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News Universal Studios Japan and The Pokémon Company announce creative alliance.

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UNIVERSAL STUDIOS JAPAN AND THE POKÉMON COMPANY ANNOUNCE CREATIVE ALLIANCE TO DEVELOP NEW INTERACTIVE ENTERTAINMENT COMBINING INNOVATIVE TECHNOLOGY AND EXTRAORDINARY CREATIVITY. THE REAL AND VIRTUAL WORLDS WILL COME TOGETHER CREATING A NEW REVOLUTIONARY THEME PARK EXPERIENCE.

OSAKA (October 6, 2021) –USJ LLC (headquarters: Konohana-ku, Osaka-shi / President and CEO: J.L. Bonnier) and The Pokémon Company (headquarters: Minato-ku, Tokyo / President and CEO: Tsunekazu Ishihara) announced a new collaborative partnership between the two entertainment leaders. Universal Studios Japan and The Pokémon Company will enter a long-term partnership to jointly explore groundbreaking entertainment that will immerse guests into the world of Pokémon with innovative technology and creativity beginning in 2022.
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President and CEO of USJ LLC, J.L. Bonnier, and President and CEO of The Pokémon Company, Tsunekazu Ishihara, both commented on the joint partnership as follows.

◼J.L. Bonnier (President and CEO, USJ LLC)​

Pokémon is beloved by fans around the world. We are honored to have a long-term partnership with The Pokémon Company while developing groundbreaking Pokémon entertainment at Universal Studios Japan for both Pokémon fans and our guests. The globally popular Pokémon characters combined with Universal's innovative approach to creating authentic and one-of-a-kind theme park entertainment promise excitement for the entire family. Our efforts to develop new guest experiences will continue to help reinvigorate the tourism market.

◼Tsunekazu Ishihara (President and CEO, The Pokémon Company)​

The incredible team at Universal Studios Japan have the creative vision and leading expertise in world-class theme park technology to imagine a uniquely Pokémon experience. For 25 years, Pokémon has curated a legacy of trendsetting innovation while becoming one of the most beloved entertainment brands in the world through video games, animation, and more. This strategic alliance with Universal Studios Japan reflects our commitment to continue delivering the joy of Pokémon in ever evolving ways for years to come. We are looking forward to the day when we can welcome fans from around the world to all enjoy it together.
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Source: Universal Studios Japan
 
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This is excellent news. Super Nintendo World is already super exciting (once things are safer for international travel I absolutely plan on going to USJ to see it for myself), and I'd love to see what Universal could do with the Pokemon IP.

I wonder if this will just be a domestic initiative or if it'll eventually come to the U.S. parks. There's been rumors of Pokemon/Nintendo plans for years. I'd love to see it in a comparatively easier to reach location.
 
So that'll makes 3 Nintendo franchises present at Universal. Nice! I wonder if Pokemon will get a dedicated space at Universal's Japanese park-and if so, where they could possibly put it?
 
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This is really, really cool. Glad to hear it! Between Mario, DK, and now Pokemon, Nintendo is going to be well represented at Universal!!
 
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Hoping DK Land and the Pokémon stuff are in Florida whenever Epic Universe opens. Would make the lengthy wait worth it.
 
Pokemon must be the longest running "fad" - who would have thought that it would only get bigger and bigger so many years in.
 
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Mina said:
Hoping DK Land and the Pokémon stuff are in Florida whenever Epic Universe opens. Would make the lengthy wait worth it.
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I do believe both the Mario and DK themed parks are set to open in Orlando's Epic Universe in 2025! No idea if Pokemon factors in to that yet, but it would be awesome if it did!
 
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Pokémon is such a great franchise for a theme park (section). Just walking around an environment full of Pokémon would be a joy. Comfy Pokémon Snap atmospheres in real life.
 
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If it’s as early as 2022 i presume it will start off as something like a show or overlay of an existing ride . But hopefully long term implications is a full on land and obviously extension of this overseas.
 
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Very exciting to see this announced!

There's a lot to unpack here from the way this announcement was given to the current Pokemon rumors. I'll try to make a summary post later on what I think will happen here.
 
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Thinking about it, I know exactly what I would want Universal to do with a Pokemon expansion-create a small scale pokemon town like you would find in the first few generations of Pokemon games. You'd have a Pokemon Center and a Pokemart (or combine the two like later generations did), with a Pokemon Laboratory (which could lead into some sort of ride or attraction), a cafe with pokemon themed food, maybe a little area with fake tall grass or a small fake wooded area. You'd also litter the place with the kind of interactive animatronics they have in Nintendo World and tie them into an app for further interactivity (or maybe even Pokemon Go?).
 
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Doesn't sound like a new park expansion, probably will be like other temporary anime corners Universal Japan usually has.
 
Colocho said:
Doesn't sound like a new park expansion, probably will be like other temporary anime corners Universal Japan usually has.
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eh , the press release and public announcement of this seems way closer to what they did with the initial Nintendo announcement in 2015 than what the Universal Cool stuff has been . What comes in 2022 is likely to be something small like a parade show or event but this sounds like a long term partnership that’s been entered . Obviously no new lands are gonna be built or announced any time soon especially with Donkey Kong expansion now along the way but almost every notable theme park insider has heard of behind the scenes testing out of pokemon stuff from universal even before this announcement , so I would long term expect something more major to come .
 
Pandora said:
eh , the press release and public announcement of this seems way closer to what they did with the initial Nintendo announcement in 2015 than what the Universal Cool stuff has been . What comes in 2022 is likely to be something small like a parade show or event but this sounds like a long term partnership that’s been entered . Obviously no new lands are gonna be built or announced any time soon especially with Donkey Kong expansion now along the way but almost every notable theme park insider has heard of behind the scenes testing out of pokemon stuff from universal even before this announcement , so I would long term expect something more major to come .
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There are quite a few differences here compared to the 2015 press release. In 2015 they mentioned they would be developing major attractions, whereas for Pokemon that phrasing isn't used. Additionally, this Pokemon announcement was made with Universal Studios Japan, whereas the 2015 one came from Universal Parks & Resorts.
2015 PR

I do think this opens the door to a Pokémon land in the future, however right now they're only committed to temporary experiences at USJ, kind of similar to Universal Cool.
 
Gartooth said:
There are quite a few differences here compared to the 2015 press release. In 2015 they mentioned they would be developing major attractions, whereas for Pokemon that phrasing isn't used. Additionally, this Pokemon announcement was made with Universal Studios Japan, whereas the 2015 one came from Universal Parks & Resorts.
2015 PR

I do think this opens the door to a Pokémon land in the future, however right now they're only committed to temporary experiences at USJ, kind of similar to Universal Cool.
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I said closer , not exactly the same . The stated differences are obvious, still seems bigger and more notable than Universal Cool, hence the press release etc we got saying a long term partnership with entertainment experiences starting in 2022.

Fundamentally I just see no reason to downplay it at the moment lol, No one should be expecting a land or anything to be built before 2025+ USJ in particular likely can’t build anything without demoing something existing at the moment or retheming. But this is still likely more substantial long term.Even if it isn’t I’d rather speculate than dismiss the possibility.
 
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Pandora said:
I said closer , not exactly the same . The stated differences are obvious, still seems bigger and more notable than Universal Cool, hence the press release etc we got saying a long term partnership with entertainment experiences starting in 2022.

Fundamentally I just see no reason to downplay it at the moment lol, No one should be expecting a land or anything to be built before 2025+ USJ in particular likely can’t build anything without demoing something existing at the moment or retheming. But this is still likely more substantial long term.Even if it isn’t I’d rather speculate than dismiss the possibility.
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Ah, fair enough. lol

I agree though that the way this is communicated as a long term partnership does imply they want bigger things down the road.

I do wonder if there's some truth to the ThemeParkUniversity rumor of Pokémon taking over the New York area with a rethemed Spider-Man ride. Because the PR being specifically from USJ would line up with the rumor that Universal Parks & Resorts has cold feet on Nintendo expansions beyond Mario/DK until they can witness the market response to the current plans. Whereas USJ wanted to go ahead with Pokémon.
Pokemon rumor
 
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Yea I’ve seen that rumor , there’s parts of it that line up with what seems to be happening now . Though I still think retheming spider-man makes no sense and is unlikely to happen . Was at the time and still now more interested in what that article had to say about pokemon plans in orlando . which sounded weird (building another coaster for pokemon of all things sure sounds like a choice, even if a family coaster ) at the time but makes sense they were testing out concepts . still hope maybe the response to this gives the western side a wake up call on this .

Edit: looking at this article again for the first time in a while , they make note of nintendo having wanted more in the parks by now than there has been , which makes sense . they’ve have to contend with being delayed over epic universe and covid . Cold Feet or not I feel something has to give here and we get some stuff sooner than expected.
 
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How exciting! Once COVID is over there'll be plenty of reason to visit a Universal park now. Excited about how quickly expansions are being announced.
 


So Universal Orlando has signal boosted this announcement...

I guess Universal Studios Japan will be a test for if Universal brings Pokémon to their other parks?
 
I just hope this doesn't take 7+ years to result in Pokémon attractions coming to the US. (Heck, for Mario in Orlando it will take them 10 years) They announced Nintendo way too early, especially for the US parks.

It has been 6.5 years since the announcement of the deal between Universal and Nintendo, and about 5 years since SNW was announced for USJ, Hollywood, and Orlando and they started teasing the fans.
 
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To be fair, at least in Orlando, the Super Nintendo World plans were subject to a lot of delays and changes beyond just designing and building the land. We went from SNW replacing KidZone to SNW in Epic Universe in 2023 to COVID-19 delaying Epic Universe with a hopeful 2025 date. Those were some pretty extraordinary circumstances that could ideally be avoided in the future? I hope I'm not being too optimistic.
 
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I don’t think it’s ever gonna take this long again it’s just been a series of circumstances that’s pushed back SNW in orlando one after another , first it was going to be in kidzone as early as this year. But then they finally closed out the land acquisition of the southern campus and decided they needed basically everything they had been designing to be headliners for a new park . That was gonna be 2023 and then covid happened and pushed that back to “2025 latest” going off insiders .

Obviously knock on wood but I expect to see lots of movement on Nintendo properties once Epic Universe actually opens and suits actually see that Nintendo is successful and brings in guests to the parks. I still expect them to want to have a Nintendo based land in each of the parks and there’s lots of work to be done with USF (and even some lands to look at in IoA) once focus is off Epic Universe. I also really think Nintendo absolutely wanted more in the parks by now both in terms of time scale but also breadth of offerings than what we’ve gotten and Universal is going to want to make them happy.
 
Pandora said:
I don’t think it’s ever gonna take this long again it’s just been a series of circumstances that’s pushed back SNW in orlando one after another , first it was going to be in kidzone as early as this year. But then they finally closed out the land acquisition of the southern campus and decided they needed basically everything they had been designing to be headliners for a new park . That was gonna be 2023 and then covid happened and pushed that back to “2025 latest” going off insiders .

Obviously knock on wood but I expect to see lots of movement on Nintendo properties once Epic Universe actually opens and suits actually see that Nintendo is successful and brings in guests to the parks. I still expect them to want to have a Nintendo based land in each of the parks and there’s lots of work to be done with USF (and even some lands to look at in IoA) once focus is off Epic Universe. I also really think Nintendo absolutely wanted more in the parks by now both in terms of time scale but also breadth of offerings than what we’ve gotten and Universal is going to want to make them happy.
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Following up on the bolded, I wonder if they'll go through with the Zelda replacement for Lost Continent in IoA. As nostalgic as I am about the place, it was never the same after Harry Potter took over most of its land and its rides. Given how every other island is a known IP, it's a good spot to inject more interest into the park. I'd ideally want a bigger land for Zelda, but I'll take what I could get.

...I mean, you could cut the transphobe's IP outta the park and have Zelda also take over Harry Potter, but that's never gonna happen.
 
IoA is such a weird park , cause it has its gaps , Lost Continent is definitely a bit eh now , but between mythos and poseidon’s’ fury when it’s open , I kinda still find it very refreshing as a part of the park , and that’s without any nostalgia for what LC used to be . Ultimately IoA is still just a really good park and my fave in orlando, it never feels to me that it “needs” anything (besides dark rides) but I wouldn’t say no to more or a new land. Really unsure what they tackle after Epic Universe happens. USF is the park with a lot of time sensitive stuff happening right after Epic Universe opens .

They’re replacing (shrek and fear factor) or refurbing (the mummy) a good bit of stuff leading up to Epic Universe . But I still expect the first thing to go after EU is kidzone and I think the latest speculation there is that becoming a dreamworks/trolls area. But also I think come 2028 the simpson’s contract is up and honestly with Disney owning that now (and simpsons getting longer in the tooth) who knows what happens there . Then there’s MIB alien attack which is heavily approaching 20+ years in operation and unlike the mummy can’t as easily be refurbished . So i expect lots of movement in USF next .

I do think they add something to IoA and I could easily see zelda coming to Lost continent , I think it’s enough space to do something neat with it (honestly I just want the rumored boat ride and for them to maintain most of mythos’ menu). But with the two new coasters they added and generally IoA having a good set of rides compared to USF hard to imagine they touch it soon.

Honestly I think what most likely happens is this pokemon USJ stuff is a notable success and then Pokemon gets fast tracked for USF (or Epic Universe).
 
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Maybe whatever gets done for Pokemon for USJ can be placed into KidZone, but I imagine the current DreamWorks/Trolls plan is the way safer bet - less of a risk with IP Universal actually owns.

But you bring up other good points, too. I'm really curious to see if Disney would want to play ball with the Simpsons contract, or if Universal would rather not deal with it and would aim to retheme it. And I totally forgot about MIB. I can see Universal replacing it with another shooter ride, since that fits a nice niche and could still work with plenty of IP, but I'm curious to see what they have in mind.
 
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I kinda really personally want Simpsons to go , not sure what happens with the contract , Disney could just not renew it out of spite or something , though I doubt they personally have any plans to utilize the simpsons in their parks . I don’t know if Universal will think it’s worth the hassle or not , though I know that land makes a lot of food and merch sales . But the simpsons ride is dated and genuinely gives me a headache riding it and I think it would be a waste of time to replace that ride with something else simpsons based.

My ideal is that whole area goes and gets replaced with pokemon (I think but am not sure if that’s a bigger space to work with than kidzone) or idk I would even take it becoming Bikini Bottom or something .
 
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Pokemon I see either ending up in USF (don't know where though if it's not Kidzone) or it takes the future expansions plot next to Mario at Epic.

I kind of think it's smarter of them to not put Pokémon in the EU expansion plot because it's the biggest draw to another park they have after Mario. That expansion plot makes more sense for something like Kirby or Splatoon or whatever.
 
Perfect opportunity for them to make a Slowpoke themed roller coaster.

Wonder if this will be part of Super Nintendo World, or go in its own section?
 
Gartooth said:
Pokemon I see either ending up in USF (don't know where though if it's not Kidzone) or it takes the future expansions plot next to Mario at Epic.

I kind of think it's smarter of them to not put Pokémon in the EU expansion plot because it's the biggest draw to another park they have after Mario. That expansion plot makes more sense for something like Kirby or Splatoon or whatever.
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More so I really don’t want them to build out Epic Universe too quickly , we’ve spent decades with two parks that basically always needs demolition with construction walls up and no space to expand. I don’t want them to instantly fill the new space up without much thought and when the current parks do need some replacements still .
 
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Yeah, I'm not fond of the Simpsons either. I'd be up for a full replacement, but it's interesting as this sort of bargaining chip in the Disney/Universal park rivalry. It's no Marvel - I doubt Universal will take that out willingly unless they absolutely had to - but I wonder if any of them care enough to make some move to take it back or retain it.

Speaking of Disney IP, there's a part of me that would want to see Marvel Super Hero Island replaced with a Nintendo Sci-Fi Island. A Metroid dark ride, a Hulk coaster retheme to F-Zero Big Blue, that kinda thing. It's the kind of move that would absolutely NOT happen, Marvel is too valuable of an IP to give up to Disney, but it IS a shame that the current island is just a time capsule to an older Marvel, even though it still has some killer rides.

Clov said:
Perfect opportunity for them to make a Slowpoke themed roller coaster.

Wonder if this will be part of Super Nintendo World, or go in its own section?
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SNW is big enough for just Mario and DK at the moment. It'll almost certainly get it's own spot. I could see them doing cross branding to fit the worlds together (similar to all the Wizarding World stuff), but I could just as likely see Pokemon maintained as its own thing, just like in other pieces of media.
 
VolcanicDynamo said:
Yeah, I'm not fond of the Simpsons either. I'd be up for a full replacement, but it's interesting as this sort of bargaining chip in the Disney/Universal park rivalry. It's no Marvel - I doubt Universal will take that out willingly unless they absolutely had to - but I wonder if any of them care enough to make some move to take it back or retain it.

Speaking of Disney IP, there's a part of me that would want to see Marvel Super Hero Island replaced with a Nintendo Sci-Fi Island. A Metroid dark ride, a Hulk coaster retheme to F-Zero Big Blue, that kinda thing. It's the kind of move that would absolutely NOT happen, Marvel is too valuable of an IP to give up to Disney, but it IS a shame that the current island is just a time capsule to an older Marvel, even though it still has some killer rides.


SNW is big enough for just Mario and DK at the moment. It'll almost certainly get it's own spot. I could see them doing cross branding to fit the worlds together (similar to all the Wizarding World stuff), but I could just as likely see Pokemon maintained as its own thing, just like in other pieces of media.
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Makes sense. Even Nintendo's Tokyo store is seperate from the various Pokemon Centers... there's even one right across from it. They did have a crossover merch line though! I guess this will be something along those lines.
 
...dang, now you got me thinking about exclusive Pokemon park merch and my wallet is crying. I already don't know how I'm gonna control myself at the Mario part lol.
 
Kind glad I'm not really a merch person outside of pins, would buy whatever joke mickey mouse ears variants they make of pikachu ears and mario hats though. Where my wallet is gonna hurt is the food.
 
Pandora said:
Kind glad I'm not really a merch person outside of pins, would buy whatever joke mickey mouse ears variants they make of pikachu ears and mario hats though. Where my wallet is gonna hurt is the food.
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I got the Mario hat when they did that Super Nintendo World Challenge event at Grand Central back in February 2020. They had us all wear them and we got to keep them. It's plush and soft, would recommend even if it isn't the most practical as a a hat.

I didn't even consider the cute Pokemon dishes. They designed the heck outta the Mario ones, I'd love to see what they'd come up with.
 
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Merch is absolutely going to murder me. I want a powerup band, a character hat, and a tokotoko Mario already, and that's not even getting into DK merch.
 
Well, I was going to try to be patient and wait for Universal Orlando to open their Nintendo section, but between the Donkey Kong expansion and this, I may be booking a flight once an opening date is announced. Besides, it may be a nice change of pace from Americans at theme parks.

Like already stated, I’m hoping for a Pokemon Snap ride. If only they had the animatronic mastery of Disney to bring Pokemon to life.
 
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Not a fan of pokemon but glad Emily is here, please mods dont allow any of us to push "insiders" out of here like in the old place
 
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I forgot about the power up band , probably the only if that type of merch I will buy , though i guess any future nintendo land will also have some sort of interactive buy in .

The animatronics for Motorbike Adventure are pretty good so i’m confident universal could make a pokemon snap ride with quality animatronics . they’re actually pretty great with practical sets and effects when they actually want to be
 
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