Nintendo Museum with KyotoGamer, The Legend of Zelda: Echoes of Wisdom, Astro Bot

[00:00:08] Welcome to Tokyo Game Life, a Tokyo-based video game podcast focusing on Nintendo and gaming culture in Japan's capital. Your host, Mono, here to bring you a slice of gaming life from Tokyo. But today, we're heading to Kyoto as returning guest Kyoto Gamer takes us to the newly opened Nintendo Museum. We dive into all the exhibits, how to spend your coins, and what controller plushie you should buy. Plus, in the game section, I chat about two huge titles, The Legend of Zelda Echoes of Wisdom and Astro Bot.

[00:00:36] Let's jump into the feature on the Nintendo Museum with Kyoto Gamer.

[00:00:47] Today's feature is about the highly anticipated and recently opened Nintendo Museum in Kyoto. Sadly, I haven't visited it yet, but fortunately, I have a very special guest who has and is here to tell us all about it. So guest, please introduce yourself.

[00:01:00] Hey everyone, it's me, Kyoto Gamer. I'm a Kyoto-based video game enthusiast who focuses mainly on retro gaming, but I like modern games as well and a lot of video game merch. I'm on Instagram, I'm on threads, and yay, nice to be here.

[00:01:16] Thanks for joining me. Long-time listeners probably remember you from our talks about Super Nintendo World, Tears of the Kingdom, and Nintendo Kyoto. Three very amazing things.

[00:01:26] So hopefully this episode continues the trend as we talk about the Nintendo Museum. Now, you literally returned from the museum just a few hours ago, so your thoughts are as fresh as fresh can be.

[00:01:36] For those who don't know, give us the elevator pitch. What is the Nintendo Museum?

[00:01:40] So I guess if you've been living under a rock and haven't been following any news about video games in general, I guess it was the year before last Nintendo announced that they were going to open a museum in one of their former factories in the city of Uji.

[00:01:54] And they were going to redeveloped and they were going to redeveloped into a brand new museum, which is just sort of south of Kyoto, the city. And yeah, that's it. It's been big news everywhere. And little by little information was leaked.

[00:02:13] And about six months ago, I went to go check out the site just out of curiosity, see what it looked like. And then you could see the buildings had been built and the sign was there. And that was sort of the first exciting moment of it's actually happening. It's coming soon.

[00:02:28] But yeah, it's there. And now it's finally open. It took a long time. There was actually, originally it was supposed to be opened in March, I believe.

[00:02:37] And then they postponed it and postponed it. And finally they said, okay, it's opening now in the fall.

[00:02:45] So let's start from square one. Walk me through the process of how you were able to nab a ticket to visit the Nintendo Museum.

[00:02:52] Right. So in the summer, they announced after the direct where they showed everything that you could, well, they showed most of what you could do there.

[00:02:59] They said the lottery system is now open for October and November. Good luck. You get one chance. That's it.

[00:03:06] And I'm like, oh, okay. Wow. So I thought to myself, well, should I pick a time and a day that would be probably more likely to get me a ticket?

[00:03:14] Or should I go for broke and choose like day two and just see what happens?

[00:03:20] And so what I did was I went for broke and chose day two. And I had a feeling I wouldn't get it because whenever they opened the Nintendo stores like Osaka and Kyoto,

[00:03:29] I applied for early entry, they had like a one day promotion where you could go. And both times I didn't win those lotteries.

[00:03:38] So I wasn't very hopeful. But once the announcement day came, it was the first of the month of September.

[00:03:44] I was super pumped. I got my ticket and yeah, great success.

[00:03:49] Yeah, I guess karma eventually came back around for you since you failed those earlier lotteries.

[00:03:54] You finally get to go into this one, which I would think is much more appealing than just Nintendo Kyoto, which you can easily walk into right now.

[00:04:01] Exactly. This was the one out of the three that I would have wanted beforehand.

[00:04:05] And luckily I got this one. So very happy. Very. I was very excited.

[00:04:08] Hmm. So you said earlier that it's in Uji city. So where exactly in Kyoto is it? For example, how far from Kyoto station is the Nintendo museum?

[00:04:17] I would say it's about a 15 to 20 minute train ride south.

[00:04:22] Basically, there's a few stations you can get to it from, but the main one is Ogura station, which is on the Kintetsu line.

[00:04:29] It's the closest one, which I took. There's also a little bit further away JR station, which would probably be more inconvenient.

[00:04:36] But I think they recommend you to take the Kintetsu line because it's literally like a four minute walk from the station to the museum.

[00:04:45] So it's the best one to use.

[00:04:48] And so, yeah, when you think of Uji, you might think of the Tenyen coin and the Byodoin temple.

[00:04:54] And I guess Uji green tea is also quite famous.

[00:04:58] But where the museum is Ogura, it's more of like a, it's kind of like a sleepy little suburban, small industry little town.

[00:05:06] It doesn't have the actual Uji charm of going to Uji station.

[00:05:11] So, yeah, it's just a very sleepy little local station that I guess until this museum was built, like nobody would ever go there.

[00:05:19] And all of a sudden they've opened this museum and, yeah, it's a place to be.

[00:05:24] Yeah, I was wondering, oh, are they going to do some sort of Uji green tea and Nintendo collaboration?

[00:05:28] But maybe it's a little outside of the main Uji area so they can avoid doing that for now.

[00:05:34] So you arrive at the museum.

[00:05:36] But before we step inside, let's talk about the exterior.

[00:05:39] What's the design of the museum grounds like?

[00:05:41] So, yeah, as I mentioned, it's just a few minutes walk from the station.

[00:05:44] And as you sort of walk towards it, there's a sort of intersection.

[00:05:48] You can, as you're getting closer, you can see it.

[00:05:50] You can actually see it from the station.

[00:05:52] If you look through the trees, you can see the building, sort of a dark gray building, which isn't very, I guess, exciting.

[00:06:00] But as you get closer, you can see it's got, it's like, it's a two-story building.

[00:06:04] And it's not the most exciting or it's not like walking into Universal Studios where there's just Mario stuff everywhere in your face.

[00:06:12] I'm guessing it's due to being in a residential neighborhood.

[00:06:16] They want to keep it quite subdued and respect the community and area by not having this big, crazy museum.

[00:06:25] The outside is, yeah, I wouldn't say bland, but it looks sharp.

[00:06:29] And as you get closer, there's just a gray building.

[00:06:31] And there's sort of an open area with, today there was about three or four security guards outside helping everyone because it's day two.

[00:06:40] So everyone's got a million questions.

[00:06:42] And I think they were working very hard.

[00:06:44] I'll say that because a lot of people were coming up and I sort of overheard some conversations like, can I get tickets here?

[00:06:51] Or I just want to go to the shop.

[00:06:53] No, no, no, no, no, no.

[00:06:54] You can't do no, no, no, no, no.

[00:06:55] And I'm assuming they didn't speak much English.

[00:06:58] And so I'm sure they were very busy.

[00:07:00] But as I walked up with my ticket, I just spoke to the guy and I said, yeah, 11 o'clock.

[00:07:05] I showed him.

[00:07:05] He said, yeah, okay, come on in.

[00:07:07] So that was basically from the outside.

[00:07:09] There's not much to say, really.

[00:07:11] There's a plaque on the concrete wall that says Nintendo Museum.

[00:07:15] And also on the side of the building, it says Nintendo Museum.

[00:07:18] Other than that, there's not really any distinctive features from the outside to take note of.

[00:07:23] All right, let's go inside the building.

[00:07:25] What's the first thing you see?

[00:07:27] So basically, before you can even get into building, I was a bit early for my time, he said.

[00:07:31] So they gestured me over to the side where other people were waiting for their time.

[00:07:36] And it was pouring rain today.

[00:07:38] So they had these tarps set up, these cover tents set up for people so they wouldn't get drenched.

[00:07:44] And I was standing there for, say, maybe two or three minutes.

[00:07:47] And they said, okay, thanks for waiting.

[00:07:48] Let's go to the next area.

[00:07:50] Then there was sort of another waiting area.

[00:07:52] So they've got it sort of, I guess, in sections of waiting areas just to break up the crowds.

[00:07:58] And then as you get closer, there's almost like a security gate area.

[00:08:04] And they say, please get out your, they're shouting in English, please get out your ticket.

[00:08:08] Be ready to show your passport and go in.

[00:08:13] And unfortunately for me, I don't know what was happening.

[00:08:15] I had my email and I opened up the account.

[00:08:18] And it wouldn't load my QR code, which you need to enter.

[00:08:22] I was for about three minutes there.

[00:08:23] I was in this mad panic of, oh my God, I'm not going to be able to get in.

[00:08:26] And please, for the love of God, please load.

[00:08:29] Eventually it did.

[00:08:31] And the next moment you go on to the next basically stage of the gauntlet, which is a, almost like an airport level security.

[00:08:38] So they ask you before, as you're getting ready, do you have any drinks in your bag?

[00:08:42] Please have your bag ready for, it goes through like an airport scanner.

[00:08:46] It gets scanned very thoroughly.

[00:08:48] Oh, wow.

[00:08:49] And they, you know.

[00:08:50] But not just like one guy who like kind of peeks in the bag.

[00:08:52] It's more, they have like factory machines and things like that.

[00:08:55] That's right.

[00:08:55] Right.

[00:08:56] So it wasn't just like, let's see in your bag.

[00:08:58] I'm kind of pretending that I'm looking in your bag.

[00:09:00] And, but it was like, no, put everything you have.

[00:09:03] And they said, do you have anything in your pockets?

[00:09:05] It was a pretty tight security.

[00:09:08] And they grabbed my water bottle.

[00:09:10] And as I got through, they said, okay, can you take a swig of your water?

[00:09:14] So we know that it's water.

[00:09:15] And I did that and they passed me my bags and they said, okay, you're good to go.

[00:09:20] And after that, once you get through, then the guy on the other side of the security gate,

[00:09:25] he gives you your entry card, which you need for the whole experience.

[00:09:31] So earlier, I should have mentioned that as you scan in, they give you this piece of paper with,

[00:09:36] I guess it's a barcode or QR code.

[00:09:38] And then later on it gets passed to the guy at the security gate.

[00:09:41] And then he prints off your card, which you need to do all the activities, your 10 coin card.

[00:09:47] And that's a pretty cool little thing.

[00:09:49] It's something that I've got in my hand right now.

[00:09:52] And if you plan ahead, by the way, you can put your own Wii character on the card.

[00:09:58] I thought I did that because I was playing around on the website and I designed my character.

[00:10:03] I'm like, yeah, that'd be funny to have him on there.

[00:10:05] And as it printed out, it was just Mario on there.

[00:10:07] So you must have screwed something up.

[00:10:09] But actually looking at it now, in hindsight, I'm like, yeah,

[00:10:13] it's probably better that it's just Mario than the goofy character that I created.

[00:10:17] After that, because we had umbrellas and it was pouring rain,

[00:10:20] they sort of gestured us toward the sort of umbrella area,

[00:10:24] which is even if it's a sunny day, I highly recommend you check out the umbrella area

[00:10:28] because that was for me one of the highlights.

[00:10:31] Oh.

[00:10:32] So as you walk into this sort of covered shelter area,

[00:10:35] there's all these umbrella holders.

[00:10:38] There's like the Japanese style ones where you lock it and you pull the little key out.

[00:10:42] Yes.

[00:10:42] But in the case of the Nintendo Museum, they all have different colored little Game Boys on them.

[00:10:47] Oh.

[00:10:48] So there was like original Game Boy.

[00:10:50] There's like a red Game Boy.

[00:10:51] I guess it's the pocket or whatever.

[00:10:53] And there was the green one and yellow and maybe one or two other colors.

[00:10:58] So like just one of those little Nintendo details that if you're going to the museum,

[00:11:03] it's definitely worth checking out the umbrella stands.

[00:11:06] Okay.

[00:11:07] Yeah.

[00:11:07] That's something not a lot of museums can say that we have really awesome umbrella stands,

[00:11:11] but I guess Nintendo Museum is very different.

[00:11:13] That's right.

[00:11:14] And also under that same shelter, there's the,

[00:11:17] I'm not sure if you've seen it online yet or not,

[00:11:19] there's a Kirby vending machine.

[00:11:21] Oh, yes.

[00:11:22] So that's also in the same area and definitely worth checking out.

[00:11:26] And just outside the umbrella area on the ground is something that a lot of people may be interested in

[00:11:33] is the brand new manhole cover.

[00:11:36] Oh, yes.

[00:11:37] Specifically for the museum, they built a new one with Pikachu on it.

[00:11:42] It's really cool.

[00:11:44] I'm not one of the people who, you know, travels Japan and looks for all those,

[00:11:48] but it does sound pretty fun to do.

[00:11:50] But I just don't have the time right now.

[00:11:53] Yes.

[00:11:54] But I definitely want to see that one as I was there.

[00:11:57] So I actually brought my Pokemon Pikachu yellow Game Boy game and took a few pictures with it.

[00:12:04] And so that was fun.

[00:12:05] And also, as you walk in this area, I've just mentioned, it's sort of a big courtyard.

[00:12:10] And there's a few in the distance.

[00:12:12] There's sort of a hill with one of the green Mario pipes that you can go up in.

[00:12:17] It's one of the photo spots.

[00:12:18] Hmm.

[00:12:19] And also near the entrance, there's also almost similar to it, Universal Studios.

[00:12:23] They've got like three pipes set up with the blocks, Mario blocks with a mushroom on it behind it.

[00:12:29] And it's another photo opportunity.

[00:12:31] And they have a staff set up there.

[00:12:33] So you just line up.

[00:12:34] And one by one, the guy will help you and he'll take some pictures for you.

[00:12:39] And it was the line took two, three minutes.

[00:12:42] And I got my photos and on to the next spot.

[00:12:45] Yeah.

[00:12:46] The layout of it is a little confusing because I initially assumed the picture area with the pipes were sort of outside the museum or maybe in front of the entrance.

[00:12:55] But they're more located in the museum, correct?

[00:12:57] So just past the security gate.

[00:12:59] So just as you go in, there's the photo opportunity.

[00:13:02] But because it was raining, they sort of said, can you put your umbrellas away, please?

[00:13:06] And I probably should have done the photo first because as I was doing the photo and waiting for the photos, I was kind of getting soaked.

[00:13:14] But I didn't really care because I was at the Nintendo museum and having a great time.

[00:13:18] Did you check out the coin lockers at all?

[00:13:20] Yes, I did.

[00:13:21] Actually, I couldn't find them at first.

[00:13:24] And I went inside the museum and I was about to go into the actual exhibits.

[00:13:28] And I asked someone, where are the coin lockers, by the way?

[00:13:31] And she's like, oh, they're outside.

[00:13:34] I'm like, oh, so I missed them.

[00:13:36] She's like, yeah, sorry.

[00:13:37] You can't go out and see them now.

[00:13:39] But she said, when you leave, they're on the right.

[00:13:42] So check them out then.

[00:13:45] So that's kind of before the security gate.

[00:13:47] There's the coin locker area.

[00:13:49] And as you might, I'm assuming why you're asking is because they have a very cool design, some of them, which is Game Boy cartridges.

[00:13:57] Yes.

[00:13:57] And I think there's four games, two of the Mario games, Wario and I forget what it was, Yoshi Cookie, maybe one of them.

[00:14:06] So there's four games that you can find on the lockers if you've got a bunch of bags with you.

[00:14:11] And in that area, if you're traveling to Japan, they also had a big space for suitcases and stuff.

[00:14:16] If you're coming straight from the airport to the museum, they do have a space for you.

[00:14:21] So don't worry about that.

[00:14:22] All right.

[00:14:23] So you got inside and there's two floors, the first floor with a lot of activities and the second floor that seems to have most of the display areas.

[00:14:32] So what did you do first?

[00:14:34] So I got there.

[00:14:35] My time was from 11.

[00:14:36] And after I'd taken all the pictures and checked out all the outside stuff, that took about 20 minutes or 25 minutes.

[00:14:43] It was already like 1130.

[00:14:44] So I thought, well, maybe I should go to the cafe first to avoid the crowd at lunchtime because I don't want to spend 30 minutes waiting for food when I just eat it now and then save time for the activities later.

[00:14:58] So the first thing I did after doing all the outside photo opportunities was go straight to the Hatena Burger restaurant.

[00:15:06] Yeah.

[00:15:06] So that was my first stop inside the building.

[00:15:08] So the gimmick of this Hatena Burger restaurant is that you kind of make your own burger.

[00:15:13] They said there's, what, thousands of combinations.

[00:15:16] How does this work exactly?

[00:15:17] So I've actually got the menu with me so I can sort of go through that a bit.

[00:15:21] So as you walk in, there was a bit of confusing, I think because they sort of assume that all the foreigners won't speak any English.

[00:15:28] So they're sort of trying to speak English to you.

[00:15:30] And then I'm like, I'm asking her in Japanese a few questions.

[00:15:34] Oh, you speak Japanese.

[00:15:35] Okay, that's fine.

[00:15:36] Go sit down and use this QR code and make your order on your phone.

[00:15:42] So they're doing sort of a modern style where you get your seat first and you sit and choose your burger and design your burger as you're sitting there.

[00:15:51] And once you've completed making your burger, you will later go up to the counter and pay and pick up your order and so on.

[00:15:57] Very modern Japanese style restaurants where there's no menu.

[00:16:01] It's just a QR code.

[00:16:02] So you can still access it from, I guess, technically anywhere if you have the URL.

[00:16:07] Yeah, I guess so.

[00:16:08] Yeah.

[00:16:08] But of course, they do have paper menus for you to take and look at all the options, which I found a lot easier than kind of going through the app just because it's all on one big sheet of paper like I have in front of me here.

[00:16:19] So basically, yes, as you said, there are, I don't know the exact number of combinations, but they've got like the first step you have to do is choose your bun, which is colored.

[00:16:28] So there's a brown bun, a red bun and a black bun.

[00:16:32] And it sort of goes through the differences.

[00:16:34] For example, it says in English, the black bun is slightly firm with infused with bamboo charcoal.

[00:16:40] So they described it quite well in English.

[00:16:43] And the next step is to choose your protein or your main, for example, a beef patty, chicken, grilled miso fish, a giant mushroom.

[00:16:52] Or if you want to pay a little extra, you can do like a double burger.

[00:16:55] After that, toppings, egg, onion, cheese, Kyoto green pepper, which is a giant pepper that you can put on your burger, lotus root, tomato, the usual kind of things.

[00:17:06] After that, they've got the sauces.

[00:17:08] So there's this wasabi garlic sauce, sukiyaki sauce, black curry, quite interesting flavors, to be honest.

[00:17:15] Boring old ketchup.

[00:17:16] They've got it all there.

[00:17:18] And if that's too much work for you and you're like, I can't do all that.

[00:17:21] I just want a burger, which is actually what I did because I'm like, I don't want to focus my energy on choosing a burger.

[00:17:29] I just want to eat right now and then get onto all the cool stuff in the museum.

[00:17:32] So that's what I did.

[00:17:33] I just chose one of the preset ones, which was a wasabi beef burger.

[00:17:37] Okay.

[00:17:38] It was like a set.

[00:17:39] So it comes with a drink and these like, they're not tater tots, but they're like puffy round fries.

[00:17:45] I'd never actually had anything like that before.

[00:17:47] So that was interesting.

[00:17:49] What are the drink options like?

[00:17:51] The drink options are a little boring, I would say.

[00:17:54] I'm guessing they've got a contract with Suntory.

[00:17:57] So it's all just all the Pepsi drinks.

[00:18:00] So Pepsi, melon soda, ginger ale, iced tea, nothing too fancy.

[00:18:04] So it's not really themed around any sort of Nintendo like concept or property.

[00:18:09] Why do you think they went with the Hot Tana burger idea in the first place?

[00:18:12] That's a good question.

[00:18:13] I kind of thought they'd go for like, oh, you can get the Mario burger or the Luigi curly fries or whatever it is.

[00:18:21] But no, I guess one of my minor complaints is they could have done a bit more with that, had a bit more fun with the menu.

[00:18:29] But I'm not sure this company or who this Hot Tana burger is, but maybe they just chose a company and went with them based on whatever their sales pitch was based on these menus that they've come up with.

[00:18:44] According to the website, there's 270,000 combinations.

[00:18:48] So you have 260,000 more to go.

[00:18:52] I'm not, yeah, I'd have to do the math on that one, but I'll trust you.

[00:18:55] They do have a few extra options on the side, which I didn't bother trying.

[00:18:59] They have a few desserts like a chocolate sweet bread, matcha sweet bread, which I'm guessing is sort of based on the picture.

[00:19:07] It just looks like, I'm not sure what that is, like a cream puff maybe with sort of chocolate dip on the top.

[00:19:14] To be honest, nothing too amazing, but sure, if you want something sweet, go for that.

[00:19:18] They also have an ice cream and a few special drinks that I also didn't try.

[00:19:24] They've got a peach cheese yogurt drink as well as a green tea float.

[00:19:29] So I guess that's the one sort of Uji reference in terms of the menu would be the green tea float.

[00:19:35] Okay, yeah, I think that's what I'm going to order if I ever get to go there.

[00:19:38] What about the design of the cafe?

[00:19:40] I noticed there's a lot of Nintendo imagery inside the cafe.

[00:19:43] Yeah, there is some.

[00:19:44] So as you walk in right in front of you, you see the two canners where you order and pick up your food.

[00:19:49] And they have these kind of flats, like warehouse flats, those wooden flats that they would have had product on back in the day.

[00:19:57] And they've got basically written on them.

[00:19:59] I'm not sure if they're original or they just sort of made them for the aesthetic of the cafe.

[00:20:03] They've got Nintendo written on them.

[00:20:05] So it looks like they were used in the warehouse at some time.

[00:20:08] Okay.

[00:20:09] And they've actually been turned into seats where you can sit on those.

[00:20:13] They put cushions on it, obviously.

[00:20:14] Oh, cool.

[00:20:15] Little tables.

[00:20:17] And so that's the first area.

[00:20:19] And then as you go into the right, there's a big sort of open, almost like a cafeteria looking area with booths on the side.

[00:20:27] And that whole open area, it doesn't have a sort of a specific Nintendo or Mario theme to it.

[00:20:33] Like say, if you go to Toad's Cafe at Universal Studios, it's not like that.

[00:20:39] It just sort of looks like a big burger shop.

[00:20:42] And on the wall, kind of absolutely nothing to do with Nintendo.

[00:20:45] Nintendo, they had a picture of some like sea creatures.

[00:20:48] It's actually said on the poster, sea creatures.

[00:20:50] And then there was just a bunch of random like sea creatures on it.

[00:20:54] Okay.

[00:20:54] They could have maybe put this picture of Mario up or something like that just to make it a bit more themed.

[00:20:59] But okay, just nitpicking here.

[00:21:01] Maybe it's an endless ocean themed poster or something.

[00:21:04] But I guess the one major highlight of the cafeteria, and even if you're not eating, I recommend going in is to see the Zelda stained glass.

[00:21:13] It's not really a window, but it's a display.

[00:21:16] And that was pretty cool because it is actually stained glass.

[00:21:20] Okay, cool.

[00:21:21] So it's not like an LED screen or whatever.

[00:21:23] No, they might have lights behind it just to make it look really cool.

[00:21:26] But it is actually stained glass and looks amazing.

[00:21:29] So that alone is worth just looking in the cafe.

[00:21:34] Even if you don't want to eat anything, just check out that one thing, take a picture and have a look.

[00:21:38] But yeah, it was an okay experience overall.

[00:21:41] The cafeteria, the burger was fine.

[00:21:43] I didn't have to wait that long.

[00:21:45] As I said, I went there pretty early.

[00:21:46] So the food after I ordered, I paid and I said maybe I waited three or four minutes.

[00:21:52] The food was ready.

[00:21:53] The burger itself was seven out of ten, I'd say.

[00:21:56] It was fine.

[00:21:57] It was a decent burger.

[00:21:59] But compared to something like Shake Shack or something, I'd probably prefer a Shake Shack burger to the Hatena.

[00:22:06] But you try to think of it like going into a theme park.

[00:22:09] Once you're in the theme park, you can't really have any other food than what they offer you.

[00:22:13] So I just went with it.

[00:22:14] And it was fine.

[00:22:15] It wasn't bad, but it could have been better.

[00:22:19] What would you say is better?

[00:22:20] The burger from Universal Studios, the Toad House burger, or the Hatena burger?

[00:22:25] Let's go with the Toad House, to be honest, if I'm being 100% honest there.

[00:22:29] But yeah, like I said, it's not bad, but it's slightly overpriced.

[00:22:33] And it's just fine for me.

[00:22:35] Just fine.

[00:22:36] Okay.

[00:22:36] So you had lunch, and then you can finally check out the exhibits of the Nintendo Museum.

[00:22:41] So what's the first thing you went to?

[00:22:45] They've got those Toad statues with the, maybe you've seen it in the direct at the very end,

[00:22:50] when Miyamoto taps them on the head and they make a little sound like they're singing.

[00:22:56] So the first thing you walk in, you see that.

[00:22:58] And I did the quick picture opportunity, did a little video with that.

[00:23:02] And also one thing I should point out on the very left, as you walk in, there's a, in the wall,

[00:23:07] there's a signature, yeah, which is pretty cool to see Miyamoto's signature on the wall there.

[00:23:13] And a little picture of Mario that I think, I'm assuming he drew.

[00:23:16] So that's sort of in glass in the wall, so nobody can deface it or do anything to it.

[00:23:21] So as you walk in, basically, you sort of, the staff gesture to this area where you actually enter to the actual exhibits.

[00:23:30] And there was a sort of a queue, and you had to wait for a bit.

[00:23:34] I think they're trying to avoid like overcrowding in certain areas.

[00:23:38] So basically, you tap into this area, and they say, okay, please wait here.

[00:23:42] And they have screens up, and it says no pictures on the second floor.

[00:23:47] Please obey the rules, that kind of stuff.

[00:23:49] Hmm.

[00:23:50] So after a few minutes of waiting, they say, okay, thanks for waiting.

[00:23:53] You can finally go up to the second floor exhibits.

[00:23:57] And so you can't get to all the games and stuff on the first floor without going through the second floor.

[00:24:04] Oh, okay, interesting.

[00:24:05] Yeah, because in the direct, Miyamoto showed off the second floor first, which I thought was a little odd.

[00:24:10] But it seems like the structure of the museum is you go up to the second floor first, and then you go back down.

[00:24:16] Is that correct?

[00:24:17] That's right, yeah.

[00:24:17] There's no way to get to the activities, the games and stuff without going through that first section.

[00:24:23] Interesting.

[00:24:23] On the second floor, I mean.

[00:24:25] So as you go through, there's kind of this cool escalator with lights and stuff on the side.

[00:24:29] There's Nintendo music playing, and it's sort of building up your excitement as you finally get up to the top.

[00:24:34] And then you see, as I'm sure you've seen, everyone's seen in the direct.

[00:24:38] They've got the sort of LED cube hanging from the ceiling that says Nintendo Museum.

[00:24:43] And all around you are the displays for every single Nintendo console ever made.

[00:24:49] And more.

[00:24:52] There's a no picture rule on the second floor, correct?

[00:24:55] Yes.

[00:24:55] And they're quite strict about it.

[00:24:57] But before we even got to the second floor, I thought maybe I'll take a picture of this area that I'd just gone through to check in.

[00:25:04] Just before the escalator, and I took a picture of that because I thought maybe it's not on the second floor yet.

[00:25:08] I can take a picture here in Delhi.

[00:25:11] After the second after I took a picture, excuse me, no pictures here, please.

[00:25:14] Oh, okay.

[00:25:15] Wow.

[00:25:16] So she was on me in a flash to not take photos.

[00:25:19] All right.

[00:25:19] So after that, I said, okay.

[00:25:22] I didn't know they were that strict about it.

[00:25:24] I'll stop doing that.

[00:25:26] So when you get to the second floor, what's the first area you go to?

[00:25:29] Or what did you want to check out first?

[00:25:31] Well, yeah, it's sort of overwhelming.

[00:25:33] You look around and you see every single game system and video games from every generation on the wall.

[00:25:39] It's like, where do I start first?

[00:25:41] There's not really like a specific path that they direct you to.

[00:25:44] Like, please start at the Famicom and the old cards and toys.

[00:25:49] Just go where you want sort of.

[00:25:51] I think that's the style they're going for, unless I totally missed some arrows on the ground.

[00:25:55] But I decided to go from, you know, to the past to the present.

[00:26:00] So I found the Famicom area.

[00:26:03] And just behind that on the sort of one of the back walls, not really hidden away,

[00:26:08] but on one of the back walls was all the really old toys and cards.

[00:26:11] And kind of, for me, more interesting because I didn't know a lot of these items and products that Nintendo made.

[00:26:20] Whereas, of course, I know a lot of the Super Famicom and N64 games.

[00:26:24] I know all of them.

[00:26:25] But all these old products I was sort of more curious about to learn more of the history

[00:26:30] and just to see some of these items in these cases was pretty cool.

[00:26:36] Yeah.

[00:26:36] And one thing about the museum, I guess the criticism people have brought up,

[00:26:39] is that there aren't really a lot of placards or information about the things in the display cases.

[00:26:44] For example, if you go to the toy section,

[00:26:46] is there any information written anywhere about, oh, what is this toy?

[00:26:50] Or what is this card set?

[00:26:51] Or is it just kind of, oh, you look at it and you just wonder about it?

[00:26:56] Um, yeah.

[00:26:57] I guess I would agree with that.

[00:26:59] I mean, I guess it would be funny to hear some anecdotes about why Nintendo made a baby stroller

[00:27:05] or what was the story behind this Twister game that Nintendo made.

[00:27:10] But yeah, you sort of kind of just look at it and it does have some information on the walls.

[00:27:15] Like for me, it was quite interesting.

[00:27:17] With all the toys through the last hundred years,

[00:27:20] they had it all basically chronologically and on the wall with that,

[00:27:25] they had how Nintendo changed their logo at that time period.

[00:27:29] So you could see from the early days, it was just kanji.

[00:27:32] And then in a later date, they finally used alphabet letters

[00:27:35] and how the fonts changed and all that kind of stuff.

[00:27:39] For me, it was kind of interesting, just a little detail like that.

[00:27:41] But yeah, back to your point of specific descriptions about all the items and stuff.

[00:27:46] Yeah, there wasn't very much of that, which could have been better.

[00:27:50] Yeah, I think an interesting thing about the museum is that I've seen a lot of people compare it to

[00:27:54] a theme park experience over a museum.

[00:27:57] And I guess one question I really want to get into is that,

[00:28:00] oh, did you learn a lot about Nintendo at the museum?

[00:28:04] Or do you need a lot of preformed knowledge about Nintendo to really enjoy it?

[00:28:08] Well, I didn't leave learning, for example, in the 1920s, Nintendo made this product.

[00:28:15] And it was, no, there's not really much like that.

[00:28:17] But it's more like a, I would say, like a showcase.

[00:28:21] Like they're showing everything that they've done in history.

[00:28:23] And they sort of shown with the video game section specifically,

[00:28:27] they've shown like how they try to, you know, innovate.

[00:28:31] And for example, if you go to the Super Famicom section,

[00:28:35] they show what was different from the Famicom section.

[00:28:38] So, for example, we added extra buttons and we, you know, we tried to do this.

[00:28:43] And basically innovations that they tried to do.

[00:28:46] A lot of the side walls of the second floor were themed around areas where they tried to be creative with their games.

[00:28:55] For example, there was an area related to music.

[00:28:58] There was an area related to online play.

[00:29:00] An area related to 3D games.

[00:29:03] They even had a section on their mobile apps.

[00:29:07] And so they sort of showed like what things that they tried to do.

[00:29:11] Things about with all the physicality of sort of, for example, the power pad and things like the Wii.

[00:29:17] The Wii Fit and things.

[00:29:19] They tried to show basically what they'd been doing in the game industry.

[00:29:24] But as, yeah, I didn't learn like, okay, I knew a lot of that stuff already.

[00:29:29] But I suppose if you didn't know much about Nintendo or you're sort of a very casual video game person,

[00:29:36] you might learn a lot more than I did.

[00:29:39] So inside the display cases, for example, the Famicom one,

[00:29:42] is it all the first party Nintendo games that they published?

[00:29:46] Or are third party games in there as well?

[00:29:47] Or what's in a typical case, for example, the Famicom section?

[00:29:52] Okay, so basically when you get to a section, they've got it all chronologically organized.

[00:29:59] And they have variants as well.

[00:30:01] So if you look at the Famicom section, they'll have Super Mario Brothers.

[00:30:06] And then they'll have the different versions from North America and Europe.

[00:30:10] And it's basically every game like that.

[00:30:12] And they show the variants, which is kind of cool because I haven't seen many of the European versions.

[00:30:17] So that was sort of interesting.

[00:30:18] So that's kind of the main display.

[00:30:20] And each game section has two sides to it.

[00:30:24] So the first side is like that, where they show all the games in sort of order.

[00:30:28] And above that, there are screens showing gameplay, as you'd sort of expect.

[00:30:33] And on the backside of this wall is more of a descriptive thing,

[00:30:37] where they sort of show new IPs that came out at that time.

[00:30:41] And as I sort of mentioned, the innovations that they tried to do and sort of other little details of things that happened during that period of their gaming life, the game time.

[00:30:51] But yeah, it was all pretty cool.

[00:30:53] The displays looked great.

[00:30:54] One thing that I noticed in one of the directs that somebody pointed out in another podcast that I was watching said,

[00:31:01] like some of the games and the displays look kind of like some of the boxers are a bit ratty, like a bit worn out.

[00:31:07] So when I got there, I was kind of looking for that.

[00:31:09] There was a couple that I noticed were in really bad shape.

[00:31:11] I thought it was kind of amusing that maybe they couldn't find a good copy or they just never bothered to, you know,

[00:31:17] archive any of these old games and just sort of found one that they had to display.

[00:31:21] I noticed that in the direct, the Donkey Kong Famicom game box was a little beat up.

[00:31:27] Like I've seen better versions at Book Off.

[00:31:29] So I kind of wonder why did they pick this box?

[00:31:32] But yeah, since you and me, we live in Japan.

[00:31:34] So we've seen retro games before.

[00:31:36] So is it still novel to see these retro game boxes in these displays?

[00:31:40] Because of course you and me, we can go to Book Off and just see them there as well.

[00:31:45] Yeah, I went to all the game systems that I sort of grew up with, which would be like Super Famicom and Famicom,

[00:31:51] well, the North American versions.

[00:31:53] But I've seen these boxes a million times at game shops and stuff.

[00:31:56] So it wasn't very wow for me, but it was still interesting to see it all displayed like that.

[00:32:01] And going through the generations just to see how things change.

[00:32:05] Obviously, I know this all anyway, but to see it on display in a very cool

[00:32:10] and well laid out design was still cool.

[00:32:13] It's still worth checking out regardless of your level of Nintendo fandom.

[00:32:17] I also heard that they do have prototype hardware in these sections as well.

[00:32:22] Yeah.

[00:32:22] For example, the Ultra 64 and alternate Wii remotes.

[00:32:26] Did you see those?

[00:32:27] That's right.

[00:32:27] Yeah, they have it.

[00:32:28] And it's sort of off in one of the far corners.

[00:32:30] You see this sort of glass room and it's like an archive.

[00:32:34] And they have about three or four of the arcade cabinets.

[00:32:38] They definitely do not have all of the Nintendo arcade cabinets.

[00:32:42] I'll say that.

[00:32:43] Okay.

[00:32:43] They didn't have the punch out ones or any of the ones with like two screens or anything like that.

[00:32:48] But they have a table displayed in this area that I mentioned.

[00:32:52] And on that table, they've got all, I wouldn't say all, but they've got a lot of prototypes from that era.

[00:32:58] For example, they had like Nintendo Dolphin.

[00:33:01] If you know what that is.

[00:33:02] Oh, wow.

[00:33:03] Like the actual like dev kit or what is it exactly?

[00:33:06] What does it look like?

[00:33:07] Well, it's basically a GameCube.

[00:33:09] And on the top, it says Nintendo Dolphin.

[00:33:11] And it was like a turquoise color.

[00:33:14] As you mentioned, the Ultra 64 had a few pretty cool things that I'd never seen before online or anywhere.

[00:33:21] It was like a DS that flipped horizontally.

[00:33:24] So instead of opening upwards, you open it to the side.

[00:33:27] I'm like, well, that's kind of cool.

[00:33:29] They try different things out in these prototypes.

[00:33:32] A lot of Wii Fit kind of prototypes, things like that.

[00:33:36] I think one of the famous ones that you can see is the Wii U controller.

[00:33:40] So they basically strapped on two Wii remotes on the side of a screen.

[00:33:44] And you can see that.

[00:33:46] And some of the controller prototypes were kind of interesting.

[00:33:49] Like they were made of styrofoam, like an N64 controller that was just a chunk of styrofoam.

[00:33:54] So you can tell that they're working on the grip and the design of holding it.

[00:33:58] So things like that, if you're into design and creating things, that was a pretty cool part of the museum, I have to say.

[00:34:05] Did you see the Wii remote prototype, which is just a big star in the middle of like a disc?

[00:34:10] I did see that.

[00:34:11] And I didn't know what it was.

[00:34:12] And I'm like, what the heck is that?

[00:34:14] There's like an old magazine that shows like Wii remote prototypes.

[00:34:17] And some of them look kind of like early versions of the Wii remote.

[00:34:20] But there's also this weird, if you've never seen it, listeners, it's like an orange Frisbee.

[00:34:25] And inside the middle of it has the Mario Superstar star.

[00:34:30] And there's maybe some other buttons around there as well.

[00:34:33] But they never explained how you would use this, but it was a prototype.

[00:34:36] So I was really shocked to hear, oh, you can see this in the museum.

[00:34:40] Yes, that is in there.

[00:34:41] And one little sort of a small sort of charm point in this sort of archive corner on the wall of this area is Blathers from Animal Crossing, the museum, the guy who works at the museum.

[00:34:54] So that's a nice little touch that they have.

[00:34:57] And actually, if you look to the back of this area I mentioned, they actually do have those sort of movable shelves.

[00:35:03] And on the side of these shelves, they have some items, maybe strategically placed, I'm not sure.

[00:35:08] But they had one of those golden Nintendo statues and the old Kanji Nintendo signs.

[00:35:14] And like an Animal Crossing fossil was on the wall there.

[00:35:17] And just little things like that, that sort of way in the distance you can see through this glass in this big room that they've got there.

[00:35:25] So that was one of the highlights for me, that archive with all the prototypes.

[00:35:29] Yeah, to me, that definitely seems like one of the places I would want to check out the most.

[00:35:33] Because, yeah, I've seen Super Mario Brothers in box before.

[00:35:37] But these controller prototypes, things that people have probably never seen.

[00:35:41] And unfortunately, you can't take a photo.

[00:35:43] So you've got to really soak in the moment.

[00:35:45] What would you say, I guess beyond that, what would you say is maybe some of these standout items or standout exhibits on the second floor?

[00:35:52] Well, as I mentioned, I just like seeing the older toys.

[00:35:56] And one more thing that I forgot to mention earlier is one of the other sort of corners of the second floor, they've got eight TV screens set up.

[00:36:05] And basically what they do is they're showing, for example, Zelda, Link getting the Master Sword at the same time on every single game.

[00:36:14] For example, from Super Famicom all the way to the Switch.

[00:36:17] They have the scene of him getting the Master Sword and it's all displayed at the same time.

[00:36:22] Oh, cool.

[00:36:23] So they're sort of going through the games like Mario Kart.

[00:36:26] They'll show one specific track, for example, and they'll show how it's evolved over the years.

[00:36:32] And on one of the screens, they show you what's coming next.

[00:36:36] I didn't watch all of them, but some of them was like Donkey Kong and Kirby, as I mentioned, Zelda, Mario.

[00:36:45] So that was a really cool area that you could probably sit and just watch that for probably 30 minutes just to see all the different ones that they did on those screens.

[00:36:53] That was a pretty cool area.

[00:36:55] Now, on the second floor, does this area also house the giant controller activity?

[00:37:01] No, that would be on the first floor.

[00:37:03] The second floor, the only thing up there is exhibits.

[00:37:05] Everything that I've mentioned, all the different game sections and the toys and the archive and the TVs.

[00:37:14] And yeah, so that's sort of all that there is up there to see is just glass cases with lots of cool stuff in them.

[00:37:21] What was your favorite giant controller that hovered above you?

[00:37:24] Well, I guess my favorite Nintendo controller is the Super Famicom controller.

[00:37:29] It was nice to see a giant one of those up there.

[00:37:31] But it was nice to see all of them, really.

[00:37:33] It was just sort of exciting just to see all that stuff there.

[00:37:36] It's added to the atmosphere of the whole place.

[00:37:39] Yeah, they've got the Virtual Boy controller up there as well.

[00:37:41] The world's biggest Virtual Boy controller.

[00:37:43] That's right.

[00:37:44] And one thing, they actually did have, as I mentioned, they have each game section set up.

[00:37:48] And on one of the walls, they have a section dedicated to 3D and how Nintendo tried to do 3D in gaming.

[00:37:55] And on the wall, they've got about three or four places with Virtual Boy headsets in the wall.

[00:38:01] Just like in a museum, you peer in through the goggles and you can see what, if you've never experienced Virtual Boy, what it was like.

[00:38:09] And you can enjoy that headache for the first time if you've never had that experience.

[00:38:13] Yes, a rite of passage for all Nintendo fans.

[00:38:16] So if you've never done it, you've got to do it here.

[00:38:18] That is cool, though, that they added that in there.

[00:38:20] Because, yeah, I think there's ups and downs of Nintendo's history.

[00:38:23] But it feels like they're really embracing all aspects of Nintendo here.

[00:38:27] Definitely.

[00:38:28] I mean, as I mentioned, the Virtual Boy, they had the Wii U section.

[00:38:31] It wasn't like they put the Wii U section way in the back behind a curtain.

[00:38:34] It was prominently displayed next to the Wii section.

[00:38:37] This is us.

[00:38:38] This is what we did.

[00:38:39] Good and bad.

[00:38:40] It's all here.

[00:38:40] I'm curious about the online exhibit.

[00:38:43] What is in that place?

[00:38:45] So basically, they're showing how they tried to innovate with, I think, things.

[00:38:50] What did they have in there?

[00:38:51] Some of it was how they'd used satellite before there was internet and stuff.

[00:38:57] They did the Satellite View and things like that.

[00:39:00] And just going through the different generations of how they try to make things interactive with,

[00:39:05] as well as those JRA, what do you call them?

[00:39:08] They were like dial-up gambling games.

[00:39:11] They had some of those.

[00:39:13] I didn't even know there was one for the Famicom.

[00:39:15] So they had that.

[00:39:15] I'm like, oh, really?

[00:39:16] I didn't know they made one for the Famicom.

[00:39:18] I've got the actual cartridge for the Super Famicom one.

[00:39:21] But I'd never seen the add-on for the Famicom.

[00:39:24] So basically, from there all the way up to modern Nintendo online store, they show how they've done things over the years in terms of their online play and interactive play.

[00:39:38] Okay.

[00:39:38] Yeah.

[00:39:38] That makes more sense that they included the Satellite View and the weird Famicom online system.

[00:39:44] That stuff is cool.

[00:39:44] Because when you think of Nintendo, you don't really think of a lot of amazing online achievements.

[00:39:49] But they definitely were ahead of the curve for a lot of things.

[00:39:52] Let's move on to the first floor with all the activities.

[00:39:56] So after you saw the exhibits and you go down to the first floor again, what's that process like?

[00:40:01] Is it just you're riding down the same escalator?

[00:40:03] Or how do you get back to the first floor?

[00:40:05] So basically, the escalator takes you up.

[00:40:08] And the only way to go down are the staircases.

[00:40:11] There's, I think, three or four of them that take you down to the activities area.

[00:40:15] And the one thing you'll notice as you go down, sort of in the center of this whole sort of game floor is the, what is it called?

[00:40:22] Shigurenden?

[00:40:22] It's like a poem matching.

[00:40:24] I'm sure it was highlighted prominently in the video.

[00:40:28] And that sort of takes up a lot of space.

[00:40:30] And it looks really cool because they've got basically on the ground, like LED screens that you walk on and you have to match on your pad.

[00:40:39] You have to match a piece of a poem to another part of this poem.

[00:40:42] I didn't actually do that one, but just visually, it looks really cool.

[00:40:46] And yeah, it might be one of the more unique experiences, I suppose, on the activities.

[00:40:51] So that's the first thing you notice when you go down.

[00:40:53] How do you interact with the game?

[00:40:55] Do you have to download a special Nintendo Museum app or how does it work?

[00:40:57] I didn't actually try it, but I think as you go into the queue and wait for it, they sort of set you up with an iPad type tablet.

[00:41:05] And then once you've paid your one coin to try it, they set you off with your iPad and then you do the activity through that.

[00:41:15] So they give you the device.

[00:41:16] It's not something you can use your own iPhone.

[00:41:18] No, I'm pretty sure everyone was sort of holding a device that was given to them by the staff there.

[00:41:24] Yes.

[00:41:24] And you mentioned it cost one coin.

[00:41:26] So I guess this is a good time to jump into the coin system.

[00:41:28] You can't just do all the activities freely.

[00:41:31] Each of them cost a certain amount of coins and you have 10 coins inside your ID card.

[00:41:37] What did you think about the coin system overall?

[00:41:39] I mean, I totally get why they did it because if they said you can spend 5,000 yen and get five more coins, people would be throwing money into those machines like crazy just to stay there all day and play those games.

[00:41:51] So I know what they're doing to avoid like crowding and to get people out of there after a certain amount of time is to have a coin system.

[00:42:00] From a museum perspective, it makes total sense to have a limit on what you can do.

[00:42:05] And also it makes you go back again and try different things.

[00:42:09] And you really have to think hard what you want to do in there because 10 coins is not a lot because some of the games, one of the games takes four coins.

[00:42:19] So which I did.

[00:42:22] And then they go pretty quickly.

[00:42:23] I'll say that.

[00:42:24] So just plan ahead and think very carefully of what you want to do.

[00:42:28] Use your fingers and count how many coins you want to spend on each game because they'll be gone very fast.

[00:42:33] That's what I realized.

[00:42:35] What was the four coin game?

[00:42:36] That was the Zapparin Scope shooting gallery.

[00:42:40] Oh, okay.

[00:42:40] So how does that one work?

[00:42:42] So that was one that looked really fun.

[00:42:44] Just sort of like a, almost like a carnival type game.

[00:42:46] You know, I will say at this moment, the lines are very small for each attraction.

[00:42:52] I don't think I waited more than four minutes for one attraction, one of the games.

[00:42:58] So everything was going very quickly, which was fantastic.

[00:43:01] Okay.

[00:43:01] So it's not like Universal Studios where you got to wait 20 minutes per Bowser coin challenge.

[00:43:06] No, I think I burned through all the activities probably in less than 30 minutes because I was flying.

[00:43:13] So I want to go through the different activities and just see if you did them or not.

[00:43:17] The one that is most interesting to me is the big controller.

[00:43:20] Did you play with the big controller at all?

[00:43:22] Okay.

[00:43:23] So I was planning to, but I guess I didn't do the math well.

[00:43:27] And then after I did the Zapparin Scope one, which took four coins, I was like, oh crap, that was four coins?

[00:43:34] Now I had one coin left after that.

[00:43:36] I didn't realize the price of the Zapparin Scope one.

[00:43:39] Once I'd finished that, I only had one coin left and I couldn't do the big controller one.

[00:43:45] But good news for me is I'm going again next Thursday with my family.

[00:43:49] So I'll have someone to play with.

[00:43:51] Which controller do you plan on using?

[00:43:53] I watched them all.

[00:43:54] I sort of, from the distance, I was watching all the people playing them.

[00:43:57] I think the Famicom or Super Famicom looked the funnest.

[00:44:01] But I think the most popular one was probably the N64.

[00:44:05] That seemed to have sort of a slightly longer line to it.

[00:44:08] But maybe the N64, that would probably be the most fun, I think, just as a giant controller experience.

[00:44:15] Yes.

[00:44:15] If you're on analog stick duty, I think that would probably be the most fun.

[00:44:19] Right.

[00:44:20] Okay, so let's go to some other ones.

[00:44:22] Ultra Machine, which is like a batting cage type of experience.

[00:44:25] And I would explain it as like a Showa-style children's room.

[00:44:29] Did you check this out at all?

[00:44:30] I did.

[00:44:31] I actually did it twice because I wasn't satisfied with my performance the first time.

[00:44:35] I was almost embarrassed.

[00:44:37] I was like, oh, geez, I only hit one of the interactive pieces in the room.

[00:44:41] So I was like, all right, I got to try that again, which was maybe a stupid decision because it cost two coins each time.

[00:44:48] So I used 40% of my coins on this one game.

[00:44:53] But no, it was fun, though.

[00:44:54] I like batting cages and it was sort of fun just to try to hit all the things, which was actually quite challenging.

[00:45:01] Because if you're just hitting home runs every time, you're not going to hit any of the interactive pieces in the room.

[00:45:07] You sort of got to almost like bunt and sort of get these arcing shots to hit all the pieces that light up or move or react to being hit.

[00:45:18] It was pretty hard.

[00:45:19] I'll say that.

[00:45:21] What were some of the things that you could interact with?

[00:45:23] Well, one of the rooms I did was like it was actually it was a bathroom.

[00:45:28] And there was a toilet and a sink and a door on the side and a shelf.

[00:45:32] And I hit the toilet, I think, with my second shot.

[00:45:35] You get about 20, I think it was 20 swings for one play, which isn't bad, I suppose.

[00:45:41] And I think if you hit something, you get an extra one.

[00:45:44] It'll say one up or itchy up.

[00:45:47] And then you get to another one more ball.

[00:45:50] So I hit the toilet and it lit up.

[00:45:52] And I forget it was a little bit noisy.

[00:45:55] It might have made a flushing sound.

[00:45:56] I'm trying to remember, but then I hit the shelf on the wall and it sort of reacted like I'd broken it.

[00:46:02] It sort of tilted down to the side.

[00:46:04] And so things sort of react in the rooms, depending what you do.

[00:46:08] They make a big crashing sound or something lights up.

[00:46:11] Like if you hit a mirror, there might be a face on the mirror or something.

[00:46:15] Just little fun little things for you to discover as you play the game.

[00:46:19] Yeah, by the way, listeners, if you're wondering why there's a batting cage experience, the Ultra Machine is a toy Nintendo made a long time ago, which is like a mini batting machine.

[00:46:28] And many of the activities are based on their pre-video game experiences.

[00:46:33] So even though you saw a lot of their old toys in the display case, this is kind of a new way to interact with them.

[00:46:39] What do you think about this idea of kind of reimagining the toys in a new way as opposed to just having video game experiences?

[00:46:46] I thought it was a great decision because the museum's showing their history and their past.

[00:46:52] And for them to think of some fun ways to use these old toys from whatever, 40, 50 years ago, I thought it was a really cool idea.

[00:47:01] And the ones using the old toys were probably my favorite ones, to be honest.

[00:47:05] Yes.

[00:47:06] And these are all, they all have the suffix of SP, like Ultra Machine SP.

[00:47:10] So I guess you could say these are brand new Nintendo developed games.

[00:47:14] So on Wikipedia, you need to make an Ultra Machine SP page or add it to your game of the year list.

[00:47:21] So after Ultra Machine, there's Ultra Hand SP.

[00:47:24] Ultra Hand, of course, probably their most iconic toy.

[00:47:27] It's like a hand grabber thing.

[00:47:28] Did you try out the Ultra Hand SP?

[00:47:30] That was one of the ones I also really wanted to try because I like the idea of using the old toys, as I just mentioned.

[00:47:35] And that one looked pretty fun.

[00:47:37] You've got these pokeballs sort of slowly going by you on like a conveyor hanging down.

[00:47:42] And you've got to stretch out and use the Ultra Hand to grab them and then drop it into a Mario pipe.

[00:47:48] And each time you do that, you get a point.

[00:47:50] And as you get a point, there's screens up above you and fireworks appear.

[00:47:56] And when you're playing the game, it's hard to see the fireworks because you're really concentrating on getting as many of the pokeballs as you can into the pipes.

[00:48:04] So there's not really much time to look up and enjoy your handiwork of getting it into the pipe.

[00:48:11] So you can do that when someone else is playing and just watch the fireworks because there is a time limit and you want to get as many as you can.

[00:48:18] But it was very fun.

[00:48:19] Yeah, it's cool that it's Pokemon themed.

[00:48:21] Pokemon, they sometimes like to play by their own rules, but it seems like they're very cooperative with the Nintendo Museum.

[00:48:26] There's a lot of Pokemon things in the museum, it seems.

[00:48:29] Yes, that's right.

[00:48:30] So that one was pretty cool.

[00:48:32] And it does take a bit of sort of, before you even get to do that one, most of the ones, they're pretty self-explanatory.

[00:48:38] But that one, the Ultra Hand, it's a bit finicky if you've never used one before.

[00:48:42] So before you even get to play, the staff will say, okay, let's all stretch out, extend.

[00:48:48] Now let's close it.

[00:48:50] And there's like a, yeah, it's a little complicated.

[00:48:53] There's like a little trigger on the right hand that you have to flick to actually open and close it.

[00:48:57] And so if you're doing it for the first time, like I was, like the first 30 seconds of the game, you're just sort of getting used to the controls before you actually start getting good at it.

[00:49:09] Okay, the next activity is Love Tester SP.

[00:49:12] Did you try out the Love Tester?

[00:49:14] No, again, I was by myself.

[00:49:15] So I didn't have any, I didn't want to go up to some random person and like, you want to do the Love Tester with me?

[00:49:21] But it looked kind of fun.

[00:49:23] Maybe if you're going on a date or something or with your significant other and you want to try that one.

[00:49:29] Or maybe if you've got one coin left and you want to do something fun with your friend, you have to hold hands and do tasks on the screen, like avoiding objects.

[00:49:38] And I didn't really check it out in that much detail because I wasn't that interested.

[00:49:43] But it didn't seem to be one of the more popular exhibits, I'll say that.

[00:49:46] And after that, there's the Game & Watch SP where you play the Game & Watch, but you are the controller, it seems.

[00:49:53] Did you try this out?

[00:49:54] I also did not try this one.

[00:49:56] I watched a few people play and it looked okay.

[00:49:58] I would also recommend this one for like, if you've got one coin left, maybe this is one that you want to try at the end.

[00:50:05] It's, yeah, you're playing Game & Watch, but you're using your shadow to play the game.

[00:50:09] So you basically stand up to this big screen and you can see your arms shadow on the game screen and you basically have to do a Game & Watch game that way.

[00:50:18] And again, this one wasn't very popular.

[00:50:21] In fact, as I was there, some of them were just kind of sitting open because nobody was even actually playing them.

[00:50:27] So there was no line at all.

[00:50:29] You could just go up and do it if you wanted to.

[00:50:31] Okay.

[00:50:32] Yeah, I have to assume the big controller and the ultra machine are probably more popular than, oh, pretend you are inside a Game & Watch.

[00:50:40] Yes.

[00:50:41] I think if I were to rank the popularity of them, I would say big controller was number one, possibly followed by the shooting gallery or the ultra hand or ultra machine.

[00:50:52] Those seem to be the top four that were drawing crowds.

[00:50:56] And the final one, Nintendo Classics, where you can just play old Nintendo games.

[00:51:01] Did you try this out or did you see anybody play it?

[00:51:04] Yeah.

[00:51:05] So actually I used my last coin in there.

[00:51:07] I was like, should I do the love tester?

[00:51:09] Should I do the Game & Watch or should I just play an old video game, which I can probably do at home at the Nintendo Museum?

[00:51:16] I'm going to play an old video game.

[00:51:18] So that's what I did.

[00:51:20] They've got it set up by system.

[00:51:22] So there's N64, Super Famicom.

[00:51:25] It's all there.

[00:51:26] And some of them have challenges, but other ones are just like you're on the Nintendo Online.

[00:51:31] It's like, well, we've got Punch-Up.

[00:51:33] We've got Excitebike.

[00:51:34] We've got this.

[00:51:35] We've got that.

[00:51:36] You can play it for six minutes.

[00:51:37] So I did that.

[00:51:38] And maybe it was a stupid decision in the end.

[00:51:40] But at that moment, I'm like, yeah, I kind of just want to play a video game.

[00:51:45] So at the Nintendo Museum.

[00:51:47] And I wasn't the only one.

[00:51:48] It was fairly crowded in there with people playing old games.

[00:51:51] Okay.

[00:51:52] I would actually say it was slightly more crowded than like the Love Tester or the Game & Watch section.

[00:51:58] Honestly.

[00:51:59] It's interesting they have unique challenges.

[00:52:01] I guess you do have some bragging rights where, oh, I did the Nintendo Museum exclusive

[00:52:05] Donkey Kong challenge.

[00:52:07] Yeah.

[00:52:07] I didn't really look into the specifics of all the challenges, but I'm guessing it's similar

[00:52:11] to the World Championships or something like that where you have to do something in a certain

[00:52:15] amount of time.

[00:52:16] Because some of the games on there, you get six minutes to play.

[00:52:20] How are you going to play Earthbound for six minutes?

[00:52:22] I didn't really get that one.

[00:52:24] So I ended up just playing Super Punch-Out for a bit just because I love that game.

[00:52:29] And I just felt like beating the crap out of a few of the guys in there.

[00:52:34] So that was fun.

[00:52:35] And actually, it was pretty fun.

[00:52:37] Yes.

[00:52:37] So you do have to be, I guess, very economical with your coins.

[00:52:39] It is a very interesting system, even though I'm sure a lot of people will be disappointed

[00:52:43] that they can't do absolutely everything.

[00:52:46] It still seems like if you have three really big things you want to do, you can still possibly

[00:52:51] do them.

[00:52:52] Definitely.

[00:52:52] As I said before, just think ahead what you want to do.

[00:52:55] If you want to do the big controllers, all of them, well, you can do each of the four

[00:52:58] different, actually, I think there were five different big controllers.

[00:53:01] You could do them all, but that would be your whole experience at the museum.

[00:53:04] So yeah, which is, if that's what you want to do, great.

[00:53:07] It's up to you how you want to enjoy it.

[00:53:10] But I think just having more of a variety of experience would be better, just in my opinion.

[00:53:16] And outside of that, there's also a section called craft and play, which are more workshop-esque

[00:53:21] type of experiences.

[00:53:22] The first one is called let's make Hanafuda, where you can make your own Hanafuda cards.

[00:53:27] Did you try this out?

[00:53:29] No.

[00:53:29] So the workshops require extra payment and also reservation.

[00:53:34] Oh, really?

[00:53:34] So as you walk in, there's sort of an information desk area.

[00:53:38] And on the wall, there's like a schedule thing with us in Japan as they do.

[00:53:42] Circle is in vacancy.

[00:53:44] Triangle is in spaces are running out or X as in it's fully booked.

[00:53:48] So basically, you have to book those.

[00:53:51] And I think you have to pay extra to do the workshops.

[00:53:53] Like if you make your own Hanafuda cards or if you want to play the game, you can actually

[00:53:59] go to see those rooms.

[00:54:00] Or there's somewhere separate where I think you've got a reserve and to go in and look

[00:54:04] at it.

[00:54:05] So I couldn't even go in and take a picture if I wanted to.

[00:54:07] It's an extra part of the museum, which maybe I'll do another time in the future.

[00:54:12] Do you have to reserve when you're in the museum?

[00:54:15] Or do you have to do it when you're getting your ticket through the lottery system?

[00:54:17] Or when do you actually make a reservation?

[00:54:19] Well, I think you can do it in there.

[00:54:21] I'm assuming because they, as I mentioned, they show the schedule on the wall with the

[00:54:25] circles and triangles.

[00:54:26] So I think once you get in, you just book it as soon as you can, if that's something

[00:54:30] you really want to do.

[00:54:31] And I guess that's what I recommend for people visiting the museum is once you get in there,

[00:54:35] just book what you want to do.

[00:54:37] If you want to do those workshops, book that right away and ensure you get a spot.

[00:54:42] So I can't really comment too much about that.

[00:54:44] But it is a sort of a cool creative thing.

[00:54:47] I'm not very good with creative things like coloring and drawing on a food card.

[00:54:51] So I probably just butcher it and it wouldn't be a good value of time and money.

[00:54:57] Yeah, it is fun.

[00:54:58] They do have like these two very distinct type of experiences for their first ever item,

[00:55:02] the Hanafuda cards.

[00:55:03] And as I mentioned, that sort of area with the iPad game in the middle, all around that

[00:55:08] area, they had display cases where you can take pictures of old cards and they go through

[00:55:14] the history of the cards from the Hanafuda cards to playing cards to Pokemon cards to

[00:55:20] every other card that they made.

[00:55:21] And you can take pictures of that stuff.

[00:55:24] Okay, cool.

[00:55:24] And also across from that, there are a few displays.

[00:55:27] A lot of the shooting stuff was in the, by the, as I mentioned, the shooting gallery,

[00:55:31] they had all the history of Nintendo guns going back to whatever it was, the 50s or 60s

[00:55:36] when they started making toy guns.

[00:55:39] So that's stuff you can take pictures of because it's on the lower floor.

[00:55:43] So that was a photo opportunity.

[00:55:46] Yeah, that's cool.

[00:55:47] There's at least a lot of photo spots because yeah, you need something for Instagram.

[00:55:51] So I'm glad that there's still like some spots where you can just freely take photos.

[00:55:55] And I do like this idea of, okay, here's our gun section.

[00:55:58] Here's our online section.

[00:55:59] They really focus on something very specific and try to put everything in there.

[00:56:03] So that's very interesting.

[00:56:04] So let's move on to something that's been getting a lot of online attention, and that

[00:56:09] is the merch store.

[00:56:10] Now, initially I kind of expected that it would just have the Nintendo Kyoto or Nintendo

[00:56:14] Tokyo style merch, but it seems to have a lot of exclusive merch they could only buy

[00:56:19] at the Nintendo museum.

[00:56:21] So walk us through the merch store.

[00:56:24] What do you see when you go in there or what's the layout like?

[00:56:27] And what are some things that really caught your eye?

[00:56:29] Once you get in and you see everything and like, holy crap, there's a lot of stuff in

[00:56:32] here, but once you start looking at each section from Famicom all the way to Nintendo Switch,

[00:56:38] it's divided by console.

[00:56:40] And within each console, basically the same items.

[00:56:43] So for example, from all the way to Famicom to Famicom discs, they have the North American

[00:56:47] or overseas, I should say, Super Nintendo.

[00:56:51] They have Game Boy.

[00:56:52] Every system, they have kind of the same items that are also unique to the store.

[00:56:56] So for example, they have a t-shirt for every single console.

[00:57:00] They have a pen.

[00:57:02] They have a mug.

[00:57:04] They have sticker sets, which come in a little cardboard box, cute little cardboard box that

[00:57:10] looks like the original box.

[00:57:13] So that's a nice little cute little feature.

[00:57:15] What else did they have?

[00:57:17] Well, the big item that a lot of people are talking about are the giant controller plushies.

[00:57:21] Did you see those?

[00:57:22] Yes.

[00:57:22] They're prominently displayed in the middle section of this sort of rectangular shop.

[00:57:27] So on the outside is every single console merch for each single console.

[00:57:33] And then in the middle, they have like these big controller sections.

[00:57:36] And I'm not sure if you've been following the news, but things got a bit out of hand yesterday

[00:57:40] on day one.

[00:57:42] So there was a new sign in place on all of the giant controllers which said,

[00:57:46] you can only buy one per person.

[00:57:49] Yes.

[00:57:49] They figured that out pretty quickly.

[00:57:50] And they seem like a very, even today, they seem like a popular item.

[00:57:55] Kids were going crazy for them and adults as well.

[00:57:58] I mean, everyone had a Wii remote or a Famicom controller.

[00:58:02] When I took the train home, there was a kid sitting across from me with a giant Famicom controller.

[00:58:07] So those seem to be the hot item at the moment, I would say, for the giant controllers.

[00:58:13] Do you remember the price for them?

[00:58:15] How much are they?

[00:58:16] I think it was $11,000.

[00:58:19] Okay.

[00:58:20] So about like $100 around that.

[00:58:23] Yeah.

[00:58:23] Are they all priced the same?

[00:58:24] Or is like the N64 one more expensive than the Famicom one?

[00:58:28] I think they were all the same.

[00:58:29] I didn't go around and check all the prices, but my guess is they're all the same price.

[00:58:34] What about you?

[00:58:35] What did you leave the merch store with?

[00:58:37] So yeah, before I'd gone, I'd sort of done a bit of research on Twitter and stuff

[00:58:41] just to see what was available and sort of plan my game.

[00:58:44] But I'm a big fan of the Nintendo shirts.

[00:58:48] And in the Nintendo Direct, there was a sort of gray shirt that looked pretty cool.

[00:58:55] It's a Nintendo museum in their standard style.

[00:58:57] And I already have the gray Osaka shirt.

[00:59:00] But I'm like, is that the same sort of color of shade of gray?

[00:59:03] Or is that like a darker shade of gray?

[00:59:05] And I thought, I hope it's a different shade of gray because I don't really want to get the

[00:59:07] exact same shade.

[00:59:09] And it is a slightly darker gray.

[00:59:12] So I'm like, okay, I'm getting that, another shirt.

[00:59:15] I also went to the Famicom disc section.

[00:59:19] Because like, how often do you see Famicom disc stuff in terms of merch?

[00:59:23] I thought that was pretty cool.

[00:59:25] Like I think overseas and in other countries, you often see like a Game Boy shirt or a Super

[00:59:30] Nintendo shirt, but some of the kind of lesser advertised like shirts, like I've never seen

[00:59:36] a 3DS shirt or a Wii U shirt before.

[00:59:41] So that was kind of funny.

[00:59:42] So I bought, I ended up buying a pin set of a Famicom disc system, which comes with disc

[00:59:47] coon.

[00:59:48] Oh, yes.

[00:59:48] Just the words Famicom disc.

[00:59:50] So it's two pins in a little set.

[00:59:53] And what else did I get?

[00:59:54] I also bought one of their unique glass, small glasses, drinking glasses.

[01:00:01] So I got the one at the Nintendo Kyoto store and I thought I would pair it up with one from

[01:00:05] the museum.

[01:00:07] And the pictures are quite cute.

[01:00:09] They've got the ultra hand and different Hanafuda cards and little different pictures on that same

[01:00:15] sort of tiled style as the regular Nintendo stores have.

[01:00:19] So those are actually the only three things that I bought because I am going next week again.

[01:00:23] So I probably get more at that time.

[01:00:25] But for today, I thought I would limit it to those three items.

[01:00:30] I did notice they're also selling the ultra hand in the store as well.

[01:00:33] Did you see that?

[01:00:34] Yes.

[01:00:35] And that was really cool.

[01:00:36] They didn't have the ultra machine, but they did have the ultra hand.

[01:00:39] And I can't say I saw anyone in the line buying it, but I just love the fact that they

[01:00:45] have that there.

[01:00:46] They also had a few in glass cases, really fancy, maybe super deluxe Hanafuda sets for

[01:00:53] like basically, I would know, like 150 US dollars or something.

[01:00:58] They were pretty expensive.

[01:00:59] And maybe for that sort of a very niche item for people who are really into Hanafuda and

[01:01:05] want that super fancy Nintendo item.

[01:01:08] But again, I'm not sure how popular those were.

[01:01:11] It seemed like the giant controllers and also the blind bag controllers seem to be the most

[01:01:16] popular items, I would say.

[01:01:19] Yeah.

[01:01:19] On my first visit, I'm also planning, what should I buy?

[01:01:22] I'm definitely getting a virtual boy shirt.

[01:01:24] And I want that Disccoon pin as well.

[01:01:26] I didn't know it came with like the Famicom disc system as well.

[01:01:29] I thought it was just Disccoon, but I'll get whatever he comes in.

[01:01:32] Yeah, I've got it right in my hand here.

[01:01:34] It's two discs.

[01:01:36] Sorry, it's Disccoon.

[01:01:37] And above it, it says Family Computer Disc System on like a silver pin.

[01:01:41] It's quite cool.

[01:01:42] So we're about to wrap up, but I have a few more questions.

[01:01:46] For example, do you think in the future they're going to have kind of like a time-limited

[01:01:50] exhibit?

[01:01:51] Like for example, if you go to the Ueno Museum, the National History Museum, they'll have like,

[01:01:55] oh, hey, through the month of August, it's about the Jomon period of Japan.

[01:02:00] And they have things from that era.

[01:02:02] So do you think they'll ever have sort of like time-limited events here?

[01:02:06] Or is there just not enough space or what?

[01:02:08] I think the whole museum's pretty much full up with everything that I've just described

[01:02:13] to you.

[01:02:13] They've used every inch of that land.

[01:02:15] I mean, the open area outside, I guess they could do some kind of something outside like

[01:02:19] a bazaar or something.

[01:02:21] But in terms of exhibits, there's no extra space.

[01:02:24] Not that I noticed.

[01:02:25] Maybe it's behind closed doors.

[01:02:27] But my answer is probably no.

[01:02:29] So interesting thing around the museum, there's a few areas of open land where buildings used

[01:02:35] to be.

[01:02:36] And there's big demolished flat areas of land where I'm like, OK, what's going in there?

[01:02:41] Is that going to be a parking lot?

[01:02:42] Or is that going to be something in the future Nintendo related?

[01:02:45] Or is that just some company going to build a hotel here?

[01:02:47] What's going in there?

[01:02:49] I don't know.

[01:02:50] But to answer your question, I would say probably not.

[01:02:53] I don't think that's going to happen.

[01:02:54] Yeah.

[01:02:55] I kind of wonder, oh, in five years, is the Nintendo Museum going to just be exactly like

[01:02:59] it is now?

[01:03:00] And that might kind of limit repeat visits.

[01:03:03] But I think as long as there's always going to be overseas customers coming in, and I'm

[01:03:08] sure there'll still be people who are even local natives like yourself.

[01:03:12] I'm sure you might have another Nintendo Museum visit in your future, maybe within the

[01:03:18] next five years.

[01:03:18] Is this an activity you see yourself going to like once a year or are you kind of done

[01:03:23] with it after this month?

[01:03:26] Well, I haven't been with my daughter yet, so we definitely got to go again at some point.

[01:03:31] And yeah, I think after maybe three visits, I'll have to reassess.

[01:03:35] But I definitely would take a visitor, like if I had a friend coming from overseas or somebody,

[01:03:41] even if they're not interested in gaming, I do think it's a pretty cool museum.

[01:03:45] Even if you're not a Nintendo fan, it's still a cool experience just to see everything and

[01:03:50] to experience all the games that are super fun.

[01:03:53] So do you have any tips for people who are visiting it for the first time?

[01:03:56] What's something they need to know before they step inside the Nintendo Museum?

[01:04:00] Like I said, I would say just plan ahead for the coins.

[01:04:04] Maybe in the spur of the moment, like I did, I wanted to do the Ultra Machine a second

[01:04:07] time.

[01:04:08] And maybe I kind of regret that because it limited my playing of other things.

[01:04:12] So just be quite vigilant with your coin usage.

[01:04:16] And other than that, if you want to do some of the workshops, just I would say get in there

[01:04:21] and get a booking as soon as you can.

[01:04:24] And I think if you want to have lunch, I would avoid 12 o'clock to one o'clock just because

[01:04:30] you'd be spending a lot of time waiting, I think.

[01:04:33] But other than those, I think, yeah, just go have a good time.

[01:04:35] I was kind of a bit worried about like lines and waiting for activities to do things.

[01:04:40] But like I said earlier, it's like three or four minutes I was doing the things I wanted

[01:04:45] to do.

[01:04:45] So everything went pretty smoothly and quickly.

[01:04:47] And yeah, it was awesome.

[01:04:50] Yeah.

[01:04:51] It seems like the lottery system or the advanced ticket system might be a little frustrating

[01:04:54] for some people trying to get in.

[01:04:56] But if you get in, it seems like it's a very smooth and like speedy experience.

[01:05:01] And on top of that, one thing that does happen, which happened last month, once everybody's

[01:05:08] won the lottery, not everybody buys those tickets that they win.

[01:05:12] So Nintendo will open up the calendar month at one point.

[01:05:15] I don't know when or how they announce it.

[01:05:17] Maybe check the Twitter of the museum or something.

[01:05:20] But once they do that, they open up the whole month.

[01:05:23] It's a free for all to get those last spots in.

[01:05:26] So like, let's say you want to get on a busy Saturday and you're visiting Japan or something.

[01:05:30] Keep an eye on those updates of when they're opening up the calendar again for filling all

[01:05:35] the spots.

[01:05:36] And you might be able to get like a really good time or a really busy day that people

[01:05:41] want because there are openings.

[01:05:44] So that's a good option.

[01:05:46] If you don't actually win the lottery, just keep an eye on their Twitter and where they

[01:05:50] announced that they're opening up the calendar month.

[01:05:53] Yeah, currently now, according to their website, they're accepting drawing entries for January

[01:05:57] 2025.

[01:05:58] So about three months from now.

[01:06:00] So I guess if you're visiting from overseas, start at least three months before you arrive

[01:06:05] to Japan and see if you can get a ticket.

[01:06:07] But if you're in Japan, you can do it much easier.

[01:06:10] Was there anything we missed about the Nintendo Museum or any final thoughts?

[01:06:12] Would you recommend people go to that Nintendo Museum?

[01:06:15] A hundred percent.

[01:06:16] Yes, it's a great place to go.

[01:06:18] I guess one thing that I didn't really mention as you go through the museum, keep an eye out for

[01:06:21] little, I would say Easter egg kind of things.

[01:06:23] Like if you look on a wall, there's a little 8-bit Mario hidden on a wall somewhere.

[01:06:26] I didn't actually see it, but I saw it online.

[01:06:29] Like one of the rails for the staircase has the Excite bike going up one of the railings.

[01:06:34] I actually missed that, but I saw it online.

[01:06:37] And just little things like that.

[01:06:39] If you look at one of the windows on the second floor, there's a Pikmin out the window.

[01:06:43] Oh, yes.

[01:06:43] So I asked the staff, like, can I take a picture?

[01:06:45] Because it's outside and it's not in the museum.

[01:06:47] She's like, no, you can't do that.

[01:06:49] Yeah, the Pikmin, they need their privacy.

[01:06:51] So please don't have pictures of them.

[01:06:52] So yeah, just keep your eye out.

[01:06:54] As I mentioned, there's a lot of little Easter eggs all over and cool things that sort of

[01:06:58] little Nintendo moments that you can have throughout the museum.

[01:07:03] Yeah, definitely seems like a must visit place for Nintendo fans.

[01:07:06] I haven't been there yet, but I'm definitely going one day.

[01:07:10] I want to aim for 2025.

[01:07:12] And hopefully, if they ever open up the Donkey Kong Country exhibit at Universal Studios.

[01:07:18] I want to try to do both of them at the same time.

[01:07:20] But Donkey Kong, he's been on hiatus for a bit.

[01:07:22] But hopefully we hear some news.

[01:07:24] So Kyoto Gamer, once again, thanks for joining me on the podcast.

[01:07:27] Where can people find you?

[01:07:29] Well, as I mentioned at the beginning, I'm on Instagram.

[01:07:31] I'm on threads.

[01:07:32] And yeah, that's about it.

[01:07:34] Drop me a line.

[01:07:35] Give me a follow.

[01:07:36] Say hello.

[01:07:36] If you have any questions about the museum, I'll try to answer them.

[01:07:40] And yeah, that's it.

[01:07:42] Thanks for having me.

[01:07:43] Yes.

[01:07:44] Kyoto Gamer is definitely a must follow on threads and Instagram.

[01:07:47] I like to think I'm on top of gaming stuff in Japan.

[01:07:49] But no, there are definitely many, many things that you can only find in Kyoto.

[01:07:53] So that's why you need to follow Kyoto Gamer.

[01:07:55] And the links to everything will be in the podcast description.

[01:07:58] So listeners, check it out.

[01:08:00] Kyoto Gamer, once again, thanks for joining me.

[01:08:02] Thanks for having me.

[01:08:09] Got two big games to talk about this time.

[01:08:11] Echoes of Wisdom and Astrobot.

[01:08:13] Of course, we got to do Age Before Beauty or maybe Wisdom Before Beauty.

[01:08:17] So let's get into Zelda.

[01:08:19] The Legend of Zelda Echoes of Wisdom is a shiny brand new Zelda title from Tokyo-based developer

[01:08:24] Gresso, who made a name for themselves with the previous Zelda remakes, including the Link's

[01:08:28] Awakening one on Switch.

[01:08:30] I know the Madora's Mask remake is somewhat controversial, but they've proven themselves

[01:08:34] to Nintendo fans with these stellar versions of Ocarina of Time and Link's Awakening.

[01:08:38] So a brand new Zelda title from this studio?

[01:08:41] This is all I wanted.

[01:08:43] And the game they put out is an unexpected mix of traditional Zelda conventions, along with

[01:08:47] some very ambitious ideas.

[01:08:49] I've done four dungeons, but no spoilers.

[01:08:52] Unless you consider the game having at least four dungeons to be a spoiler.

[01:08:55] In which case, I'm sorry.

[01:08:56] It's got two main hooks.

[01:08:58] One, you play as Zelda, which is a first for the mainline titles.

[01:09:01] Two, you can summon enemies and objects called Echoes that you collect throughout your adventure.

[01:09:06] These help you fight monsters, traverse obstacles, and solve puzzles.

[01:09:10] Zelda can attack directly via a time-limited power-up, but most of the time you're going to

[01:09:15] want to rely on the Echoes.

[01:09:16] Obviously, the Echo thing has more of an impact on the actual gameplay, but it is a smart thing

[01:09:20] to center around Zelda instead of Link.

[01:09:23] You really are playing as a mage, which is a pretty fun take on the typical Zelda formula.

[01:09:27] It's neat to see Link from an outsider perspective, and he has an interesting backstory that he

[01:09:32] might not have had if he was the protagonist.

[01:09:34] Playing as Zelda also gives you stronger ties to Hyrule Castletown and the King, plus you do

[01:09:39] completely sidestep the whole women-only element of the Gerudo.

[01:09:42] She doesn't feel like Girl Link.

[01:09:44] The devs have very cleverly tied in her character's role into the story of the game.

[01:09:48] But there's still definitely a subset of people who want essentially Girl Link.

[01:09:52] But having Zelda basically be a summoner who relies on magic and controlling other characters

[01:09:56] is such a good idea.

[01:09:58] Think of all the Zelda clones out there that just follow the exact same formula of adventurer

[01:10:03] with a sword.

[01:10:04] The Echo system is completely different from what we've seen before in the series and amongst

[01:10:08] imitators, but it's still contained within the traditional trappings of a Zelda game.

[01:10:12] You go to dungeons, you explore and collect hard pieces, you do side quests to get money

[01:10:16] and items and so forth.

[01:10:17] It is a bit wild to think that this is the first new traditional style of Zelda in over

[01:10:21] 10 years, the last one being Link Between Worlds.

[01:10:24] It's still placed by those rule sets, but it isn't afraid about breaking some rules too.

[01:10:28] The main gameplay system is the Echoes, where you can copy certain items you find in the

[01:10:31] world, and then you can summon them at any time.

[01:10:33] There is a limit based on how many triangles you have.

[01:10:36] I'm sure the game has some official name for it, but each Echo costs a certain number

[01:10:39] of triangles.

[01:10:41] For example, you start off with three triangles, and the snakes cost one each, so you can summon

[01:10:45] three snakes at a time.

[01:10:47] If you summon more, it will just delete your old summon, so you can effectively spam summons

[01:10:51] or reposition and summon it somewhere else.

[01:10:54] You don't need to be precious about these things.

[01:10:56] If they get destroyed, there's no cooldown, you just plop down another one, which really

[01:10:59] ties into the game's focus on freedom and experimentation.

[01:11:02] The Echoes are just really fun to use and engage with overall.

[01:11:05] There's far more enemy Echoes than I imagined, mixing in some classic foes along with a lot

[01:11:09] of brand new ones.

[01:11:10] You can summon seagulls to attack aerial foes, armadillos to bounce around the area, and they

[01:11:15] even give you dark nuts very early on in the game if you just want to summon someone to

[01:11:18] swing a big axe.

[01:11:20] It's interesting to see the power levels between the enemies.

[01:11:22] Like, how many hits does a moblin take to defeat a tektite?

[01:11:26] Which enemies are flammable?

[01:11:27] Should you summon a big ghost to fight bats?

[01:11:30] These little experiments are neat to see play out, even though you really don't need to

[01:11:33] min-max encounters.

[01:11:34] Do you just want to summon four snakes against every enemy?

[01:11:37] You can.

[01:11:38] There are some puzzles, especially in the side-scrolling sections, that feel like they only have one

[01:11:42] solution, but maybe I'm completely wrong.

[01:11:45] I'm excited to dig into some YouTube videos to see all the ways people are solving puzzles.

[01:11:49] But speaking of side-scrolling sections, there's quite a lot of them.

[01:11:51] The game in general plays very much like a platformer at times, both side-view and top-down,

[01:11:56] as you're always jumping over gaps or climbing on things.

[01:11:59] And the game confirms that Zelda is by far a better jumper than Link ever was or ever

[01:12:03] will be.

[01:12:04] The echo system does lead into a potential problem, depending on who you are.

[01:12:08] There are definitely overpowered echoes, and many puzzles or traversal challenges can

[01:12:12] be solved with just a handful.

[01:12:14] Yes, you can pretty much cross any gap with a bed bridge.

[01:12:16] When you get the water blocks, vertical traversal is pretty trivial.

[01:12:19] I don't think the game cares about if you rely on these, since I don't think it wants

[01:12:23] you to consider every single gap or out-of-reach area to be some brain-busting puzzle you need

[01:12:27] to master.

[01:12:28] There are still plenty of puzzles where you need to use other objects, or other challenges

[01:12:32] like trying to cross gaps without your bed bridge while enemies are trying to attack you.

[01:12:36] I think back to Scribblenauts, which pretty much every challenge in that game could be

[01:12:39] solved with a pterodactyl and a rope.

[01:12:41] It's nowhere near as bad as that in Echoes of Wisdom, but the temptation to just use what

[01:12:45] you know might be too strong for some players.

[01:12:47] Alright, here are some of my favorite echoes so far.

[01:12:50] Kraltala, which is a wall-crawling spider.

[01:12:52] He's basically the go-to for any vertical traversal early on in the game, plus it's

[01:12:56] an excellent potent fighter.

[01:12:57] I also have a giant guinea, which is a one-eyed ghost from Link's Awakening.

[01:13:01] Not super powerful since it is slow, but it is wild that I can summon a ghost that's

[01:13:05] three times my size.

[01:13:06] I love the art style, so seeing all these enemies chibified and looking like little

[01:13:10] plastic toys in the menu really makes me want some sort of Zelda farming game where

[01:13:15] I can just raise armadillos and moblins.

[01:13:17] Please make this game next, Grezzo.

[01:13:18] The trampoline is also one of the better non-enemy Echoes, as it gives you some extra

[01:13:22] height, and you can combo it with your bind to nab things out of reach.

[01:13:25] Oh yeah, your other power is bind, which is sort of a nerfed ultra hand from Tears of

[01:13:29] the Kingdom.

[01:13:30] You can grab objects and then move it with you.

[01:13:32] You can pull it closer to you or push it away, but you can still move it around.

[01:13:36] It's easy to forget about this power since Egoes are the main focus, but there are quite

[01:13:40] a few puzzles that do require both.

[01:13:41] The game has quite an expansive overworld, and literally eight times the size of Link's

[01:13:45] Awakening's Koholint Island, and it feels like that, but oftentimes not in a good way.

[01:13:50] There's swaths of land with nothing to do, especially once you start climbing into border

[01:13:54] walls between regions.

[01:13:56] I think having a Korok seed mechanic would have served the game well since there's just

[01:13:59] too much space since you can now get up on literally every rock and tree.

[01:14:03] In terms of the kingdom, there's obviously huge areas with quote-unquote nothing in them,

[01:14:07] but when you climb a mountain in Tears, you get a better vantage point.

[01:14:11] Since this is a top-down game, you don't really get that.

[01:14:14] The overworld should just be jammed with puzzles left and right.

[01:14:17] There's still a lot in there, including multiple towns, caves with small little challenges,

[01:14:21] mini-games, and I've even encountered what I would consider to be a mini-dungeon complete

[01:14:25] with a unique boss.

[01:14:27] There's a lot of intriguing things to find, but I think the game would have probably

[01:14:30] benefited from having it be a bit more compact.

[01:14:32] The map is heavily inspired by Link to the Past, with some Breath of the Wild areas blended

[01:14:36] in.

[01:14:37] Instead of having a dark world, there are these rifts all over the map that serve

[01:14:40] as major gameplay segments that tie into the story.

[01:14:43] Inside each rift has you find a certain number of fairies, typically 3-5, by navigating a maze-like,

[01:14:48] almost Inception-inspired area with a heavy emphasis on platforming and traversal puzzles.

[01:14:53] The still world has a lot of great music and a lot of rule-breaking geometry and tough enemies,

[01:14:58] but these are a bit more combat-oriented than I expected.

[01:15:01] I was hoping the rifts would be more akin to the shrines in the 3D Zelda titles,

[01:15:04] like one big puzzle I have to figure out, but oftentimes it's just hop over these platforms,

[01:15:09] fight this enemy, and you save a fairy.

[01:15:11] It's far more platformer-focused than I ever imagined.

[01:15:13] Not that that's a bad thing, but it is a bit different from what I expected.

[01:15:17] And inside some of the major rifts lie the game's dungeons.

[01:15:20] These are the classic-style Zelda dungeons with small keys, mini-bosses,

[01:15:23] boss keys, a heart container at the end, and so on.

[01:15:26] They're quite expansive, and the ones I've encountered so far have had a large number of rooms.

[01:15:30] I'm very curious how they compare size-wise to the other 2D Zelda games,

[01:15:33] because these ones seem quite huge.

[01:15:35] The key difference is that you don't get a new item halfway through the dungeon

[01:15:38] that you use for the rest of the dungeon.

[01:15:40] So the puzzles can be a bit more freeform,

[01:15:42] because in the past Zelda games, you would often enter a room,

[01:15:44] you can't interact with something, you get an item,

[01:15:46] then go back to that room and interact with it.

[01:15:48] The echoes sort of serve as what one would consider new items every now and then.

[01:15:53] In the Gerudo dungeon, you can copy these statues,

[01:15:55] which help you progress through the dungeon,

[01:15:57] and you can also use them in the boss battle,

[01:15:59] though that may be optional.

[01:16:01] A lot of the dungeon puzzles can be solved with echoes you find in the region or the dungeon itself,

[01:16:05] but sometimes you get that fun feeling of like,

[01:16:07] oh, I had this echo that I probably shouldn't have,

[01:16:09] and yet I'm going to use it to solve this puzzle.

[01:16:12] Again, the game isn't too preoccupied with limiting you.

[01:16:15] Quite the opposite, in fact.

[01:16:16] Grezzo and Nintendo really did nail the open feeling and freeform design

[01:16:19] of the Switch Zelda titles in this game.

[01:16:21] Though not having the dungeon centered around one specific ability

[01:16:24] does make them seem a little formless.

[01:16:26] Sometimes they do feel just like a collection of puzzle rooms and combat challenges,

[01:16:29] without a cohesive theme.

[01:16:31] And many of these puzzles and challenges are interesting and engaging,

[01:16:34] but you don't have this,

[01:16:34] aha, this changes everything moment,

[01:16:36] like you do in the other Zelda dungeons when you get a new ability.

[01:16:39] Also, so far, the dungeons are a bit generic thematically.

[01:16:42] The tutorial dungeon is a stone ruin,

[01:16:44] then you've got a water dungeon, then a sand one.

[01:16:46] They feel a little too straightforward in their theming.

[01:16:49] I did like this setup in the Zora dungeon,

[01:16:51] with the conflict between the Sea Zora and the now speaking River Zora.

[01:16:54] You'd think it would be the cliche,

[01:16:56] oh, there's a different race so we don't like them setup,

[01:16:58] but they go in a different and amusing direction for the conflict between the two.

[01:17:02] Also, the River Zora are cool, I want to hang out with those guys.

[01:17:06] The game has some holes in it, but I'm very much enjoying it so far.

[01:17:09] The ecosystem is brilliantly implemented,

[01:17:11] and it's fun to mess around with.

[01:17:12] And yes, I will talk about this game again on the podcast once I beat it.

[01:17:16] The game does seem to open up quite a bit once you clear the fourth dungeon,

[01:17:19] as I'm coming across more side quests,

[01:17:20] and I can enter more rifts in the overworld,

[01:17:22] and the structure in general really lets you pretty much go anywhere at any time.

[01:17:26] I'm sure there's plenty I haven't discovered yet,

[01:17:28] and there's a lot of echoes just waiting to join my growing army.

[01:17:31] I am a princess after all, they all work for me.

[01:17:34] Hey, another good game, Astro Bot from Team Asobi,

[01:17:37] who, like Grezzo, are right here in Tokyo.

[01:17:40] I know this is mostly a Nintendo podcast,

[01:17:42] but believe it or not, I do have a PS5,

[01:17:44] but I don't really get a chance to actually play it due to my living situation.

[01:17:47] But every now and then, I do try to set aside some time

[01:17:50] to play a game everyone is saying is a must-play title.

[01:17:53] I did it for Elden Ring,

[01:17:54] I did it for Baldur's Gate 3,

[01:17:56] and now Astro Bot.

[01:17:57] And thankfully, this game is much shorter than those two.

[01:18:00] If you have a PS5,

[01:18:01] you were likely charmed by the free pack-in game Astro's Playroom,

[01:18:04] a two-hour platformer that takes you through PlayStation's history.

[01:18:07] Many fans kept saying,

[01:18:09] hey Sony, make it a full game.

[01:18:10] And they listened.

[01:18:12] Astro Bot is a full-fledged 3D platformer

[01:18:14] with dozens of levels,

[01:18:15] new power-ups,

[01:18:16] a ton of collectibles,

[01:18:17] and it's easily one of the best 3D platformers ever.

[01:18:20] It's closer to Mario than not in terms of quality.

[01:18:22] You play as Astro Bot,

[01:18:24] which is like a mix of Asamo and Eva from WALL-E.

[01:18:27] One day, he's flying inside his PS5-shaped spaceship

[01:18:29] with all his other bot friends

[01:18:31] when a very generic green alien attacks,

[01:18:33] crashes the ship,

[01:18:34] and now you've got to save the bots

[01:18:35] and possibly all of PlayStation.

[01:18:38] Very light on story, but who cares?

[01:18:40] You're here to jump around,

[01:18:41] and jump you shall.

[01:18:42] It is a 3D platformer,

[01:18:43] but it's not focused too much on exploration.

[01:18:45] It's much more akin to the coarse-clear Mario titles

[01:18:48] like 3D World or Galaxy,

[01:18:50] where you are on a mostly linear path,

[01:18:52] clearing gaps and fighting enemies.

[01:18:53] I don't have a strong preference between, say,

[01:18:55] a Galaxy-style game and an Odyssey-style one,

[01:18:58] but I do love a game with a lot of money behind it

[01:19:00] basically saying,

[01:19:01] hey, here's our take on Galaxy.

[01:19:03] What you'll immediately notice

[01:19:04] is that the game looks incredible.

[01:19:06] We're always talking about cross-gen

[01:19:07] and if the generation gap between PS4 and PS5

[01:19:09] is really that significant,

[01:19:11] but Astro Bot feels like the first game

[01:19:13] I've played on the hardware

[01:19:14] that feels like it takes advantage

[01:19:15] of the PS5's power.

[01:19:17] It really is just showing off.

[01:19:18] The framerate never dips

[01:19:19] despite large levels

[01:19:20] and hundreds of particle effects on the screen.

[01:19:22] It's one of the best showcases for the PS5.

[01:19:25] Whenever PS6 is revealed,

[01:19:27] they really should have at least

[01:19:28] a Astro Bot tech demo to show it off.

[01:19:30] I don't care how many pores are on Aloy's face,

[01:19:33] show me how shiny Astro Bot is.

[01:19:35] But looking great is one thing,

[01:19:36] we all know that the gameplay matters,

[01:19:37] and fortunately,

[01:19:38] Astro Bot delivers in that arena as well.

[01:19:40] There are over 70 levels,

[01:19:42] and all of them feel like they have

[01:19:43] unique settings and challenges.

[01:19:44] They don't feel redundant at all,

[01:19:46] despite being centered around the same power-up.

[01:19:48] There are some one-and-done levels,

[01:19:50] like the one where you gain the mouse power-up,

[01:19:52] which instantly lets you shrink down

[01:19:53] without any load times or transitions.

[01:19:55] This is easily my favorite power in the whole game,

[01:19:58] and while I am sad that it's only used for one level,

[01:20:01] it does make sense because you could easily theme

[01:20:03] an entire game around this one specific power-up.

[01:20:06] Some of the more common power-ups

[01:20:07] are these ARMS-esque frog boxing gloves,

[01:20:09] a dog that lets you dash forward,

[01:20:11] a chicken that lets you dash up,

[01:20:13] an awesome time-slowing stopwatch,

[01:20:15] one that turns you into a metal ball.

[01:20:17] Some are definitely better than others,

[01:20:18] like the monkey is just bad.

[01:20:20] Who likes that power-up?

[01:20:22] But I'll endure these three monkey stages

[01:20:24] for just one time-stop stage.

[01:20:27] A lot of people compared the game to Mario,

[01:20:29] including me, just a few minutes ago,

[01:20:30] but I do think it plays closer to something like Kirby,

[01:20:33] as it's focused more on using power-ups

[01:20:34] to navigate the levels and solve puzzles

[01:20:36] instead of Twitch platforming,

[01:20:38] though some of the special levels

[01:20:39] lean a bit more towards that side.

[01:20:41] Like Kirby, Astro Bot himself is not very mobile.

[01:20:44] He's easy to control, sure,

[01:20:45] but in terms of his moveset,

[01:20:47] he really just has a standard jump

[01:20:48] and a Flood-esque hover,

[01:20:50] which is kind of a crush at times,

[01:20:52] but some stages are specifically built around it too,

[01:20:55] so I can't say it's an easy mode button.

[01:20:58] Astro is not exactly Odyssey Mario,

[01:21:00] who has a huge number of different jumps

[01:21:01] and techniques just by himself.

[01:21:03] I think Astro's limited moveset

[01:21:04] does make you feel like there's not a lot of variety

[01:21:06] in ways in which you can tackle a level,

[01:21:08] but again, Mario and Astro are going for different things here.

[01:21:11] Just the fact that I'm comparing Astro Bot to Odyssey

[01:21:14] and not say Pac-Man World

[01:21:15] shows you how good the game is.

[01:21:17] The game is pure spectacle

[01:21:19] and never lets up on the gas.

[01:21:21] Light Galaxy is constantly introducing new ideas

[01:21:23] and abilities all the way to the end.

[01:21:25] But again, nitpick,

[01:21:26] I would have liked a stage that combines multiple power-ups.

[01:21:29] Every stage is really tied to one power-up,

[01:21:31] so it would be neat to have stages

[01:21:32] where the first part is the dog

[01:21:33] and then you go into the time stop

[01:21:35] or you need to switch between the two or whatever.

[01:21:37] Maybe in the sequel.

[01:21:38] This whole segment could just be me

[01:21:40] listing my favorite stages.

[01:21:41] The aforementioned Mouse one is at the top,

[01:21:44] but other faves include one where you flip the level

[01:21:45] via a day and night button

[01:21:47] and a ninja castle,

[01:21:48] a casino where you stop time

[01:21:50] and then platform across the playing cards.

[01:21:52] They aren't tied to the typical grass world,

[01:21:54] water world theming,

[01:21:55] and they jam so many ideas into the game.

[01:21:58] There are also the secret button levels,

[01:22:00] which are themed after the PlayStation buttons

[01:22:02] and are much more straightforward

[01:22:03] and challenging Twitch platforming sections.

[01:22:05] While the game is pretty easy overall,

[01:22:07] these stages will test your skills

[01:22:08] and remind me of some of the tougher platforming segments

[01:22:10] from Galaxy or 3D World.

[01:22:12] Don't worry though,

[01:22:13] the final stage in Astro Bot

[01:22:14] is thankfully nowhere near as hard

[01:22:16] as the one in 3D World,

[01:22:17] so you won't lose a year off your life.

[01:22:20] Each world has a special PlayStation-themed level

[01:22:21] where the gameplay is based on a specific franchise.

[01:22:24] Spoiler for the first one,

[01:22:26] but you go to the Ape Escape world

[01:22:27] and you have to catch monkeys.

[01:22:29] This level was absolutely amazing.

[01:22:31] It does feel very authentic to the Ape Escape franchise,

[01:22:33] which I do love.

[01:22:34] There are some other good ones,

[01:22:36] but yeah,

[01:22:36] they peaked with Ape Escape.

[01:22:37] In terms of collectibles,

[01:22:39] you've got your puzzle pieces,

[01:22:40] which unlock things in the hub world,

[01:22:41] and most importantly,

[01:22:42] the bots.

[01:22:43] Some are generic bots,

[01:22:45] while others are themed

[01:22:45] after the iconic PlayStation characters.

[01:22:47] And not just first-party characters,

[01:22:48] but many third-parties

[01:22:49] are also represented as well.

[01:22:51] There's a good mix of obvious inclusions

[01:22:53] and some killer deep cuts

[01:22:54] including characters in games

[01:22:55] I've never heard of.

[01:22:56] Are there any Devil Dice fans out there?

[01:22:58] Obviously,

[01:22:58] it's way more fun to save a PlayStation bot.

[01:23:01] I still save the generic ones,

[01:23:02] but only out of obligation

[01:23:04] and not because I want to.

[01:23:06] The bots also populate your hub world

[01:23:08] and you can unlock props for them

[01:23:09] via the gacha

[01:23:10] and then attack them

[01:23:11] to see a special animation.

[01:23:12] There are 300 bots

[01:23:13] and everyone has some sort of

[01:23:14] unique animation in the hub,

[01:23:16] which is pretty absurd.

[01:23:17] The annoying thing is

[01:23:18] that they don't actually tell you

[01:23:19] who the characters are

[01:23:19] or what game they're from.

[01:23:21] Crash Bandicoot is called

[01:23:22] something like Rowdy Marsupial

[01:23:23] with the descriptor tag being

[01:23:25] sometimes confused for a naughty dog,

[01:23:27] which is a good joke,

[01:23:29] but there's a lot of obscure characters

[01:23:30] in here that people want to know about.

[01:23:32] I don't know if it's some sort

[01:23:33] of licensing issue or what,

[01:23:35] but it is a strange decision.

[01:23:37] And I can't really blame

[01:23:38] Team Asobi for this,

[01:23:39] but there are no Square Enix characters

[01:23:40] in here,

[01:23:41] despite Capcom,

[01:23:42] Namco,

[01:23:42] Konami,

[01:23:43] etc.

[01:23:43] being represented.

[01:23:45] I mean,

[01:23:45] come on,

[01:23:45] Square.

[01:23:46] Cloud can't be that busy.

[01:23:47] If I got to go back to nitpick mode,

[01:23:49] the enemy design lacks identity

[01:23:50] and the music outside a few tracks

[01:23:52] isn't really that memorable.

[01:23:53] But again,

[01:23:54] I do wonder if this is just me

[01:23:55] inherently comparing it

[01:23:56] to Mario and Kirby,

[01:23:58] two franchises with amazing music

[01:23:59] and enemy designs.

[01:24:01] I do think they need to nail down

[01:24:02] who the bad guys are in the series.

[01:24:04] Are they just other evil robots

[01:24:06] or aliens?

[01:24:07] Maybe they should just be the Kremlings.

[01:24:08] Donkey Kong isn't using them,

[01:24:10] so why not put them in here?

[01:24:12] Astro Bot takes about 13 to 15 hours

[01:24:14] to 100%,

[01:24:15] and trust me,

[01:24:16] you will want to 100% it.

[01:24:17] You can actually enter a level,

[01:24:19] save a bot midway through the level,

[01:24:20] and then exit,

[01:24:21] and the bot will still be saved,

[01:24:22] which might lead to a shorter playtime

[01:24:24] since it doesn't force you

[01:24:25] to complete the level,

[01:24:26] but I do appreciate this

[01:24:27] quality of life change.

[01:24:29] Also,

[01:24:29] if you save a bot

[01:24:30] or get a puzzle piece

[01:24:31] and then die,

[01:24:32] it doesn't reset.

[01:24:33] Mario Wonder also does this,

[01:24:35] which makes me think

[01:24:35] everyone got together

[01:24:36] and agreed that having to replay

[01:24:38] the entire level

[01:24:38] to get one collectible

[01:24:39] was mind-numbing,

[01:24:41] but I do kind of miss

[01:24:42] the intense feeling

[01:24:43] of nabbing something

[01:24:44] and then having to make it

[01:24:45] all the way to the end

[01:24:45] of the level intact.

[01:24:47] But if you have a PS5,

[01:24:49] I can't recommend this game

[01:24:49] highly enough.

[01:24:51] Honestly,

[01:24:51] it is a

[01:24:51] this should be your first PS5

[01:24:53] game to your title.

[01:24:55] I'm very excited

[01:24:56] for the next Astro Bot game

[01:24:57] or whatever else

[01:24:58] Tima Sobi puts out.

[01:24:59] Oh,

[01:24:59] and best bot?

[01:25:01] Hmm,

[01:25:01] I'll say it's a tie

[01:25:02] between all

[01:25:03] Ape Escape bots.

[01:25:04] Okay,

[01:25:05] that's all for games.

[01:25:06] Now,

[01:25:06] for the news.

[01:25:14] Tokyo Game Show,

[01:25:15] State of Play,

[01:25:16] Level 5 Showcase,

[01:25:17] other things I forgot about.

[01:25:19] We got a ton of new

[01:25:20] game announcements and news

[01:25:21] these past few weeks.

[01:25:22] Don't worry,

[01:25:22] I will tell you the only ones

[01:25:23] you should care about.

[01:25:25] I see the biggest game revealed

[01:25:26] is Sucker Punch's

[01:25:27] Ghost of Yotei,

[01:25:28] the follow-up to 2020's

[01:25:29] Ghost of Tsushima.

[01:25:30] This time we jump a few

[01:25:31] hundred years to 1603,

[01:25:33] so the start of the

[01:25:33] Tokugawa Shogunate.

[01:25:35] And instead of the

[01:25:35] island of Tsushima

[01:25:36] off of Nagasaki,

[01:25:37] we are going all the way

[01:25:38] to Hokkaido

[01:25:39] near the titular

[01:25:40] Mount Yotei.

[01:25:41] It's an unexpected

[01:25:42] setting shift,

[01:25:43] but it does make

[01:25:43] a lot of sense.

[01:25:44] Tsushima was a lightly

[01:25:45] populated island,

[01:25:46] and Hokkaido or Ezo,

[01:25:48] as it was known at the time,

[01:25:49] didn't have a whole lot

[01:25:50] of settlements.

[01:25:51] So like Tsushima,

[01:25:52] I imagine huge swaths

[01:25:53] of open land where you

[01:25:54] can just ride your horse

[01:25:55] around.

[01:25:55] Instead of dealing

[01:25:56] with a Mongolian invasion,

[01:25:57] the premise seems to be

[01:25:58] based on a good old-fashioned

[01:25:59] vengeance quest.

[01:26:00] I liked the first Ghost Game.

[01:26:02] It did feel like what

[01:26:03] would happen if Ubisoft

[01:26:03] made a Japan Assassin's

[01:26:05] Creed in 2010.

[01:26:06] I mean this in both

[01:26:07] a good way and a bad way.

[01:26:08] It's a mix of generic

[01:26:09] open world design,

[01:26:10] but also fun combat

[01:26:12] slash stealth encounters

[01:26:13] in an interesting

[01:26:14] and beautiful setting.

[01:26:15] I wonder how they're

[01:26:16] going to deviate

[01:26:16] this time around,

[01:26:17] or if it's just going

[01:26:18] to still feel like

[01:26:18] a big open map

[01:26:19] with the typical

[01:26:20] copy-pasted activities

[01:26:21] all over the map.

[01:26:22] The Hokkaido setting

[01:26:23] does have me excited

[01:26:24] though,

[01:26:25] and Hokkaido is

[01:26:26] extremely beautiful,

[01:26:27] so they have a lot

[01:26:27] to work with.

[01:26:28] And I might as well

[01:26:29] mention it here,

[01:26:30] since I did bring up

[01:26:31] Assassin's Creed,

[01:26:31] but Ubisoft's stab

[01:26:32] at open world Japan

[01:26:33] with Assassin's Creed

[01:26:35] Shadows has been

[01:26:36] delayed to February.

[01:26:37] A pretty surprising

[01:26:38] delay since we were

[01:26:39] less than two months

[01:26:39] away from its release,

[01:26:40] but I did think the

[01:26:41] marketing for it

[01:26:42] seemed a bit light.

[01:26:43] There's been a lot

[01:26:44] of rumors and

[01:26:44] speculation surrounding

[01:26:45] the delay,

[01:26:46] such as Star Wars

[01:26:47] Outlaws underperforming

[01:26:48] or maybe Shadows

[01:26:49] is far buggier

[01:26:50] than previously thought,

[01:26:51] but while the holiday

[01:26:52] season is pretty crowded,

[01:26:53] next February is also

[01:26:54] very packed with big

[01:26:55] games.

[01:26:56] Ubisoft has essentially

[01:26:57] trained people to

[01:26:58] wait a few months

[01:26:59] for bug fixes and sales,

[01:27:00] so they really need

[01:27:01] Shadows to be

[01:27:02] completely stellar on

[01:27:03] day one and they

[01:27:04] want to meet their

[01:27:04] sales expectations.

[01:27:06] I've seen a lot of

[01:27:07] people say,

[01:27:07] well, we have Ghost

[01:27:08] of Yote now,

[01:27:09] so why should we be

[01:27:10] excited for Shadows?

[01:27:12] But again,

[01:27:12] the setting is

[01:27:13] completely different

[01:27:13] despite taking place

[01:27:14] around the same time.

[01:27:16] Shadows is going to

[01:27:16] throw you right in the

[01:27:17] midst of the Sengoku era,

[01:27:19] the Master Samurai

[01:27:19] Civil War,

[01:27:20] while Yote is far

[01:27:21] more remote and removed.

[01:27:23] Even the other

[01:27:23] open world Japan game,

[01:27:24] Rise of the Ronin,

[01:27:25] takes place in a

[01:27:26] different setting and

[01:27:27] location.

[01:27:27] So I don't consider

[01:27:28] open world Japan to

[01:27:29] just be one singular

[01:27:30] type of setting,

[01:27:31] since there are so

[01:27:32] many different angles,

[01:27:33] time periods,

[01:27:34] and locations you can

[01:27:34] focus on that do make

[01:27:35] each game feel unique.

[01:27:37] I'm hoping Shadows is

[01:27:38] good, but I cannot get

[01:27:39] into Valhalla at all,

[01:27:40] but hopefully Ubisoft

[01:27:41] has something up their

[01:27:42] sleeve to make this

[01:27:42] game stand out.

[01:27:44] Also at State of Play

[01:27:44] was the Lunar Collection,

[01:27:46] HD Remasters of the

[01:27:47] first two Lunar games.

[01:27:48] I've never played this

[01:27:49] series, but it's always

[01:27:50] one I've wanted to check

[01:27:51] off the list, so I want

[01:27:52] to at least try it.

[01:27:53] It's from GameArts,

[01:27:54] the same developer as

[01:27:55] Grandia, and Smash

[01:27:57] Brothers Brawl.

[01:27:58] I do have the

[01:27:59] Grandia HD Collection,

[01:28:00] but I only put a little

[01:28:01] bit of time into both

[01:28:01] games because it has my

[01:28:03] gaming kryptonite, aka

[01:28:04] random zooming in and

[01:28:05] out, that kind of makes

[01:28:06] me nauseous, so hopefully

[01:28:08] Lunar doesn't have that.

[01:28:09] Other game announcements,

[01:28:10] Like a Dragon Gaiden,

[01:28:11] Pirate Yakuza in Hawaii is

[01:28:13] a new spinoff adventure

[01:28:13] where you play as Majima

[01:28:14] in Hawaii, and he's a

[01:28:16] pirate, or fights pirates,

[01:28:17] or something.

[01:28:19] My wife is a big Like a

[01:28:20] Dragon fan, but she's

[01:28:21] fallen behind quite a

[01:28:22] bit, which you can't

[01:28:23] really do since they

[01:28:24] release a massive game

[01:28:25] once a year.

[01:28:26] The special edition

[01:28:27] comes with the Majima

[01:28:28] themed pop-up pirate,

[01:28:29] a famous toy in Japan

[01:28:30] where you stick swords

[01:28:31] into a barrel, and the

[01:28:32] pirate jumps up.

[01:28:33] It's from the original

[01:28:34] creator, Takara Tami, so

[01:28:35] this is a really fun

[01:28:36] collector's item.

[01:28:37] I wonder if they will

[01:28:38] sell it individually,

[01:28:39] and I think there would

[01:28:40] be more than enough

[01:28:40] people willing to buy

[01:28:41] just that.

[01:28:42] Level 5 also had a

[01:28:43] showcase with the big

[01:28:44] game being Holy Whore

[01:28:45] Mansion, a new cross-media

[01:28:47] IP that is sort of a

[01:28:48] spiritual successor to

[01:28:49] Yo-Kai Watch.

[01:28:50] The genre is Ghost Craft

[01:28:52] RPG, so I have to

[01:28:53] assume that the major

[01:28:54] mechanic is fusing the

[01:28:55] ghost in some way.

[01:28:56] It takes place in a

[01:28:57] haunted apartment

[01:28:57] building, and you take

[01:28:58] photos of ghosts?

[01:28:59] Honestly, the actual

[01:29:00] gameplay is a little

[01:29:01] vague from the teaser

[01:29:02] trailer, but it seems to

[01:29:03] be some sort of RPG.

[01:29:05] Who knows when this

[01:29:05] thing will come out,

[01:29:06] though?

[01:29:07] Level 5 was never

[01:29:08] really known for

[01:29:08] announcing games and

[01:29:09] then releasing them

[01:29:09] quickly.

[01:29:10] Fantasy Life got delayed

[01:29:11] out of this year,

[01:29:12] Leighton is supposedly

[01:29:13] next year, and

[01:29:14] Deka Police, which

[01:29:15] originally was supposed

[01:29:15] to come out in 2023

[01:29:16] and I played it last

[01:29:17] year at Tokyo Game

[01:29:18] Show, now has a

[01:29:19] 2026 date.

[01:29:20] I feel like Level 5

[01:29:22] completely handicapped

[01:29:22] themselves by not

[01:29:23] establishing a stronger

[01:29:24] international presence

[01:29:25] quicker, and their

[01:29:26] over-reliance on cross-media

[01:29:27] franchises instead of

[01:29:28] just having good games.

[01:29:30] It's pretty crazy that

[01:29:31] they had Yokai Watch,

[01:29:32] the hottest IP in Japan

[01:29:33] for a time, and now it's

[01:29:34] really seen as a

[01:29:34] complete fad, which is a

[01:29:36] shame since Yokai Watch

[01:29:37] 2 is actually a very good

[01:29:38] RPG and worth playing,

[01:29:39] but I don't see too many

[01:29:40] people revisiting that

[01:29:41] series anytime soon.

[01:29:43] But enough about new

[01:29:44] games, old games are back,

[01:29:46] specifically F-Zero

[01:29:47] GP Legend, the sequel to

[01:29:48] the GBA F-Zero game, is

[01:29:50] coming to NSO on

[01:29:51] October 11th.

[01:29:53] And the Japan-only

[01:29:54] F-Zero Climax, the

[01:29:55] third game in the series,

[01:29:56] is also releasing in the

[01:29:57] West for the first time

[01:29:57] ever.

[01:29:58] NSO doesn't get enough

[01:29:59] credit for releasing

[01:30:00] games in the West for the

[01:30:01] first time.

[01:30:02] Starfy, Wrecking Crew

[01:30:03] 98, Mario Super

[01:30:05] Picross, so many good

[01:30:06] games are playable on

[01:30:07] your Switch right now.

[01:30:08] I've never played the

[01:30:09] F-Zero GBA sequels, so

[01:30:11] I will at least try them

[01:30:12] out a little bit.

[01:30:13] Supposedly, Climax is

[01:30:14] the best one, so I

[01:30:15] might talk about it on

[01:30:16] the podcast if it gets

[01:30:17] its hooks in me.

[01:30:18] Last bit of news,

[01:30:19] Parko Shibuya will hold

[01:30:20] a Death Stranding exhibit

[01:30:21] from November 8th to

[01:30:22] 18th.

[01:30:22] It's to celebrate the

[01:30:23] game's 5th anniversary,

[01:30:24] and the entry is free,

[01:30:26] so it doesn't seem like

[01:30:26] you will need to go through

[01:30:27] some sort of complicated

[01:30:28] lottery system to attend.

[01:30:30] I put some hours into

[01:30:31] Death Stranding, but I

[01:30:32] never beat it.

[01:30:33] I saw the gameplay loop,

[01:30:34] and there was a lot I

[01:30:35] enjoyed, but I thought,

[01:30:36] you know, I'm never

[01:30:37] going to see this game

[01:30:38] through, so I might as

[01:30:39] well stop now.

[01:30:40] But I think I will at

[01:30:41] least try to check out the

[01:30:41] exhibit, because I'm

[01:30:42] sure it will have a lot of

[01:30:43] interesting displays and

[01:30:44] some promo material.

[01:30:45] And yes, there will be

[01:30:46] plenty of merch.

[01:30:47] All right, let's wrap it

[01:30:48] up.

[01:30:48] Thanks as always for

[01:30:49] listening.

[01:30:49] Be sure to like and

[01:30:50] subscribe to this podcast

[01:30:51] on your favorite app.

[01:30:52] Leave a five-star review as

[01:30:53] well, it really helps with

[01:30:54] visibility.

[01:30:55] The podcast is also

[01:30:56] available on YouTube, so

[01:30:57] like and subscribe there

[01:30:58] as well.

[01:30:58] I'm on Twitter, Threads,

[01:31:00] Blue Sky, Instagram.

[01:31:01] Just search for Tokyo

[01:31:02] Gang Life or find the

[01:31:03] links in the podcast

[01:31:03] description.

[01:31:04] If you like the podcast,

[01:31:05] be sure to share it with

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[01:31:07] social media.

[01:31:08] If there's anything you

[01:31:09] want to talk about or

[01:31:09] cover, don't be shy,

[01:31:10] just message me on

[01:31:11] Twitter.

[01:31:12] The next episode will

[01:31:13] be on October 20th.

[01:31:14] See you next time.

[01:31:15] Matanay!