Japan’s Nintendo said Tuesday it will open its much-awaited first museum on October 2 featuring vintage video games and an interactive shoot-em-up with “Super Mario” characters. The museum in Kyoto’s Uji city is located inside a renovated old factory built in 1969, where the gaming giant began life making Western-style and Japanese playing cards and later repaired consoles. The company on Tuesday also released a video of Shigeru Miyamoto, the renowned creator of “Super Mario Bros” and other famous games, giving a sneak preview of what’s inside. “The Nintendo Museum is a place where visitors can learn about Nintendo’s commitment to manufacturing that places importance on play and originality,” Miyamoto said in the clip.

Along with the shooting game and some of the firm’s first consoles, exhibits include a giant controller that two people operate and another featuring ancient Japanese poems. The company first announced plans for the museum in 2021, part of efforts to widen its revenue stream, and it was originally meant to open earlier this year. Super Nintendo World, the company’s first theme park, opened in March 2021 after months of pandemic delays.

People visit a Nintendo store in Shibuya district of Tokyo on May 2, 2024.

A woman looks at a Nintendo Switch display at a Nintendo store in central Tokyo on November 6, 2023.

A Nintendo Switch is pictured at the Nintendo booth at the Gamescom video game fair in Cologne, western Germany, on August 23, 2023.

Part of the Universal Studios Japan complex in Osaka, it features a Mario Kart ride with a real-life Bowser’s Castle. Nintendo began life in 1889 as a manufacturer of Japanese “hanafuda” cards and launched its first home video game machines, known as TV Game 15 and TV Game 6, in 1977. The Super Mario Bros. games were launched in 1985, two years after the company began selling its Nintendo Entertainment System console. Tickets for the museum for October and November went on sale on Tuesday costing 3,300 yen ($22.60) for adults and less for children. — AFP