Gaming

Super Nintendo Land looks set to be the new most magical place on Earth

Photos of the nearly completed theme park make it look as incredible as we hoped.

Back in July, a brief video surfaced offering everyone a brief glimpse of Universal Studios Japan's upcoming Super Nintendo Land, which then proceeded to melt all of our minds. The new theme park genuinely looks straight out of an old Mario Bros. NES console game, complete with towering green pipes, speckled piranha plants, and more gold coins than one minuscule Italian plumber could ever hope to earn.

Unfortunately (albeit understandably), Super Mario Land's initial opening — intended for last spring — has been indefinitely postponed because of... well, obvious reasons, but appears on track to hopefully open its gates in early 2021. And, to get everyone even more hyped (if that's possible), the Japanese newspaper, The Sankei News, recently published new aerial photos of the park. Ready yourselves, folks...

Literally beyond belief — It's... beautiful. But, also, it's almost literally unbelievable. The level of attention and detail to capturing that brightly colored, retro Mario Bros. artwork is so good, we at first thought we were looking at a miniature display model of the theme park's concept, and not the actual location. Rest assured, however, that is indeed a very nearly complete Super Nintendo World, ready to supplant Disney as the Most Magical Place in the World. Here, have another look from a different angle. Because you're worth it.

Here we go!The Sankei Times

The closer we look and the more details we take in the more excited we get. Bowser's Castle looks like it's been plucked straight out of an N64. That Mario Kart ride has us doing our best excited Yoshi impression. Heck, even the yellow pathways are perfect. If there was ever a reason to fast track a COVID-19 vaccine (apart from, you know, the good of all humanity and the countless lives it'll save), it's to make sure we aren't faced with any further delays to our being able to get to this wonderland.

We're also literally salivating at the park's food offerings which leaked earlier this year. There's a second park planned for Los Angeles, but that will require that we wait even longer. And folks, that may be asking too much.

Okay. We know that, realistically, we won't be able to be our best selves at Super Nintendo World anytime soon, so in the meantime, we'll just have to be content with dressing the part. At the very least, it's reason enough to get back into some Mario games, even Super Mario Sunshine, which we still stand by.