Nintendo Museum Souvenirs: What to Buy
Last Updated on February 22, 2025 by Kay
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Visiting the Nintendo Museum in Kyoto and wondering what to buy for a souvenir?
The Nintendo Museum’s souvenir shop, the Bonus Stage, is located inside the main building and contains merchandise from every Nintendo console ever released. This means they carry exclusive items you can’t get anywhere else!
Here’s a look at what are must-buys from the Nintendo Museum.
Keep in mind that many of these goods are limited to one per person. You are also not allowed to enter the souvenir shop if you don’t have a ticket for the museum and the last entry is at 5:30 PM, 30 minutes before the museum closes.
They have limited quantities of certain items so I recommend stopping by the souvenir shop first if there is something you really want because it might sell out for the day.
Table of Contents
Console Goods
Each Nintendo console has its own section containing goods featuring that console, from pens to shirts and blind boxes as well.
For instance, you can get sticker sets for each individual console system, featuring the console, controller, accessories, and games.
Here’s what the sticker set for the Nintendo Entertainment System looks like:
And here’s what each individual console’s merchandise looks like:
Wii U and Nintendo Switch Merchandise
Nintendo 3DS Merchandise
Wii Merchandise
Nintendo DS Merchandise
Nintendo Entertainment System (NES) Merchandise
Family Computer Disk System Merchandise
Nintendo GameCube Merchandise
Game Boy Advance Merchandise
Nintendo 64 Merchandise
Virtual Boy Merchandise
Super Nintendo Entertainment System Merchandise
Super Famicom Merchandise
Game Boy Merchandise
Giant Plush Controller Body Pillow
The controller body pillows are probably among the most popular souvenirs at the Nintendo Museum. There’s only a limited number available per day and once they’re gone, it’s game over until the next time you visit!
This is why some people visit the store before seeing anything else at the Nintendo Museum. I visited at around 3 PM and there were still some pillows available.
Controller pillows you can get include the Famicom (Family Computer) and the Super Nintendo Entertainment System:
As well as Wii and Nintendo 64 plush controller body pillows:
Hanafuda Cards
Nintendo started as a company that made Hanafuda playing cards. If you’ve never heard of this game before, I highly recommend trying it out for 500 yen above the Hatenda Cafe at the museum. (There are limited spots so make sure you sign up soon once you’re there!)
If you like the game, then you might want to invest in these limited Hanafuda cards that are only available at the Nintendo Museum.
You can also get other Hanafuda-themed merchandise featuring Mario or Donkey Kong characters, such as these beautiful handkerchiefs:
These Hanafuda-themed glasses featuring Princess Peach and the Piranha Plant are also gorgeous! I would have gotten a pair but they’re not dishwasher safe and I’m a lazy person who doesn’t like handwashing things.
Just make sure you have space for these in your carry-on luggage if you took a plane to get here because they’re fragile!
Ultra Hand
Nintendo also produced other types of analog games/toys including Ultra Hand, a device that stretched out and grabbed items far away.
You can try using this device at the Nintendo Museum in exchange for one coin on your play ticket. I tried it out and it’s way harder than it looks! I think it would also be very difficult for small kids to use since you need a bit of strength to extend it.
Controller Keychain Blind Boxes
I think these little keychains featuring Nintendo’s many controllers are the cutest things ever!
They come in a blind box so you don’t know which one you’ll get. However, thankfully the boxes are divided into two different periods — 1983 to 1999, as you can see in the following image.
And 2000 to 2017, as shown below.
I got my husband one of the 1983 to 1999 blind boxes and he got the Famicom controller! He was so happy because that’s his favorite console.
Nintendo Museum Plates
Don’t be fooled by the picture below. This isn’t a large divided plate — these are actually small square plates about the size of the palm of your hand.
Each comes separately so you can pick and choose which one you like.
As you can see, the plates feature different parts of Nintendo’s manufacturing history, which I think is really cool.
Nintendo Game Stickers
I really liked these stickers, which feature lots of games from Nintendo’s different consoles, including Virtual Boy!
The only reason I didn’t pick up some of these stickers is because they’re quite huge! Some were about the size of my hand. I didn’t have anywhere to put them, though I think they would look great on a laptop if you like decorating yours.
Pikmin Merchandise
The museum also carries goods from different game series, like Pikmin.
Splatoon Merchandise
My daughter is a huge fan of Splatoon so she was so happy to see a section dedicated to this game.
We got the skateboard blind box, which was actually quite impressive. The little skateboard inside actually feels like a real one!
We also got the sneaker keychain blind box. I love that the little sneakers came in a little shoebox!
If you’re a fan of plushies, they have those, too!
The Legend of Zelda
For those who like Zelda, there’s a small section of goods featuring this game as well.
Unfortunately, there is no merchandise featuring Kirby, which was disappointing for my daughter because she’s also a big fan of that series.
Nintendo Console Pins
Pin fans will be happy to know that there are blind boxes of pins featuring each of Nintendo’s consoles, either in logo-form or controller.
Wrap-Up: The Best Souvenirs from the Nintendo Museum
I hope this look at everything the Nintendo Museum has to offer in terms of souvenirs has been helpful to you. Now that you know what’s out there, which item is on your wish list?