Universal Studios Super Nintendo World™ Mario Kart AR Glasses
UPDATE: Now at Universal Studios Hollywood!
Lucky guests enjoyed the soft opening of Super Nintendo World at Universal Studios Hollywood. Guests had the opportunity to try out the state-of-the-art, AR-enhanced, Mario Kart ride in advance of the February 17 grand opening.
Super Nintendo World™ Japan
A main attraction at Super Nintendo World Japan is Koopa’s Challenge. It’s a state-of-the-art, AR-enhanced ride that feels like you’re playing Super Mario Kart from within the game. Tact worked with Universal Studios to develop a headset styled like a Mario visor to which AR lenses attach. The headset looks like fun game paraphernalia, but it’s actually very critical to how the ride works. It allows the portion of the AR headset that touches skin to be easily washed en masse while the AR lenses and electronics stay attached to the ride. The user can adjust the headset for a good fit while still in the ride queue and then snap the lenses on quickly with little instruction upon sitting in the ride car. Developing a foolproof attachment strategy for the lenses was really a fun problem to solve. We used some cleverly designed geometry on the sides of the headset to guide the lens unit into position where a specially designed mechanism intuitively self-aligns the two parts for a perfect coupling.
One of the first major park rides to incorporate AR, the technology is ideally suited for its video game theme. Passengers wear Mario caps that have see-through visors onto which computer-generated imagery is projected. Users see the media and experience it as if it exists in the scenic environment. It’s a breakthrough for theme park storytelling.
