Tap to Play: A Closer Look at Super Nintendo World’s Power-Up Bands

Super Nintendo World has opened at Universal Studios Hollywood, and it’s an impressive Mario theme park. We’ve looked at the incredible AR-driven Mario Kart: Bowser’s challenge ride, the fantastic decorations, and the mediocre food, but there’s an element of the park that deserves deeper exploration: the Power-Up Bands.

What Are Power-Up Bands?

(Credit: Will Greenwald)

Power-Up Bands are snap-on wristbands you can purchase while at Universal Studios Hollywood for an additional $40. Available in Mario, Luigi, Peach, Yoshi, Toad, and Daisy styles, they let visitors interact with different objects and activities around Super Nintendo World just by tapping them. Question mark blocks light up and make coin noises when you bump your hand against their undersides while wearing the band. Hidden pixel Mario and Bowser sprites glow on the wall when you tap the band against Mario logo marks. And, most inventively, the bands unlock key-collecting challenges that eventually let you fight Bowser Jr. in Bowser Jr.’s Shadow Showdown.

Chase Bowser Jr.

According to the lore of the park, Bowser Jr. stole a golden mushroom and it’s up to you to get it back. He hid it in his hideout, and the only way to get in is to find three of the four golden keys hidden behind challenges in Super Nintendo World. Golden key logos indicate there’s a challenge nearby (and a park staffer and a line leading up to the key are also good hints).

Koopa Troopa POWer Punch
(Credit: Will Greenwald)

Tapping your band against the key icon makes the nearby decorations spring to life and begins the associated short game you need to play in order to earn a key. Koopa Troopa POWer Punch makes a green Koopa shell bounce between pipes and you have to bump a POW block at the right time to make the shell shoot up through the pipe and grab the key. Piranha Plant Nap Mishap features a huge monster plant you need to prevent from waking up by running around and tapping alarm clocks that flash and ring.

Goomba Crazy Crank
(Credit: Will Greenwald)

Goomba Crazy Crank involves turning a crank to make the rolling hill under a goomba spin until the creature falls off. Finally, Thwomp Panel Panic has glowing question mark and exclamation point panels you need to tap to turn into the same color (this is the most difficult challenge, for me).

Bowser Jr.’s hoard of toys
(Credit: Will Greenwald)

When you win a challenge, tap the power band to the gold key icon again and the key will be registered to that band. With three keys, you can walk up to Bowser Jr.’s hideout and tap the lock. If it glows green, you can walk in and play Bowser Jr.’s Shadow Showdown.

People line up for Bowser Jr.’s Shadow Showdown
(Credit: Will Greenwald)

Shadow Showdown is another, more involved game than the smaller challenges. You (and about a dozen other key-collecting visitors) stand before a giant screen that projects your shadow on the wall. Bowser Jr. will fly around and you have to move to fight him. Dodging left and right lets you avoid bombs, jumping lets you hit blocks that give you power-ups, and waving your arms lets you throw fireballs. Eventually, you beat Bowser Jr. by throwing fireballs at him and knocking bombs into his clown car—then you can retrieve the golden mushroom! At least, virtually; you don’t actually get anything besides the enjoyment of running around a Mario theme park and playing games.

Track With the App

(Credit: Universal Studios)

The Universal Studios mobile app pairs up with the Power-Up Bands for even more opportunities for virtual score-tracking and bragging rights. By scanning the QR code on your band into the app, you can link them and watch your progress through the park on your phone. Coins you collect, challenges you complete, and even your rides on Mario Kart: Bowser’s Challenge all contribute to your daily score and unlock achievement-like stickers to collect in the app. The app itself also provides a map of Super Nintendo World and offers hints to where you can use the Power-Up Band to activate different activities and decorations.

The Secret Is NFC

So, how do Power-Up Bands work? They use near-field communication, or NFC. It’s the technology that enables tap-to-pay services like Apple Pay on phones and smartwatches, tap-to-enter hotel keys, and Nintendo’s Amiibo figures to unlock additional content in games. At the time of this writing, I was unable to confirm any details about the Power-Up Band technology other than the fact that they rely on NFC.

The information I scanned with Wak Dev’s NFC Tools app
(Credit: Wak Dev)

I was able to scan the Power-Up Band with Wak Dev’s NFC Tools(Opens in a new window) app on iOS, and it identified the NFC technology as a standard ISO 14443-3A NFC tag. It appears to be a Mifare Ultralight tag manufactured by NFC Semiconductors—which makes them standard NFC tags packed up in colorful and pricey snap bracelet shells. The park puts the well-established technology to some entertaining use, regardless.

Now We’re Playing With Power

(Credit: Will Greenwald)

The Power-Up Bands might seem like a stiff upsell at Universal Studios Hollywood, but they add a level of interactivity and app integration that we haven’t seen before in theme parks. They seem like an evolution of the electronic wands available at the Wizarding World attractions at Universal Studios parks, that can cast “spells” at certain points around the park to make decorations spring to life. The Power-Up Bands go even further with coins, scores, and actively allowing you to collect keys to unlock additional attractions.