During a visit to the new Nintendo Museum, one thing becomes clear: this is a place where your own nostalgia as a gamer is central.
Without Nintendo, we would no longer have games. About forty years ago, the bubble burst and games were suddenly barely sold, until suddenly the Japanese Nintendo introduced its first game computer. The Nintendo Entertainment System single-handedly revived the games market, after which Nintendo remained the driving force behind the entire industry for decades.
That alone is a good reason for a museum. It’s a place where Nintendo can showcase its rich history, which goes back far beyond the 1980s: back in 1889, the company started selling board games, playing cards and even baby strollers.
This history is displayed on the upper floor of the museum, near the station of an old industrial estate in Nintendo’s hometown of Kyoto. On October 2, the doors will open to the general public, I was the first Dutch person to go inside for Bright.
The building was built on the old site of their playing card factory and now consists of two floors. It is full of little easter eggs: the lockers at the entrance are large cartridges, the umbrella holders are marked Game Boys. The lonely drinks machine near the entrance is dressed as Kirby, making him look like a transformation from Kirby’s most recent game. Tiny Mario figures are placed on corners of the building, while small Pikmin creatures are hidden throughout the building.
Even the flops on display
On the top floor is the traditional museum: large, curved cabinets are dedicated to every old game console of the company, with boxes of their first releases and old, opened hardware. Both success stories and flops are discussed: for example, the Virtual Boy, Nintendo’s VR glasses that were taken off the market after a year due to complaints of headaches and nausea from customers, is proudly displayed in its own corner. If you look carefully, in a small corner of the museum space you will even find the flopped Mario film from 1993.
Two things stand out when you walk around the top floor. First, the collection of the NES, Nintendo’s first really big success story, was probably recently assembled by the company. Some boxes are creased and torn, or missing altogether. It actually paints a nice picture of Nintendo in the 80s: they too could not have predicted that they would become so big and therefore did not start their own collection. They had to buy it all those years later from collectors themselves.
Especially your own memories
The second thing that stands out is the lack of explanation in the museum. There are old magazine pages hanging here and there to nicely illustrate the era of a console, but nowhere are there accompanying text panels hung to provide additional explanation. According to Nintendo, ‘your own experience should be central’ when you visit the museum. For a gamer, that works perfectly: anyone with a little Nintendo knowledge immediately gets warm feelings when they see their first Game Boy or the box of that one Pokémon game you bought as a child.
On the other hand, the museum can be a bit confusing for non-gamers traveling with you. If you have no knowledge of the subject, you will see a large room full of game boxes and old game consoles, without any explanation as to why they were special. You must have been there.
Ancient prototypes
In a way, it feels like you’re visiting a retro game store in Japan, but with a more complete collection. It means you won’t find any huge surprises, which is a shame for the most die-hard fan: I myself had hoped for, say, a few video walls with interviews with Nintendo’s oldest design team, with insights we’ve never heard before.
The exception to the rule is a small corner with a few cool prototypes. For example, there is an experimental Nintendo DS, with two screens next to each other instead of on top of each other. And an early version of the GameCube, still marked with the code name ‘Dolphin’, whose handle looks a bit like the handle of an old cooler. The prototype corner was definitely my favorite corner of the museum, and as far as I’m concerned they could make it a lot bigger and more elaborate. To see what we mean, you’ll have to go to Japan yourself, because we weren’t allowed to take pictures there.
History to feel
The outer wall of the upper room is dedicated to Nintendo’s oldest history, starting in 1889. It’s a nice look back at the oldest days of the company, where you learn for example how they once made it big by selling board games for Disney. You feel that in the beginning they were really still searching and slowly started making more gadgets and the predecessors of games.
It also illustrates what the museum’s strongest point is: it’s a place where you can see history above all. There may not be any history texts next to the cabinets, but somehow it feels special to stand in front of the original old filing cabinet from the first Nintendo office. You feel the importance of everything that’s there, regardless of whether it’s explained to you.
Small games, big controllers
On the ground floor of the building you will find the game room where you will find some interactive activities. With the old Zapper guns for the NES and Super NES you can shoot on a gigantic screen, in a small Japanese living room you can play baseball with a ball launcher that the company made in the 70s. You can also play old classics with two players with a gigantic game controller. All fun games that give an idea of some old Nintendo ideas, although none of these activities were earth-shattering.
The rest of the museum is, well, a museum. At the end of the tour, you end up in the museum shop, where you can find exclusive merchandise for the location, such as t-shirts, mugs and key rings. The highlight are the shirts dedicated to specific game consoles. These were not yet available during our visit, but Nintendo assures that they will be on the shelves at the official opening on October 2. The museum restaurant, on the other hand, is tame in its execution: you can buy hamburgers and ice cream there. The Nintendo stamp is somewhat less tangible here, with only a large stained glass portrait of Link and Zelda in the middle of the room. A place of peace between all the Nintendo stimuli.
Nice to have on the side
Let me be clear: you won’t find a world-shattering look at Nintendo’s history in this museum. It’s mainly a tour through your own nostalgia. You probably won’t book a holiday to Japan just for this museum, but for a broader trip it’s worth a visit. The price is right: for 20 euros you’re already inside and you’ll go home with a sufficiently satisfied feeling.
The museum opens on October 2 and expects between 1,500 and 2,000 visitors per day. That will surely be a shock for the current visitors of the old industrial estate, which will surely transform into a busy tourist location in the coming years.
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Source: www.bright.nl
