Japan Gets All The Cool Toys: 'Mario Kart VR,' 'Dragon Ball VR' Debut At Japanese VR Arcade

Nintendo held its E3 2017 press event today (more on that here, here, and here), but the most exciting piece of Nintendo-related news didn’t come from the company's own event. In fact, the most exciting news didn’t even come from Nintendo itself. By far the wildest Nintendo-related news from today--in our humble opinion--is that Mario Kart exists in virtual reality form. We’re equally excited for fans of the "Dragon Ball" anime series, too because there's also a Dragon Ball VR game.

A VR arcade called VR Zone Shinjuku opened its doors today in Shinjuku Japan, and its selection of VR titles is impressive. VR Zone Shinjuku offers thrilling experiences such as Height Fear Show, which tests your tolerance for extreme heights, and Despair Jungle, in which you must outrun dinosaurs in a jungle. VR Zone Shinjuku also offers licensed VR experiences of world famous properties, such as "Dragon Ball" and Mario Kart.

The VR attractions at VR Zone Shinjuku come equipped with Vive Business Edition VR headsets and custom-tailored accessories for each experience. Despair Jungle pairs with a VR treadmill system; Height Fear Show pairs with a harness system for safety, and to enhance the experience; and you can sit in a cockpit simulator to play a spaceship game called The Soul of the Soul. The Mario Kart Arcade VR and Dragon Ball VR experiences also include specialty peripherals.

The Mario Kart Arcade VR kiosks feature racing seats, steering wheels, and pedals inside a pod that’s dressed up as a kart from the Mario Kart game series. VR Zone Shinjuku offers multiple Mario Kart pods which are connected for multiplayer races against other patrons.

The Dragon Ball VR experience is set up on large kiosk pods to give you room to safely move around and swing your arms. This experience also features wrist-mounted devices that track your wrist movement to allow you to fire Kamehame Waves. VR Zone Shinjuku said that Dragon Ball VR offers a multiplayer mode which allows you to battle others, and you can also play a single-player training mission.  

Bandai Namco makes the VR experiences at VR Zone Shinjuku, but we’re not sure if they are available to other VR arcades. The Mario Kart Arcade VR game is an adaptation of Bandai Namco’s Mario Kart license for arcade cabinets. Bandai also holds the distribution license for "Dragon Ball" video games. It’s entirely possible that these games will see wider distribution in the future, but for now, you can only play them in Shinjuku.

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