Nintendo Museum

The Nintendo Museum is a must visit for any Nintendo fan or video game lover, and I had a fun experience going opening month (Oct. 2024)! 

What to expect in Nintendo Museum: Interactive games, an entire floor of Nintendo hardware and games exhibits, exclusive merchandise, a hamburger store, a craft activity, and lots of easter eggs! 

Booking: 

Tickets are distributed via a lottery system, but don't lose hope even if you are unlucky. I initially did not win the lottery, but watched for ticket release via the Nintendo Museum account (Japanese and English versions on x/twitter), and was able to get tickets on a day that worked. The purchase process required getting a call from an international number and filling out info within 15 minutes, and then reserving a timeslot and paying 3,300 yen per ticket. 

I recommend going on a weekday, as weekends and holidays are especially harder to get a ticket. 

Getting there: 

From Kyoto it is a bit closer, Osaka took over an hour of transit. The museum's English website has a convenient page for directions. Once you get to Ogura station, there are signs and a map indicating how to get to the Museum. 

Walking there we also passed by a Pikachu + Shohei Ohtani vending machine:

Soon you will see the building! 

Entering/security: 

We were an hour early, grabbed a bite at Coco Ichibanya across the street, and then went into a side queue since we were still 30 min early. 

They let us out around 15 min before our entry time for security. Before actual security, I opted to put my jacket and small backpack in a locker. It was 100 yen. 

The staff also saw that I had a DJI osmo and I wanted to vlog, but they said I could not bring it in. However I saw someone take it out of their backpack later, so this rule is not uniformly enforced. 

After we scanned our QR Code which printed out a physical ticket. 

Entrance area: 

The museum did not feel super crowded. There was 1-2 people ahead in line for the photo opp, and a staff member helping take pictures on people's phones. 

Entering main building: 

(sneak peak of a gift I bought and used as a prop)

The general suggestion is to queue to enter the main part of the museum, but we went to check out the souvenir shop first so I could buy merch before it sold out: 

11,000 yen (around $74 USD at the time)

These [gacha] keychains of controllers sold out around 2 PM. You can only get 1 per person [from both eras of gaming].

We also made reservations for crafting before entering the main part of the museum.

While Queuing for the Museum, there were instructions that were generally available before on the website - i.e. 

• no photos/video on the second floor 
• 10 coins for interactive exhibits/games on the 1st floor (you cannot do all on 1 visit)

Since it was 2ish hours into opening, staff suggested doing the 1st floor first and then going back to the second floor. 

1st floor: 

The activities we did were: 

Love Tester SP - requires 2P, 2 coins each, holding hands and playing mini games like swat mice away from cheese. 

Ultra Machine SP - 2 coins, 1P. baseball but with ping pong balls. They have 1 left handed room and 5 right-handed rooms. 

Zapper & Scope SP - 4 coins, 1P. Definitely use coins on this one. It is a shooting game with 12 players total. The wait was 20ish min, although it said around half an hour. You can use a duck hunt gun or super scope.

We ended with Big Controller. 2P- 2 coins each. They had NES, N64, Wii, Wii-Fit, and SNES.

Scores/Records on the website with exact timestamps: 

Second floor (pic from the website): 

No pictures were allowed. 

A staff member watched over someone who tried to take pics and made them delete and empty their trash folder. 

Can easily spend 1-2 hours here- each section devoted to a system and showed IP such as design and games. It was cool seeing special editions/versions. There was some seating so you can rest your feet. In a corner was all these prototypes, so don't miss that.

Other interior features: 

Outside:

Hatena Burger: The main food option is a customizable burger cafe. 

Can order via QR Code - a set was around 3100 yen.

I had a sukiyaki burger and it was tasty! My favorite part was the fried tofu.

Iced coffee was a nice pick me up.

Bonus stage: 

Crafting Hanafuda: This was a 1 hour painting activity that required a lot of patience. Good for teaching kids patience. It was 2000 yen a person for adults. If you like arts this activity is for you! 

Exit: 

Overall thoughts:

This visit alone made the last trip to Japan worth it, and requires a bit of planning from entering lottery, constantly watching the website for ticket release, and buying tickets after 12 AM PST. I spent about 4 hours and that was breezing through the second floor, easily could've spent longer. I spent several hundred on merch also, but did stay below budget. Although getting here from Osaka is possible, it was a hassle to get back so I only wish I stayed in Kyoto the night before + after.