We Probably Should’ve Seen This Coming
If there’s one thing we’ve all learned this last year, it’s that COVID-19 sucks. The pandemic has impacted just about everything, and now it’s even taken the Mushroom Kingdom away from us. Oh, we can still play Mario games all we want, but Super Nintendo World–the elaborate Japanese theme park which was supposed to open in early February–has officially announced that they are delaying their opening due to coronavirus concerns. They don’t know when they’ll be able to open. No, we’re not crying, just–just give us a minute to collect ourselves. After that online video tour Shigeru Miyamoto gave, we were really looking forward to seeing this park open.
A message on the Universal Studios Japan website announces that the opening of Super Nintendo World will be postponed until Osaka Prefecture is no longer in a state of emergency. However, even after the park is greenlit, they warn that they’ll still have to “significantly limit the number of visitors.” It’s disappointing to hear, but all things considered, we can’t blame them. Universal Studios Japan is just trying to keep us all safe, and they know how eager people are to experience a real-life Mushroom Kingdom.
This is absolutely the right move on their part. Reportedly, there’s been a rise in COVID cases across Japan over the last few weeks, leading to states of emergency being called all across the country. People are even calling for the Olympics to be delayed yet again. We’re inclined to agree with this, and only partly because we’re petty about our cool game thing being delayed. If a state of emergency has been declared due to important pandemic reasons, then people should probably not be crowding around a stadium–or worse, crowding around a TV in a bar or something.
Which Nintendo character do you hope is part of the theme park experience? Let us know down in the comments, or hit us up on Twitter or Facebook.