Super Nintendo World Key Challenge 360° Photo Report

On our recent visit to Super Nintendo World at Universal Studios Hollywood, my daughter and I were able to participate in the Key Challenge to try to beat Bowser Junior.  Check out some 360° photos from around the different games below.

Super Nintendo World, which is a very interactive land within the Universal Studios Hollywood theme park, and opened earlier this year, invites guests to become part of the game! 

Around the land, you can find interactive coin boxes, touch points, games and more!  In order to participate in the interaction, you’ll need to first purchase a $40 wrist band!  These can be purchased at any of the Nintendo 1-Up shops around the Universal campus.  Not sure why you can’t order online and have it ready before you get there, but you can’t. 

Therefore, I recommend, if at all possible, to head to Universal City Walk the night before you want to go to Super Nintendo World and purchase from the 1-Up shop there.  The store keeps them behind the counter, so go to the register to purchase. Once purchased, there is a little bit of setup, which is why it’s better to purchase ahead of time. 

While the price seems crazy, and it is, the wrist band allows users to compete against others within their group, as well as the rest of the guests in the park at the same time. 

The wrist band also allows you to play games that are called Key Challenges.  Within Super Nintendo World, there are 4 Key Challenge games, or games that allow you to collect a key.  Collect three keys and you’ll get to access the Bowser Jr Challenge!

Let’s take a look at each of the Key Challenge games.

The first one, seen above, is the Koopa Troopa POWer Punch.  Here, you use your wrist band to punch a POW box and try to upend a turtle with a turtle shell spinning back and forth through a pipe. Neither my daughter or I were able to beat the turtle, you get 3 tries, but we received a key anyway just for playing. 

The second Key Challenge is the Piranha Plant Mishap.  This is one of two challenges where you can team up to defeat the challenge.  The challenge here is that several alarm clocks are ticking all around you and your team must stop all the clocks before they wake up the giant Piranha Plant! 

When the clock is red, you have to pound the top of the clock to disable the alarm.  Unfortunately, the alarms continue to turn themselves back on until time is about up! When time expires, each participant can scan their band to collect their key. 

The third key challenge is the Thwomp Panel Panic.  I unfortunately messed up my recording of this challenge so I don’t have a picture.  This game is a large touch panel filled with blue and yellow boxes. The second game where you can work as a team, your goal is to get all the boxes to show the same color.  Once complete, all the participants can scan for their key. 

The final key challenge is the Goomba Crazy Crank.  In this challenge, each player turns a crank to try to knock a Goomba off a spinning log.  We didn’t play this game, so the above picture is the closest I got to the game. 

Once you have three keys, you can then head to the castle of Bowser Jr!  At the door, a guard stands by as people make their way to the castle.  The guard has players scan their band to see if they have the three keys necessary to unlock the door!

If you’re unfamiliar with the need for three keys, it’s kind of a letdown when the lock doesn’t open!  However, for us, it opened and we were on our way into the depths of the evil Bowser Jr’s castle! 

Walking through the castle, be sure to keep your eye out for the wrist band touch points. My daughter found one that didn’t stick out.  Maybe you can find it in the picture above.

Prior to competing against Bowser Jr, 12 players were brought together and shown an introduction video with instructions on how to play against Bowser Jr.

The game itself is interesting.  You become a shadow on a big screen where you have to knock away bombs, dodge bullets and shoot fireballs at Bowser Jr. If you get hit by a bullet, you shrink, like Mario would.  Then a mushroom power up comes along to make you big again. After a little bit of training, Bowser Jr shows up and everyone works together to defeat this evil power. 

As you can see in the above picture, your reward is a golden mushroom!  The prize ends up in your online account with all the other coins and prizes you’ve collected throughout your adventures.

Overall, the best part about Super Nintendo World is the interaction you have using the wrist bands.  Without the band, you can still do a few things like go on the Mario Kart ride, meet the characters and enjoy the views of such a beautiful land, however, being able to collect coins, keys, and prizes and going head to head against Bowser Jr really makes the trip worth it, in my opinion.  It may not be for everyone, but definitely purchase the band, at least for some in your group.  If the cost is too high, you can share it with others and be a team!

Do you have any plans to visit Universal Studios Hollywood and Super Nintendo World anytime soon?  What are your thoughts on the wrist bands and games?  Comment below to let us know!

If you’re ready to start exploring a Walt Disney World or Disneyland family vacation, I recommend checking out Undercover Tourist for your ticket options. I’ve already used them twice, once at Disneyland and once at Disney World and will plan to continue comparing their prices with other sites, however I usually come back to UT because they have the best deals and their instructions make it easy to add your tickets to the Disney apps.