through the lush jungles where Donkey Kong and his friends live. The new area is set to open in 2024,” an announcement reads.
As it’s still some ways from release there’s no actual imagery provided for the new area aside from the generic image in the header image above with Mario and Donkey Kong superimposed on a render of the park.
What we do know about the new Donkey Kong section is that it’s going to be large. The announcement adds that the area will increase the overall size of Super Nintendo World by 70 percent.
This news comes at an odd time where the Super Mario movie was just announced featuring Seth Rogen as Donkey Kong. The movie is planned for release in the US holiday season of 2022 and is being made by Illumination. Universal Studios owns Illumination so we would have thought that some kind of movie tie-in would have been implemented in the theme park around the time of the release of the movie.
While the dates may not match up there’s no telling what the shape of the world will be in come the end of next year. If travel restrictions are still in place then it would likely mean less tourists to visit Super Nintendo World at which point any connection to the movie would be a moot point.
All we can do is follow health guidelines to try and beat back the pandemic and wait for more information about the Donkey Kong area.
“I am very happy to be able to make the world of Donkey Kong a reality following the world of Mario. I am looking forward to creating a thrilling Donkey Kong experience with the amazing team at Universal. It will take some time until it is completed, but it will be a unique area for not only people who are familiar with Donkey Kong games, but for all guests,” adds Shigeru Miyamoto, quoted as a “Representative Director, Fellow” of Nintendo.
