The first Super Nintendo World in the US will open in early 2023. The date announcement came as Universal Studios Hollywood and Nintendo released new photos and a video trailer of their anticipated interactive, augmented-reality ride, Mario Kart: Bowser’s Challenge.
The goal of the ride is simple: “As part of Team Mario, guests will steer through courses underwater and in the clouds to compete for the Golden Cup while collecting coins to defeat Team Bowser and win," a statement from Universal Studios Hollywood reads.
It was announced on March 10, also known as Mario Day, that the theme park would be opening in the US. It comes after the successful launch of Super Nintendo World at Universal Studios Japan last year.
What to expect at Super Nintendo World US
In March 2021, after months of delays owing to the pandemic, Nintendo’s first theme park opened in Osaka, Japan. It features a Mario Kart ride in Bowser’s Castle, a ride based on the green dinosaur Yoshi, a Princess Peach castle and Mario-theme restaurants.
"We perfectly recreated the world of the game," said Ayumu Yamamoto, Universal Studios Japan's marketing communication manager at the time. "You'll find life-sized piranha plants and Bowser, and you'll see what it is like to be Mario. It took almost a year longer than we had expected to open this place, and we are really glad."
Augmented-reality goggles attached to a plastic red visor are used in the Mario Kart ride, one of the park's main draws that promises to bring the racing game to life.
The ride follows a track around the foreboding castle of Mario's enemy Bowser, an evil turtle, but each seat has a steering wheel and players can collect and shoot items at opponents.
Music from the popular Mario games plays throughout the park and a smartphone-linked wristband allows visitors to collect virtual coins by punching blocks, just like the Italian plumber.
Al Jazira's foreign quartet for 2017/18
Romarinho, Brazil
Lassana Diarra, France
Sardor Rashidov, Uzbekistan
Mbark Boussoufa, Morocco
The White Lotus: Season three
Creator: Mike White
Starring: Walton Goggins, Jason Isaacs, Natasha Rothwell
Rating: 4.5/5
The major Hashd factions linked to Iran:
Badr Organisation: Seen as the most militarily capable faction in the Hashd. Iraqi Shiite exiles opposed to Saddam Hussein set up the group in Tehran in the early 1980s as the Badr Corps under the supervision of the Iran Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC). The militia exalts Iran’s Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei but intermittently cooperated with the US military.
Saraya Al Salam (Peace Brigade): Comprised of former members of the officially defunct Mahdi Army, a militia that was commanded by Iraqi cleric Moqtada Al Sadr and fought US and Iraqi government and other forces between 2004 and 2008. As part of a political overhaul aimed as casting Mr Al Sadr as a more nationalist and less sectarian figure, the cleric formed Saraya Al Salam in 2014. The group’s relations with Iran has been volatile.
Kataeb Hezbollah: The group, which is fighting on behalf of the Bashar Al Assad government in Syria, traces its origins to attacks on US forces in Iraq in 2004 and adopts a tough stance against Washington, calling the United States “the enemy of humanity”.
Asaeb Ahl Al Haq: An offshoot of the Mahdi Army active in Syria. Asaeb Ahl Al Haq’s leader Qais al Khazali was a student of Mr Al Moqtada’s late father Mohammed Sadeq Al Sadr, a prominent Shiite cleric who was killed during Saddam Hussein’s rule.
Harakat Hezbollah Al Nujaba: Formed in 2013 to fight alongside Mr Al Assad’s loyalists in Syria before joining the Hashd. The group is seen as among the most ideological and sectarian-driven Hashd militias in Syria and is the major recruiter of foreign fighters to Syria.
Saraya Al Khorasani: The ICRG formed Saraya Al Khorasani in the mid-1990s and the group is seen as the most ideologically attached to Iran among Tehran’s satellites in Iraq.
(Source: The Wilson Centre, the International Centre for the Study of Radicalisation)
