Nintendo New York

Nintendo New York, sometimes written Nintendo NY, is an official store of Nintendo located in New York City at Rockefeller Center. The store was first opened on November 16, 2001 as The Pokémon Center and on May 14, 2005 as Nintendo World. Visitors can purchase Nintendo-related merchandise. Additionally, visitors can play Mario games on the Nintendo New York's Nintendo 3DSes, Wii Us, and Nintendo Switches. On February 19, 2016, the store was reopened after a one month renovation and had its name changed to "Nintendo New York".

Upstairs, there is a museum section, though the items on show often change. The second floor also contains a Pokémon section, where a lot of Pokémon plush toys are sold.

Nintendo New York often sells exclusive or rare Nintendo items, as it is the only official Nintendo store in the United States. They also give out special Nintendo shopping bags at checkout, with various character illustrations on them. The store often changes its décor, based on what games have recently been released. They also broadcast live presentations from Nintendo, primarily Nintendo Directs, for crowds of people to watch.

In June 2019, Nintendo opened their second retail store in Tel Aviv-Jaffa, Israel.

On June 1, 2020, the Nintendo New York store was one of the many places in New York City that was vandalized and damaged as a result of the George Floyd protests. However, compared to many other stores, it was not ransacked and looted of everything inside.^[1] The store was put under police surveillance.

Activities[edit]

For some time around January 2010, visitors could go to the store from 12:00 PM to 2:00 PM and talk to Charles Martinet, the voice actor of Mario, Luigi, and some other Mario characters. On November 7, 2010, on the Super Mario Bros. 25th Anniversary, Shigeru Miyamoto was among the guest visitors.

Visitors can frequently take part in tournaments and can chat with a screen with Mario or Luigi on it.

Prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, whenever a live Nintendo presentation is set for broadcast (such as a Nintendo Direct or Mr. Sakurai Presents), a big screen is always set with a crowd of fans watching together.

Gallery[edit]

Nintendo World[edit]

Store logo
Store interior
Store interior photograph, taken on December 26, 2015
A computer drawing of a red van promoting the Nintendo World store and Super Mario 3D Land, originally posted on Nintendo's Facebook in October 2011
A computer drawing of a red van promoting the Nintendo World store and Mario Kart 7, originally posted on Nintendo's Facebook in October 2011
Photo of a diorama based on Paper Mario: Sticker Star
Photo of a diorama based on Yoshi's Woolly World
The cake made for the Super Mario Bros. 25th Anniversary

Nintendo New York[edit]

First floor interior
Second floor interior
A Mario statue
Mario, Luigi, Charles Martinet and the NOA executives during the opening of the renovated Nintendo New York
Mario's maquette found in the store and Shigeru Miyamoto's sketch congratulating the store on its opening
Original planning sheets of Super Mario Bros. exhibited on the top floor of the store