On June 24, 2025, Nintendo announced that the Nintendo Museum in Kyoto will open a dedicated art gallery on the second floor of its exhibition building. The new space officially launches on Wednesday, September 3, 2025, marking the museum’s first major post-opening expansion.
The forthcoming gallery will present a curated selection of game artwork drawn from Nintendo’s extensive portfolio. Visitors can expect to encounter original character illustrations and behind-the-scenes concept art spanning multiple eras, from the company’s earliest titles to its most recent releases, offering a unique window into Nintendo’s creative process. Since its debut on October 2, 2024, the Nintendo Museum has chronicled five decades of Nintendo history through exhibits that blend historical artifacts with interactive elements. Highlights include fully functional oversized controllers representing the Famicom, Super NES, Nintendo 64 and Wii generations, as well as a series of hands-on minigames designed to immerse guests in Nintendo’s gameplay innovations.
Admission to the new art gallery, like the museum itself, requires advance online registration. Guests who wish to adjust their September reservations must cancel their existing tickets and submit a new application by the end of June. To maintain fair access to exclusive items, the museum continues to enforce purchase limits on its branded merchandise, discouraging bulk buying by scalpers.
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Earlier this spring, the museum further enriched its offerings with a dedicated exhibit spotlighting the upcoming Switch 2 console. That installation, unveiled in April, underscored Nintendo’s commitment to both preserving its storied past and showcasing its evolving hardware innovations for visitors worldwide.
Nintendo’s official announcement was intentionally light on specifics regarding the full historical scope, but commentary suggests the gallery may trace Nintendo’s evolution from its early-1970s light-gun arcade experiments through 1980s hits like Donkey Kong and into modern-day blockbusters. By juxtaposing decades-old concept art with recent designs, the exhibition seeks to illuminate how Nintendo’s visual language and creative priorities have shifted over time.
