The Nintendo Museum in Kyoto with kids.
This is a guest post written by Sarah Stoddart, who recently visited the Nintendo Museum with her young family. Sarah is a commercial lawyer based in Brisbane. A super mum who successfully ran her own business, managed her own team and worked while travelling abroad with her family! Click here to follow Sarah’s business adventures on instagram on or via the Vitality Law website here.
The Nintendo Museum in Uji – just outside of central Kyoto. This museum opened in October 2024.
Please note that tickets can, currently, only be obtained through the use of a lottery system.
Getting tickets for The Nintendo Museum, Kyoto
Access to the Nintendo Museum in Kyoto is via random selected drawing. If you’re interested in visiting, you can enter the draw from the first day of the month that is 3 months before the month you want to visit.
For example, if you want to visit in August, entry into the draw opens on 1 May.
You find out whether you are successful on the first day of the month following your application (ie. 2 months before the month of your visit). Even if unsuccessful, it’s worth keeping an eye on the Nintendo Museum website as they do occasionally have tickets available for sale – you just can’t guarantee it’s on your chosen date.
Apply for the lottery at the Nintendo Museum here.
We were fortunate enough to be selected to visit the Nintendo Museum in May 2025.
Please note that children 5 and under are free (but must, of course, enter with a parent or guardian.)
Getting to The Nintendo Museum from Kyoto Station
We travelled from Kyoto Station to Ogura Station via train, and took a very short walk (less than 500 metres) from the station to the museum.
Trains to Ogura Station depart every 20 mins or so. The train trip takes a little under 20 mins from Kyoto Station.
Entering The Nintendo Museum
Security at the museum was surprisingly high – guards at the gates and security screening before you go in, including sipping from water bottles to confirm the drink is indeed water!
Umbrellas are not permitted inside the museum but storage spaces are provided.
To our surprise, strollers are permitted and access is not an issue.
Spending time at the Nintendo Museum
The Nintendo Museum is done very well.
Nintendo music is playing in the waiting line and many visitors were also in Nintendo themed shirts.
From the moment we passed through the gates, our e-tickets were converted into cool Nintendo game
cards, and there were staff at various photo stations to capture our precious memories, on our own devices and at no additional cost.
When you enter the museum, you are taken to the second floor (where no photos are permitted).
On that floor there are cabinets showing the history of Nintendo and gaming generally.
It was a fun step back in time for my 42 year old partner as he reminisced on games he played at a child and devices he once owned.
The Gaming Area at The Nintendo Museum
Below the museum section on the first floor is a gaming area.
This area is lots of fun!
There are giant controllers for 2 player Nintendo games, giant balance balls, love tests, simulated sporting activities as well as the old school Nintendo games (1 player) that we all know and love.
Each ticket into the museum is pre-loaded with 10 “coins” and you use the coins to play the games.
There is no opportunity to purchase more coins, and you don’t have enough coins to play all the games, so choose wisely! As our children (5 years old and 2 years old) were free to enter the Museum and therefore did not have tickets, we only had the coins attached to our tickets. Of course, this meant forfeiting my coins to my son.
We chose to play Super Mario on the 2 player giant controllers, the simulated cricket game, a shooting game (which my partner and son absolutely loved!) as well as some of the 1 player DS games.
For some of the games, like the giant controllers, the system takes photos of you while you are playing and you can access those photos from your Nintendo account for a limited period of time after your visit. The candid photos taken during our games gave us a bit of a laugh
Choosing where to explore first at The Nintendo Museum
Visitors to the museum can move between the first and second floor freely. With that in mind, I’d recommend playing the games before exploring the displays as the games area does get busier as more people make their way into the museum throughout the day.
After finishing our games, we made our way to the Nintendo Museum shop.
The Nintendo Museum Shop
Unsurprisingly, the items there are quite expensive and some of the items you can find elsewhere throughout Japan. However, there are some items which are exclusive to the store or which we didn’t see anywhere else on our travels.
For very keen Nintendo fans, it’s probably worth purchasing something as a keepsake! We purchased some Yoshi cookies which came in a very cute tin and a study Nintendo Museum bag.
Dining at The Nintendo Museum
Before wrapping up our time at the Nintendo Museum, we decided to have lunch at the on-site café, Hatena Burger.
Of course, the café is Nintendo themed.
Menu options are limited. It’s predominantly burgers, sides and a few sweets.
You can, however, build your own burger from a large selection of items. We each had a burger set and really enjoyed it.
Word of warning though – the potato chips aren’t traditional chips/fries. They are more like potato gems.
I know some children can be particular about their chips so it’s worth mentioning. Also, I wouldn’t bother about substituting the potato for the coleslaw as it wasn’t as fresh or delicious as I was
hoping.
Our time at The Nintendo Museum
The Nintendo Museum provided our family with a wonderful and memorable day out.
Given the age of our children, we didn’t feel like we were able to spend as much time as we would have liked in the museum section and the majority of the games were too difficult for young children.
It is probably better suited for children over 7 years old. However, given the children were not charged for admission, we have the fun photos from our day and our son is still talking about playing the Super Mario game, we are very glad we went.
This is a guest post written by Sarah Stoddart, who recently visited the Nintendo Museum, with her young family. Sarah is a commercial lawyer based in Brisbane. A super mum who successfully ran her own business, managed her own team and worked while travelling abroad with her family! Click here to follow Sarah’s business adventures on instagram on or via the Vitality Law website here.
Please see here for general Kyoto with Kids tips (including sightseeing, playgrounds, restaurants and where to buy family-related items such as toys, baby food and diapers/nappies etc.
Read here if you are interested in checking out Super Nintendo World at Universal Studios in Osaka.
The Pokemon Store in Shibuya also has a large Nintendo merch section.
