One series most people would never consider to have a location based on a real place would have to be Paper Mario, and yet one keen Twitter user has found a specific place in the latest title, Paper Mario: The Origami King, that is undoubtedly based on a real world location.
Super Mario Broth on Twitter shared his discovery that the location Shogun Studios in Paper Mario: The Origami King is, in fact, based on a real life Japanese theme park. The park, which is called “Edo Wonderland Nikko Edomura”, is meant to be a recreation of what life was like in a traditional Japanese village during the Edo era of Japan, which took place between 1600-1860. The architectural aesthetic of Shogun Studios also seems to match that same era.
The similarities are more than just the visuals, though, as Mario Broth lists many more connections between the two parks. For one, the Japanese name for Shogun Studios is “Oedo Land”, which is a direct reference to the real park’s name “Edo Wonderland.” Both feature a cast that who dress up and act like villagers from that time period. In terms of attractions, they each have a large theater, area where park guests can throw shuriken, and put on period appropriate clothing for photographs.
If that all still seems circumstantial, probably the biggest piece of evidence is in connection between the ninja themed attractions. In Paper Mario: The Origami King you can visit a large mansion in Shogun Studios called “House of Tricky Ninjas.” In the real world park of Edo Wonderland there is a very similar attraction called “Ninja Trick House.”
Clearly the developers had a lot of love for this particular theme park and were inspired to recreate it in their latest Mario title. While the reference may be lost to many who play the game outside of Japan, it still serves as one of the game’s most entertaining chapters. Plus, who knows, maybe it will inspire some people to take a trip to visit the real park.
