On Nov. 11, 2024, Nintendo held a theme park-related Nintendo Direct. This pre-recorded live-stream showcased the new Donkey Kong Country sub-land. It is coming to Universal Studios Japan’s Super Nintendo World on Dec. 11, 2024. The Direct featured Shigeru Miyamoto, the creator of Mario and other beloved Nintendo characters, touring the area. He walked around sharing all sorts of secrets and features that guests can expect to find. Here’s our comprehensive guide to everything covered:
The Entrance Tunnel
The original Super Mario Land area of Super Nintendo World features a giant green “warp pipe” as an entrance. When guests walk through the pipe, they see various lighting effects. These effects make them feel transported into another world.
The tunnel from Super Mario Land to Donkey Kong Country doesn’t feature any lighting effects. Instead, there is an obvious transformation from classic Mario blocks into jagged rocks. This is supposed to give off the feeling of moving into a jungle. As guests move through the tunnel, they’ll also start to hear music from the Donkey Kong games.
Upon exiting the tunnel, visitors will be presented with this view:
Landmarks from the Games
The area is made up of many locations those who’ve played the Donkey Kong games will recognize. One of these is Donkey Kong’s Tree House, where most of his adventures start.
In the back of the land is the Golden Temple, where the park’s main roller coaster is located. More on that later!
Interactive Activities
There are tons of smaller elements guests can interactive with in the original Super Nintendo World. This initiative has been carried over into Donkey Kong Country. One game is a rhythm-based conga activity for three players. The players must hit the congas in time with blinking lights on top of some crates. If they successfully do this, the top crate will open revealing Rambi, Donkey Kong’s rhino buddy.
Throughout the area, there will also be different letter panels. In the Donkey Kong Country games, these letters act as collectibles. Yet, in the theme park area, visitors can scan the letters. They will need the Super Nintendo World Power-Up Band to do so. Finding all the letters will unlock an unknown reward. These are just one of many secrets in the new area that can be unlocked with the Power-Up Bands.
Donkey Dining
One dining choice in Donkey Kong Country is Jungle Beat Shakes, which serves various banana-flavored delicacies. This includes the DK Crush Sundae, which pays homage to the original Donkey Kong arcade game.
There’s also the DK Wild Hot Dog, which is billed as a “special type of hot dog.” It looks like there’s many different toppings on it, but the only one specifically mentioned is avocado sauce.
Meet n’ Greet
At Donkey Kong’s Tree House, guests will actually be capable of meeting Donkey Kong! The ape’s costume looks absolutely massive, towering over Miyamoto in the video. As with most character meet n’ greets, people will be allowed to get their picture taken with the Kong.
Gifts with some Funk
Donkey Kong Country’s main gift shop is Funky’s Fly ‘n’ Buy. This is actually the name of the in-game shop where Funky Kong sells you items. When translating it over to a theme park shop, this of course means it sells exclusive merchandise. Donkey Kong and Diddy Kong plush were shown off, and they look adorable!
Mine Cart Madness
That’s the name for the main attraction in Donkey Kong Country. This roller coaster is located in the aforementioned Golden Temple. The ride queue features many small details, like Donkey Kong footprints in the pavement.
There was also this large monkey head statue. Miyamoto scanned it with the Power-Up Band. We’re uncertain what it actually did.
Further into the queue, there’s a large mural depicting various monkeys worshiping a banana. Miyamoto claims that this banana is “very important to them.” Perhaps it’ll show up in the ride?
There’s also another mural of the old Donkey Kong arcade game, except it looks ancient. This looks absolutely incredible, and Miyamoto looked so proud while showing it off. He was the one who created that game, after all!
Before boarding, guests will also find two animatronics. One is Squawks, a bird, and the other is Cranky Kong, an older ape related to Donkey Kong. Cranky explains part of the ride’s story. He says that guests must board the mine cart to chase the Tiki Tak Tribe away from the Golden Temple. This is to protect the Golden Banana, which is the banana in the earlier mural. The Tiki Tak Tribe are actually the main villains of the Donkey Kong Country Returns game, released in 2010. It’s cool to see them pull references from both older and newer parts of Donkey Kong’s history.
After the animatronics comes the ride station, where guests board their mine cart vehicles. The Direct then gave viewers a short preview of the ride’s pre-lift section and lift hill. The pre-lift turn out of the station features a Dixie Kong animatronic, which apparently is saying something to riders. The coaster then lifts up to the top of the temple, and launches out the canon. It proceeds throughout the rest of the ride layout, but that was left as a surprise for guests.
Opening in December
Once Miyamoto finished showing off the new area, J.L. Bonnier, the President and CEO of Universal Studios Japan came out to speak. He shared that Donkey Kong Country would officially open on Dec. 11, 2024. Miyamoto also mentioned that a Super Nintendo World featuring a Donkey Kong Country area is planned for Universal Epic Universe. It’ll open with the new Florida park in 2025.
For more information about Donkey Kong Country at Universal Studios Japan, check out the full Nintendo Direct here:
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