Super Nintendo World
Image: uuopodcast

As part of Nintendo's goal to maximise the potential of its beloved franchises, a 'Super Nintendo World' theme park is planned to open next year at Universal Studios Japan. You may well be aware of this already, but these new images might just have given us our first true look at how the park will look.

The images come from the Unofficial Universal Orlando Podcast, who say that they "spotted these leaked concept models" for the new attraction. The images apparently date back to 2016, meaning that the park designs could have changed slightly since then, but there are some pretty exciting things worth noting if they are indeed the real deal.

This large Mario-themed area has a Mario Kart attraction at the rear (which has already been confirmed), a Toadstool Cafe in the centre and a Yoshi's Adventure attraction on the right-hand side. The entire area looks like it has been taken right out of Super Mario 3D World, and also looks very similar to a mockup which was released a while back.

The excitement continues, however, with this third image showing off a Donkey Kong area. We can see a 'Minecart Madness' ride travelling all the way around the back half of the park, a recreation of Funky Kong's plane at the front, and what could potentially turn out to be a stunning waterfall feature right at the back. It appears to be taking on the appearance and style of the Donkey Kong Country Returns games.

Super3
Image: uuopodcast

Nintendo hopes to have the park open by the start of the Tokyo Olympics in 2020. Here's hoping we get an official, full reveal soon.

[source facebook.com, via nintendowire.com]