Nintendo Land Coming To Universal Theme Park

(RTTNews) - Universal Studios Japan said Monday that it will be the first site for the "Super Nintendo World," a themed area featuring popular characters and game worlds from Nintendo Co. Ltd (NTDOY.PK). This will include the "Super Mario" series.

The Super Nintendo World area will open in time for the 2020 Olympics in Tokyo and is expected to cost more than 50 billion yen.

Super Nintendo World at Universal Studios Japan will be the first of Nintendo's planned parks with Universal Parks & Resorts. As announced by Nintendo and Universal Parks in late November, Nintendo-themed areas will also come to Orlando and Hollywood, but not until after 2020.

Super Nintendo World will be comprised of expansive and multilevel environments filled with state-of-the-art rides, interactive areas, shops and restaurants, all featuring Nintendo's most popular characters and games.

Nintendo characters and the worlds they inhabit will be re-created through a partnership between Shigeru Miyamoto, Creative Fellow at Nintendo, and Mark Woodbury, President of Universal Creative, renowned for creative and technical excellence.

Super Nintendo World will be developed mainly using the park's current parking area and part of an area designated for future expansion.

Katsuhiro Miyamoto, Professor Emeritus of Kansai University, estimates that after the opening of Super Nintendo World, Universal Studios Japan will bring economic benefits of 11.7 trillion yen for Japan as a whole and also create about 1.1 million jobs in the country within a decade after opening.

Nintendo and Universal Parks & Resorts said in late November that the Nintendo-themed areas in Japan, Orlando and Hollywood are intended to bring the characters, action and adventure of Nintendo video games to life within Universal theme parks.

The Nintendo themed-areas in the three parks will open separately over the next several years.

In November 2015, cable television giant Comcast Corp. (CMCSA, CMCSK) acquired a 51 percent interest in the Universal Studios theme park in Japan.

Nintendo said in September that Super Mario Run, a full-sized Super Mario Bros. action platformer that has been developed specifically for mobile, will be available first on the App Store this December.

Nintendo has also said it plans to develop films in the future based on the company's IP.