/ Last October the Japanese gaming giant Nintendo opened an interactive museum in one of
its former facilities in Kyoto /

The city of Kyoto, Japan, has a new attraction that especially video game enthusiasts shouldn’t miss. We’re talking about the Nintendo Museum, which opened on October 2 in the southern outskirts of the city: an interactive museum dedicated to the glorious history of the Japanese video game giant, its iconic products, and the sophisticated technologies that made them possible.

Not everyone knows that Nintendo was founded in 1889 in Kyoto as a playing card manufacturer (the building that houses the museum was actually its old factory dedicated to this activity). Only later the focus switched on creating mechanical and electronic games, before entering the video game universe in the 1970s, with the launch of “TV Game 15” and “TV Game 6” in 1977.

The exhibition space is divided into thematic areas and includes experiential areas suitable for all ages where, through play, visitors discover the variety of Nintendo’s production and how it has evolved over the decades. On the building’s first floor, using special tokens, visitors can enjoy games inspired by successful products in the Japanese company’s history, such as “Ultra Hand” and “Love Tester,” 2 games released in the 1960s. Particularly popular are the Nintendo Classics experience, which allows playing over 80 famous games for NES, SNES, and Nintendo 64 consoles, and Big Controller, where pairs of visitors can try equally famous games from the past using XXL-format consoles.

In tribute to the Japanese company’s origins, a Craft & Play area dedicated to playing cards has also been set up: a kind of workshop that first leads guests to create their own Hanafuda cards (which will also be a nice souvenir to take home) and then learn the game rules and try playing the games, but limited to version 2.0 as it’s supported by technology.

According to Nintendo, the museum’s exhibits will evolve over time, with the addition of new products as they are released by the Japanese company.

Continue reading Games & Parks Industry January 2025, page 40

Photos Courtesy: Nintendo

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