After the theme park opened in Osaka in 2021, Nintendo is getting a museum of its own. The two-story building, with its white walls pixilated in grey, officially opens on Wednesday, October 2, providing a playful, nostalgic immersion into the world of the Japanese gaming giant through a rich collection of admirably preserved toys and a wide range of activities based on the consoles that conquered the world.

It is an opportunity to learn "more about our desire to invent experiences that give pride of place to play and creativity, two values inherent to Nintendo," said Shigeru Miyamoto. The man dubbed the "Walt Disney of video games," who joined Nintendo in 1977 after graduating from the Kanazawa University of Fine Arts (south of Tokyo), is the father of the Zelda and Mario characters, among others.

He played a major role in the design of the site near Ogura station in Uji, south of Kyoto. The venue, set up in the former Hanafuda and Karuta playing card factory – the first activity of the group born in 1889 – is decorated in the colors of the famous plumber, with green piping, yellow "question mark" blocks and even a little Toad at the entrance.

In a vast circular gallery dominated by replicas of the group's many consoles, Game & Watch and Famicom, the museum's second floor is devoted to all the company's products. Among them you can admire boxes of Donkey Kong, one of the first arcade games to feature a narrative, Zelda, whose adventures were inspired by Miyamoto's own childhood wanderings in the countryside of Sonode – a stone's throw from Kyoto – where he was born in 1952, and of course Super Mario, the Italian in dungarees sporting a big moustache.

This is followed by a space dedicated to Nintendo's creations for "movement:" Power Pad, Exercise Bike and, most recently, Wii console. A little further along, the museum immerses us in the products that preceded video games. In addition to cards, Nintendo made board games, strollers and remote-controlled cars.

The launch of a "laser gun" led the company to arcade games, and then to consoles. Each of the latter, even the much-criticized Virtual Boy, has its own space and is displayed with its games, controllers and accessories. "If you look at our products, you can see that they all reflect a desire to create something unique," said Miyamoto.

The first floor is entirely dedicated to interactivity via "eight experiences." On entering the museum, visitors are given a card containing ten tokens to use in order to enjoy the visit. That requires a choice to be made, each using several tokens.

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