The Nintendo Switch 2 is officially out this week, 5 June, and everyone is trying to get one (read our to snag a Switch 2 without a pre-order) but since the media is largely in the same boat as the public getting their hands on the console, I've got the next best thing to celebrate the launch: a trip to the Nintendo Museum!
As we look to Nintendo's future with Switch 2 it felt like a perfect time to visit the museum, formerly a facility that served as a factory and support centre for Nintendo products, located just outside of the company's Kyoto headquarters.
Visiting isn't without issues though. Given the huge demand, tickets are awarded by a lottery system several months in advance, while you're also subject to draconian rules like airport-style security checks and a ban on photography for a whole floor of exhibits. Still, it means I can enjoy the museum without it getting overcrowded or spoiled by people incessantly snapping away on their phones.
Star at the beginning
I start with the top floor of the museum where Nintendo's entire history is exhibited behind glass, including some rare prototypes, such as different iterations of the Wii balance board and a Wii U prototype consisting of two Wii remotes stuck to the sides of a tablet.
It's telling how experimental Nintendo has been over the years, and at times, as Wii U shows, a willingness to make mistakes and learn from them. While Switch 2 may not feel as weird as Wii U or as novel as Wii, both informed the design of Switch and its successor.
While there's valid criticism that the Nintendo Museum doesn't fully live up to being a museum due to a lack of signage that gives you real behind-the-scenes insight into what you are seeing, it would be unfair to say it's not curated.
One of my highlights is a looping video installation where Nintendo shows side-by-side comparisons of a game series and how it has evolved across generations, with some pretty well-synced footage. For instance, you can compare the first meeting with your mentor in Pokémon from the original Game Boy pixel art to the latest 3D entries, or the sequences where Link retrieves the Master Sword from the NES (when such a sword didn't actually exist) to Ocarina of Time, right up to Tears of the Kingdom.
While many exhibits are grouped into different Nintendo consoles, this museum also covers the company's pre-gaming history, so there are dedicated displays of its hanafuda playing cards as well as its toys and gadgets, such as Disney-licensed doll houses, light guns that preceded the NES Zapper, and the Love Tester designed by the late great Game Boy creator Gunpei Yokoi.
There are also exhibits dedicated to specific themes, showing how technological innovations like motion, game creation, or game delivery have been a part of the company's lineage that sometimes stretches back decades and often gets overlooked.
Being able to pore over the physical products is definitely the most interesting part of the museum, as well as being able to compare the different iterations of Nintendo hardware, such as the N64, where you can see the original Ultra 64 model and even the weird handheld iQue variant made for the Chinese market. (Read our guide to the best retro game consoles.)
The sad part is realising just how boring game packaging has gotten when I get to more recent years, with the loss of physical instruction manuals, while even game box art has become homogenised across regions. (And don't get me started on the controversy around Switch 2 game box art.)
Personally, I enjoy looking at the exhibits more than the fun interactive stuff on the ground floor, which requires spending digital coins that you're only granted a limited amount upon entry (another form of crowd control or a cynical ploy to have you coming back so you can do everything – who can say?).
Partly it's because I am really bad at most of them, though it was fun partnering with a stranger on a giant N64 controller to attempt beating Bowser in Mario 64. (Love this classic controller? Read our guide to the best retro game controllers.) It's not necessarily an essential visit, but one Nintendo fans can still appreciate, and where else are you going to find a place that still celebrates the dud that was the Virtual Boy?
So as Switch 2 launches and the hype begins in earnest, the Nintendo Museum is a timely reminder Nintendo has been here before many times over; it's bought, and sold, the t-shirt, its innovated and evolved and perhaps Switch 2 will do the same. Time will tell if Switch 2 is iterative or holds some longterm changes to how games are designed.
