Nintendo to open museum in Japan in October

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Japanese video game giant Nintendo has announced that it will open its own museum in Kyoto on October 2, unveiling some of the interactive pieces and installations that will allow visitors to explore its more than 130-year history.

“We want to show the evolution of fun by highlighting elements that have been shared and built over the years,” Nintendo said in a video, explaining Shigeru Miyamoto, the famous creator of the “Super Mario Bros.” franchise.

In the recording, Miyamoto walks through a room with many of the products of the Japanese company, which began in the late 19th century making playing cards, toys and board games before achieving global success with video games.

The video also introduces a more interactive part of the museum, which will allow visitors to play cards with a smartphone, hit balls on a Japanese court from the 1960s and 1970s, or play Super Mario Bros. using a giant controller that requires two people to coordinate their movements.

Tickets will be sold through a lottery system at a price of 3,300 yen (about $22.50), according to the official website.

The museum is located a few kilometers from Kyoto, Nintendo’s headquarters, on the grounds of a former factory where the company began manufacturing sets of traditional Japanese playing cards.

Nintendo entered the world of video games in 1977 with the launch of the TV Game 15 and TV Game 6 consoles and in parallel with the development of arcade machines and games such as Donkey Kong, which was published in 1981.

It later achieved worldwide success with the launch of the Famicom console in Japan in 1983, and was later marketed overseas as the NES (Nintendo Entertainment System).

In addition to its museum, the company is due to open a new area dedicated to its Donkey Kong character before the end of the year at Universal Studios Japan’s massive theme park in Osaka, western Japan.

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