The Nintendo Museum - Final Hour of Our Visit
After immersing ourselves in the main exhibits of the Nintendo Museum (see previous parts of this trip report here and here), closing time approached—and one very important task remained: choosing what to buy at the museum store.
As we left the interactive area on the lower floor, we passed through a corridor lined with display windows containing historic Nintendo artifacts. These included console prototypes, old marketing materials, and photographs of game and card production processes over time.
Sadly, this area also has a strict "no photography" policy, so the few images shown here come from Nintendo’s official press kit.
The displays are organized in reverse chronology, moving further back in time as you walk. The final showcase is especially memorable: a large wooden cupboard with sliding doors and dozens of drawers labeled for different hanafuda card sets.
This cupboard originally stood in Nintendo’s former headquarters on Shōmen-dōri in Kyoto—now the Marufukuro hotel—making it a fitting conclusion to our journey through Nintendo’s history: back to where it started.
Mounted nearby is a framed piece of calligraphy that once hung in another Nintendo office and has now found a home in the museum. It features two of the three kanji from the company’s name—「任」and「天」—expressing the idea of trusting fate and “leaving luck to heaven.”
Exit Through the Gift Shop
And now, the moment of truth for our wallets. Stepping into the gift shop—cheekily called the "Bonus Stage"—we were immediately overwhelmed by the options.
A staggering 145 unique items were available (yes, I counted), all exclusive to the museum. Buying one of everything would set you back ¥335,885 (yes, I counted that too).
Since opening day, the selection has grown even further, with more items added in 2025.
Some products feature the Nintendo Museum logo—glasses, hats, cookies, and more.
One standout item is the exclusive Phoenix (鳳凰) hanafuda set, sold for ¥9,900 and produced specifically for the museum at Nintendo’s Uji factory.
The cards have gold embossing, and come in a beautiful presentation box.
A companion Phoenix Hyakunin Isshu card set with golden backs is also available, priced at ¥16,500.
Fans of vintage Nintendo will appreciate the remake of the 1966 Ultra Hand, available for ¥7,480. (More on that one here).
Most merchandise centers around Nintendo’s video game platforms, with designs spanning 15 different systems—from the 1983 Famicom to the 2017 Switch.
Versions with NES and SNES branding cater to international visitors.
As this was opening day, all items were in stock, and there were no quantity limits. We saw many people leaving with as much stuff as they could carry.
Unsurprisingly, this shopping frenzy led to sellouts (and many items appearing on Yahoo and Mercari auction sites within hours of the museum's opening ) and prompted the museum to introduce purchase limits.
Even with restrictions, the variety of items means tough decisions must be made. Do I get a mug? Which one? All of them?
Among the most eye-catching items are giant cushions, styled after controllers for the Famicom, Super Famicom, Nintendo 64, and Wii. Beautiful, but not easy to fit in a suitcase, so I skipped that one.
There truly is something for everyone—even game box art stickers.
We weren’t the only ones who’d saved their shopping for last. The Bonus Stage was packed, with dozens scrambling to fill their baskets before the museum closed for the day.
A long checkout line snaked around the shop and out the entryway.
The staff worked tirelessly to handle orders efficiently but with care. Every purchase was double-checked before being packed and rung up.
And so ended our first visit to the museum—on its very first day open to the public.
We left with our minds full of wonderful memories…
…and an XL bag full of wonderful goodies.
Winding Down at Omoide Bar Cassette
Around seven in the evening, we were ready for a drink. We headed to a cozy little spot called Omoide Bar Cassette (思い出バー カセット), advertised as:
This bar overflows with Famicom memories. It's a not a game bar, it's a memory bar.
The bar is located on the fourth floor of a building not far from Ogura Station—making it an ideal destination after visiting the Nintendo Museum.
Judging by the number of museum-branded bags parked at the entrance, we clearly weren’t the only ones with that idea.
The bar is quite small, but we were lucky to find a few free seats at the counter.
It’s run by Fukada-san (深田 洋介), a passionate Famicom enthusiast who authored a book titled Memory of Family Computer (ファミコンの思い出, ISBN 978-4904292242). You can follow him on Twitter: @fkdysk.
Earlier that day, Fukada-san had also visited the Nintendo Museum—and he served us snacks on plates he had just purchased at the gift shop.
He even treated us to cake specially commissioned from a local bakery to commemorate the museum’s opening day.
While there, we also met fellow Nintendo historian Orochi-san (オロチ), known online as The Famicom Archivist (Twitter: @oroti_famicom, his site here).
He surprised us with a copy of his book Lost Famicom Cultural Heritage: The World of Shop Stickers (失われたファミコン文化遺産 ショップシールの世界).
Even more impressive—his wife, a pastry chef, had prepared a set of beautiful cookies decorated with edible Nintendo logos.
The logos were taken from the cover of Nintendo’s 2016 company guide.
Her craftsmanship was remarkable. Though almost too beautiful to eat, we were encouraged to try them—and they tasted just as amazing as they looked. (We did save a few as keepsakes.)
Night Falls in Kyoto
After a few rounds of beer and lots of conversation about the day’s events, fatigue started to set in. Our long day had started with breakfast at Marufukuro (see Part 2), and it was time to return to the hotel.
On the train back to Kyoto Station, we saw fellow museum visitors—easy to spot thanks to their large grey shopping bags—dispersing across the city.
Back at my hotel room, well past midnight, my mind was still spinning from everything we had experienced. To process it all, I posted a long thread on Twitter (reproduced here).
The next morning, I discovered that the post had gone viral—quickly approaching one million views. Clearly, a lot of people were just as eager to get a glimpse of the Nintendo Museum.
To top it off, we made the front page of Yahoo! News Japan, one of the country’s most visited news sites.
The report about the museum’s opening featured a photo of our group posing in front of the entrance, with the caption:
There were also people who came from overseas
A month after our visit, Florent dedicated his column in Nintendo Dream magazine (issue 12 of 2024) to our experience.
It perfectly covers our impressions of that remarkable day.
Although our first museum visit was now behind us, the incredible Nintendo week in Kyoto wasn’t over yet. Stay tuned for the next part of the report—in which we meet and honor some true Nintendo luminaries.
(Previous parts can be found here: part 1, part 2, part 3 and part 4).
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