Reid Main

If you've read about my previous trips to Japan you may be questioning why am I attempting to go to Super Nintendo World at Universal Studios Japan (USJ) again. The simple answer is I've heard so many great things about it and this time we bought the stupidly expensive Express Pass tickets to guarantee we get in.

To minimize the chances of anything going wrong we woke up at 8am and immediately caught the train for Universal City Station. Upon arrival we grabbed a quick coffee and snack before entering the park at 10am. Our timed entry to Super Nintendo World was for 11am but we wanted to be absolutely certain we understood how we were suppose to enter. Once we were confident nothing could go wrong we took a quick walk around the park to kill time before heading back for 10:50am. The queue to get our tickets validated was painless and after buying our Power-Up Bands (which allows us to interact with elements of the park) and pairing them to our USJ accounts, we crossed through the Warp Pipe into Super Nintendo World.

I am not being hyperbolic when I say I was genuinely gobsmacked. The park is designed so that when you walk in you cannot see anything outside of it. The entire skyline is comprised only of buildings in Super Nintendo World so it truly feels like you have been transported somewhere else. I wasn't aware of this immediately but after a few hours I realized that I had stopped thinking about being on vacation in Japan and had just fully accepted that I was inside the Mushroom Kingdom. We proceeded to spend the next six hours in Super Nintendo World and I don't remember being bored for a second of it.

Before talking about each attraction that you had to line up for, let's talk about what you can do just by wandering around the park. If you download the USJ app you can drill into Super Nintendo World and see a cartoon map of the area. There are effectively multiple types of scavenger hunts you can do if you buy a Power-Up Band and link it to your USJ account. I highly recommend this because it was a lot fun trying to hunt down all of the coin boxes, or find all of the letters in Donkey Kong Country, or track down all of the various hidden 8-bit characters. But the best part was completing mini-games to collect keys and once you had three keys you challenge Bowser Jr and try to defeat him. All of these achievements are tracked by the app and we really got hooked on hunting them all down. I can only imagine what fun it would be for young kids running up and down the park exploring every nook and cranny. I legitimately believe most children would enjoy just doing that and not going to a single attraction.

Speaking of attractions, when we went there were three. Mine-Cart Madness is a roller coaster themed after Donkey Kong. Yoshi's Adventure is a simple ride designed for children where you're in a cart on a linear track that slowly moves through a Yoshi themed world. Finally there is Mario Kart: Bowser's Challenge which is probably the attraction that everyone wants to do and I have no idea why. You simulate riding in a kart from the Mario Kart games while wearing augmented reality goggles that allow you to see things as you traverse the course. Due to our Express Pass we were able to pick entry times for every attraction which allowed us to skip the vast majority of the line. I think for Mine Cart Madness and Mario Kart the regular line was over 90 minutes but we were in and done the rides within 20 minutes.

Up first was Mario Kart which I probably enjoyed the least. The augmented reality wasn't that impressive and it really wasn't clear what we were suppose to do. The instructions before we boarded the kart did tell you to look at whatever you wanted to shoot and push the button. But there was some sort of ammo system that wasn't obvious and I guess you were suppose to save some shots to help bounce back attacks from enemies? I'm sure if I did the ride a couple of times it could make sense but it only lasts 4 minutes so I cannot imagine someone lining up for over two hours just to do this ride "correctly" for 8 minutes.

Next up was Yoshi's Adventure which was a chill little ride for about 5 minutes. Technically you have three buttons in the cart and if you push the correctly coloured button when the same coloured egg appears you earn some points in the USJ app. But other than that it was nothing special. If we didn't have the Express Pass I couldn't see myself lining up for more than 30 minutes to do this once. Maybe after so many years my heart has hardened into an unfeeling mass but through the wonderment of a child this ride may be very endearing. I would also sincerely hope so if they had to line up for 60+ minutes.

And so finally we rode Mine-Cart Madness which was actually much faster and more nerve-racking that I was anticipating. If you have young children who don't handle speed or simulating falling out of a mine cart well you may want to skip lining up 90 minutes for this one. That being said it was easily the most enjoyable of the three and if the line up times were equal I would probably choose to ride Mine-Cart Madness again.

All of that being said I actually think the best part of Super Nintendo World is all of the scavenger hunts and mini-games scattered throughout the park. I would love to take my nieces and nephews because I know it would create such wonderful memories of running all over looking for things rather than just standing in line for hours slowly going insane.

Also, there is a restaurant inside the park, Kinopio's Cafe, that requires you to make a reservation. This was something we did not know so around 1pm when we finally felt hungry and went to line up we realized that no times were available. I'm not sure if they release more time slots as the day goes on or if someone canceled but after we got rejected I just kept refreshing the reservation website until an opening for two magically appeared. So if you really want to eat at Kinopio's Cafe I recommend that the second you get into Super Nintendo World and pick you jaw off the floor, you immediately head to the restaurant and see if you can get a reservation. I must warn you that the food is going to be expensive and wildly overpriced for what you get. But just like everything else in the park it perfectly encapsulates that Nintendo feeling so if you truly want to have a "complete" experience you owe it to yourself to at least see inside of Kinopio's Cafe.

After refuelling we finished collecting the remaining keys and challenged and defeated Bowser Jr to finish all of the mini-games. By now it was just after 4:30pm and we had done everything we wanted so we departed Universal Studios Japan and made our way back to the train station. It was expensive but gosh darn it was a lot of fun and I honestly think I'll come back again.

On our way back to the hotel we stopped off at a Gunpla popup that was in a department store just around the corner and picked up a couple of exclusive kits. With our feet absolutely aching we finally got back to the hotel and started the arduous task of pulling gigabytes of footage off our cameras. It took so long that we got hungry again and went for a quick bite of the Kansai region's famous 551 Horai pork buns. Seriously whenever you are in the area you absolutely must stop at any 551 Horai you see and enjoy some of the best pork buns on the planet.

After finishing both dinner and pulling footage off our cameras, we showered and promptly collapsed into bed. Tomorrow is another busy theme park day as we visit Dragon Quest Island!