Here's a peek at Nintendo Museum's huge controllers, Super Scope shooting gallery, and more
Ahead of October opening in Kyoto.
Nintendo's 135-year history will soon be brought to life inside the walls of a new purpose-built Nintendo Museum in Kyoto, Japan - and ahead of its opening on 2nd October, legendary designer Shigeru Miyamoto has revealed some of its intriguing exhibits in a new video tour.
The Nintendo Museum has been built on the site of the factory where Nintendo originally made its Hanafuda cards, and which was later used for quality checks during the Famicom era. That building and its unremarkable carpark are no longer standing, however, now replaced by a shiny two-floor monument to Nintendo's history and a Mario-themed plaza.
Miyamoto's 13-minute tour begins on the second floor of the museum, where several huge curved glass displays - containing many of the products Nintendo has released since its founding in 1889 - can be found. This whole area is intended to chart the evolution of Nintendo's approach to entertainment, from its earlier non-video game products - including copy machines, baby strollers, RC cars, and pitching machines - into more familiar territory, beginning with 1977's early video game forays, the Color TV-Game 6 and Color TV-Game 15.
From there, the video game stuff begins in earnest, with Miyamoto highlighting exhibits showcasing different iterations of Nintendo's games and consoles from all across the world, displays charting how the graphics of its most beloved franchises have changed over the years, the evolution of the ? block, the history of titles played with the whole body, and more. It's a neat bit of (presumably educational) nostalgia, but the niftiest stuff appears to be reserved for the museum's first floor.
Here, Nintendo has created eight activities reimagining some of its earliest products for the modern era. There's a giant screen in the floor where visitors can play the traditional Japanese game card game Hyakunin Isshu using a smart device, and recreations of Japanese homes where guests can pick up a foam baseball bat and whack balls as they shoot out of an Ultra Machine DX - the twist being that objects in the room come to life, bottles spinning and printers printing, as balls bounce into them.
Then there's the Zapper & Scope SP exhibit, inspired by Nintendo's Laser Clay bowling alley shooting galleries of the 70s. This reworking of the experience sees up to 13 players - armed with either NES Zappers or SNES Super Scopes - blasting Mario-themed targets as the likes of Shy Guys and Koopas dance and spin across a huge horizontal screen, all in a battle for the highest score. And Miyamoto's final video tour stop takes him to room where guests can play classic Nintendo games from the Famicon to Wii era - but only via comically huge controllers requiring multiple people to coordinate their inputs.
And that's alongside other interactive experiences not showcased in Nintendo's video but briefly detailed on its website, including exhibits inspired by the Ultra Hand, Love Tester, Game & Watch, and more. Other activities include an area to play Hanafuda, workshops where guests can make their own Hanafuda cards, a cafe, and a shop selling exclusive merchandise.
The Nintendo Museum opens 2nd October in Kyoto, Japan, and tickets - if you're lucky enough to be able to visit - can be reserved right now. Expect to pay 3,300 yen (around £17) for adults, with various concessions available for teens, children, and pre-schoolers.