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Super Nintendo World opens in Osaka, Japan - CNN

Posted: 18 Mar 2021 12:16 AM PDT

Osaka, Japan (CNN) — Children and adults alike waited in line for their turn to experience the world's first Super Nintendo World and its life-sized Mushroom Kingdom, which opened Thursday at Universal Studios Japan in Osaka.

Many wore the iconic red Mario hat, while others were decked head-to-toe in Nintendo memorabilia.

Minutes after the attendees were let in, lines formed to get pictures with Mario, Luigi, Princess Peach and Toad.

Sisters Mika and Yuko Kobayashi -- one wearing a Yoshi headband while carrying a Mario doll -- said they became emotional when they first walked into the new park. They've been playing Nintendo Games since they were kids, they said. One added that "it's not an exaggeration to say that Mario raised me."

Sporting a Princess Peach headband, Sakura Konohana said the park "is beyond my expectations. I feel like I'm in the Mario world."

While attendees are allowed to interact with the characters -- who speak in their video game-sounding voices -- they can't touch them due to coronavirus protocols. So, for now, there's no high-fiving or hugging. In comparison, Disney parks currently are not allowing character photos amid the pandemic.

Covid-19 restrictions at Universal Studios Japan include temperature checks at the entrance, mandatory mask-wearing, hand sanitizer everywhere, social distancing in line, and signs in front of roller coasters asking riders to refrain from screaming.

This last request isn't limited to Super Nintendo World. A group of Japanese theme parks asked visitors to "scream in their hearts" instead of out loud last summer in a story that went viral.

Capacity is limited to 10,000 people per day, or about half of pre-COVID visitors, according to park officials.

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Costumed characters greet guests on the park's opening day.

Noriko Yoshinaka took the first train from Kyoto Thursday morning in order to be at the park on opening day.

"I'm scared when I take off my mask to eat food," Yoshinaka said. "But the park seems to take safety protocols, cleaning the rides and wiping surfaces every time people touch them, so I feel safe."

Many fans said they are most excited about Koopa's Challenge: a real-life Mario Kart race through Bowser's Castle. Riders have to wear augmented-reality headsets to see the projections of other characters and the track as well as to collect coins and to throw items.

In addition to conventional rides, the entire Super Nintendo World is an immersive game in which guests can compete against other gamers in the park.

Just in like in the video game, visitors can jump up and punch "question blocks" and collect virtual coins. Guests can also purchase Power-up Bands, a wristband that can be linked to a smartphone app, where they can store these virtual coins and keys.

Super Nintendo World cost about half a billion dollars to construct and more than six years to develop. The gaming industry -- and Nintendo especially -- got a big boost during the pandemic, as people in lockdown increasing turned to Nintendo games for escapism.

For Nintendo, this is an important step beyond its core business of video games and consoles. The company is cashing in on its trove of intellectual property and iconic characters, with Nintendo items in gift shops across the theme park.

"They are in a decades-long strategy of going from being a video game company to an entertainment company" by expanding into mobile games, movies, theme parks and merchandise, said David Gibson, analyst at Tokyo-based Astris Advisory.

Visitors strap in to enjoy the Koopa's Challenge ride.

Philip Fong/AFP/Getty Images

This opening comes as the global theme park industry is struggling. Theme parks are re-opening in a patchwork around the world. There are plans to open Super Nintendo Worlds in California, Singapore and Florida. In Orlando, the opening has reportedly been delayed until 2025.

Last year, Comcast executive Stephen Burke said Nintendo "is one of the biggest potential drivers of attendance that you could have of any kind of IP. It's up there with Harry Potter."

Super Nintendo World was originally set to open last summer ahead of the Tokyo 2020 Olympic games. Both have been pushed back by about a year and along with the Olympics, Super Nintendo World was expected to attract an influx of tourists and boost economic activity.

Japan's borders are still closed, so international travelers can't come to the park yet. Osaka's state of emergency was only lifted earlier this month, and Tokyo is still under the declaration.

At the opening ceremony, Mario creator Shigeru Miyamoto said he hopes the whole world can visit the park when the pandemic is over.

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OnePlus 9 Pro includes fast 50W wireless charging - The Verge

Posted: 18 Mar 2021 05:00 AM PDT

It's not often that the actual spec is better than the rumor, but that's the case here: the OnePlus 9 Pro supports 50W wireless charging — a little faster than the 45W rumor we reported on earlier this year. We've been able to test drive this feature ahead of the phone's official debut on March 23rd and can confirm: the 9 Pro offers really, really fast wireless charging.

OnePlus claims that the phone will charge wirelessly (with the new Warp Charge 50 charger) from 1 to 100 percent in 43 minutes, and our own testing confirmed this down to the minute. That's a big boost over the OnePlus 8 Pro's 30W wireless charging, which supplied a 50 percent charge in 30 minutes. The improvements aren't limited to wireless charging, or the 9 Pro for that matter; the 9 and 9 Pro have 65W wired charging that takes the battery from empty to full in 29 minutes. While the base model OnePlus 9 doesn't get those fast wireless speeds, it can be used with the new charger at up to 15W. Additionally, both the 9 and 9 Pro support standard Qi wireless charging at 15W.

Fast charging has definitely been OnePlus' "thing" for a while, and according to Kinder Liu, COO and head of R&D, it's been a hit with customers. "Since introducing our first fast-charging technology with the OnePlus 3, we have heard a lot of positive feedback, with many OnePlus users saying it has fundamentally changed the way they charge their devices. They can simply top up for a day's charge while getting ready in the morning instead of charging overnight."

The OnePlus 9-series uses a twin-cell battery design first introduced in the 8T, which is part of the 9 Pro's formula for achieving such fast wireless charging speeds: each cell is charged at 25W simultaneously. OnePlus uses higher voltage power, which produces less heat than using higher amps and avoids frying the phone by channeling the power through a proprietary charge pump.

The 9 Pro's twin-cell battery design also helps mitigate the heat produced by wireless charging, along with some other design tweaks to help with heat dissipation, like thicker copper foil and a larger heatsink. There's also a key feature on the charger itself that we were grateful for in our testing: a fan. The added fan noise isn't ideal if the charger is on your nightstand, but for the Pro 9 owner who wants to keep their nighttime charging routine, there's support for quieter charging during bedtime mode.

The newly designed charger also includes two charging coils, making it possible to charge the phone in either horizontal or vertical orientation. That's useful if you want to multitask your charging time and watch a video, too, which OnePlus says shouldn't affect charging speed. We couldn't confirm that in our initial testing, but it's something we'll be following up on. As for the cost of the charger, we don't have pricing yet, but last year's Warp Charge 30 chargers didn't come cheap — the pad version was introduced at $69.95 and the stand version for $79.95.

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