Nintendo of America Headquarters

Update, June 2010: This mini-museum has been closed as part of Nintendo’s broader campus renovation. See this TechFlash post for more information. Original post follows.

It’s not exactly the Smithsonian in scale, but the customer service center at the Japanese video-game giant’s North American HQ features a small museum of classic Nintendo consoles, games and memorabilia. While you’re there, you can also buy from a limited selection of Nintendo memorabilia.

Apart from the hardware and games, one highlight of the mini-museum display is a photo montage from of an early visit to the location by Shigeru Miyamoto, the legendary Nintendo game designer and producer, and the brain behind such blockbuster franchises as Donkey Kong and Zelda. Random trivia: The character Mario was named after Seattle-area real estate developer Mario Segale, who was Nintendo’s landord in the early days of the company at a warehouse south of the city.

To the south of the company’s Redmond headquarters is a new Nintendo of America headquarters building, currently under construction.

It’s part of a very video-game centric swath of the region. Next door is the DigiPen Institute of Technology, a school for video-game development. And just down the road is Microsoft’s new Entertainment & Devices Division campus, home of the Xbox team.

Details: 4820 150th Ave. NE, Redmond; Open 9 a.m to 6 p.m., Monday through Saturday
View The Geek’s Guide to Seattle in a larger map