Nintendo Museum

The Nintendo Museum, which opened in October 2024 on the site of a former Nintendo factory in Uji just south of Kyoto, is a pilgrimage destination for anyone who grew up with a controller in hand. It is the company’s first official museum, and it tells the improbable, century-plus story of how a small Kyoto maker of hanafuda playing cards became one of the most influential entertainment companies on earth. For fans of Mario, Zelda, Pokémon and Donkey Kong, it is close to hallowed ground.

The heart of the museum is its upstairs gallery, a chronological wall of Nintendo history displaying an astonishing near-complete collection of the company’s products. Here you can trace the lineage in physical objects: the early playing cards and toys, oddities from Nintendo’s experimental decades, the Game & Watch handhelds, the Famicom and NES, the Game Boy, the Nintendo 64, the GameCube, the Wii, the DS, the Switch and everything in between. Seeing them all in one continuous sweep is a powerful lesson in how relentlessly the company reinvented itself.

Downstairs, the experience turns hands-on and playful. Rather than conventional arcade cabinets, the museum uses a system of “coins”—a set number included with admission—that visitors spend on oversized, reimagined versions of classic Nintendo experiences. There are giant controllers requiring two people to operate together, a Zapper light-gun shooting gallery scaled up to room size, a game that reads your body movement, and interactive stations that let you build and play. The emphasis is on the joy of play itself, exactly as Nintendo would want.

The museum also celebrates the craft behind the products. Exhibits explore the design philosophy of legendary creators, the evolution of the hanafuda cards that started it all—visitors can even take a workshop to make their own—and the ingenuity that runs through Nintendo’s toys and games. A cafe serves themed food, and the gift shop stocks exclusive merchandise found nowhere else, which for many fans is reason enough to visit.

The single most important thing to know is that you cannot simply turn up. Admission is strictly by advance ticket, allocated through a monthly lottery-style application with timed entry slots, and demand vastly exceeds supply. You must secure your date well before your trip and cannot buy at the door. Plan your Kyoto itinerary around your ticket, not the other way around.

Getting there takes you into Uji, a historic tea town also famous for Byodo-in temple and The Tale of Genji, so a museum visit pairs naturally with an Uji day trip. Ride the Kintetsu Kyoto Line to Ogura Station, a few minutes’ walk away, about twenty-five minutes from Kyoto Station. For gaming fans, the Nintendo Museum is simply unmissable—a beautifully realised tribute to a company that shaped modern childhoods worldwide.