Super Mario, Nintendo Rides Coming To Universal Theme Parks

(RTTNews) - You might soon be able to have a roller coaster ride based on F-Zero or play in a real-world recreation of Super Mario Kart in Universal theme parks. Yes, Nintendo's colorful video game characters will now appear in rides at Universal theme parks.

Nintendo Co. Ltd.'s (NTDOY.PK) and Universal Parks & Resorts said that they plan to create "spectacular, dedicated experiences based on Nintendo's wildly popular games, characters and worlds" at Universal theme parks.

"The immersive experiences will include major attractions at Universal's theme parks and will feature Nintendo's most famous characters and games. More details will be announced in the future, as the Nintendo and Universal creative teams work to create specific concepts," the two companies said.

The deal will enable Nintendo to expand the reach and popularity of its characters and intellectual property.

Nintendo was earlier said to be considering licensing its characters to Hollywood, aiming for more revenue. Last May, Nintendo's CEO Satoru Iwata reportedly told that the company was opening up to letting other companies use Mario, Zelda, and other characters.

In mid-March, Nintendo said it is making games for smart phones and other mobile devices after it signed a deal with Japanese mobile gaming giant DeNA Co. Ltd. Until then, Nintendo had stuck to its strategy of developing a games portfolio for its own home and portable gaming consoles such as Nintendo's 3DS, Wii U, Wii, and DS handhelds.

Popular games such as Mario, Zelda and Pokémon will soon be released for mobile devices by Nintendo. The popularity of the smartphones and tablets had set the company thinking about adapting its hugely popular back catalogue of games for the mobile devices game market.

Nintendo said in late March that rumors about a live-action series based on Nintendo's Legend of Zelda franchise by Netflix Inc. (NFLX) was inaccurate. Nintendo's Zelda is a huge franchise and one of the most popular videogame series of all time.