Viral Mario Ramen restaurant opposite Nintendo museum has been shut down

30 January, 2025

The Nintendo Museum in Japan

The viral Mario Ramen store opposite Japan’s new Nintendo museum has seemingly closed down after creating waves on social media.

Earlier this week, a social media account specialising in the food and culture of Kyoto shared an image of a new restaurant called M.A.R.I.O. Ramen.

The store was located opposite the newly-opened Nintendo Museum. “Given the distance, we’ll be keeping an eye on future developments,” wrote @Kyotopi_jp.

The post quickly went viral on X, fuelled by Nintendo’s history of calling in the lawyers to protect its various trademarks.

However, it’s since been reported that the owners of Mario Ramen have taken down the signage around the restaurant. “I guess they got scolded already…” wrote one fan, sharing a photo of the new-look store. It’s not known if Nintendo filed a cease & desist against the store, or if they got spooked by the attention on social media.

The Nintendo Museum opened in October last year and potential visitors still need to enter a lottery for tickets. As well as learning about the history of Nintendo, fans can also take part in a number of interactive exhibitions and recreate Nintendo’s early days by making their own Hanafuda playing cards.

Earlier this year, it was reported that Nintendo lawyers had approached a tech manufacturer that had showcased Switch 2 accessories early at CES and last year,  Nintendo and The Pokémon Company shared a joint statement announcing that they had filed a lawsuit against Palworld developers Pocketpair for copyright infringement.

Pocketpair called the legal action “truly unfortunate” and claimed Nintendo had demanded Palworld be shut down while the case was decided. They later removed what fans described as a Pokemon-inspired feature from the hit game. Speaking to NME in 2021, Pocketpair CEO Takuro Mizobe said he was “surprised” by the Pokémon comparisons “especially those labeling it as ‘Pokémon with guns’.

“Pokémon definitely inspired us, but Palworld is far more action-orientated in comparison,” he added.

In other news, Pokémon TCG Pocket launched its first major card expansion earlier today (January 30) but servers have struggled to keep up with demand.

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