I toured the Nintendo San Francisco Store: 33 photos of from the grand opening

Plus: our Sony XM6 review, Moto Razr 2025 review and EightSleep Pod 5 hands-on

There are 12 tech stories in today’s Substack issue of The Shortcut. Skip ahead to story 2 for more.

New Nintendo Store? New Sony headphones? New Moto Razr? This issue is jam-packed (Cover Art credit: Matt Swider, Kevin Lee, and [HBO] Max Buondonno / The Shortcut)

• 📆 Grand Opening: Nintendo San Francisco opened today, May 15

• 🌉 Store Location: San Francisco’s Union Square

• 👀 Original Reporting: We got a sneak peek at the two-floor store

• 🍄 What’s inside? Tons of Nintendo merch, some of it exclusive to this store

• 🕹️ So much: Mario, Zelda, DK, Pokémon, Kirby, Metroid, Pikmin, Animal Crossing

• 🛍️ On sale: Plushies, clothes, drink and cookware, LEGOs, books, etc

• 🎮 Coolest part: You can make your own custom Nintendo Switch 2 OLED

• 📺 2nd coolest: There’s a giant game wall via a projector on floor 2

So many of us grew up with Pikachu and other Nintendo characters. Now there’s a store dedicated to these memories on the West Coast (Image credit: Matt Swider / The Shortcut)

There’s so much nostalgia at the brand new Nintendo San Francisco Store that you can easily get lost. That’s how it felt when I took a nearly two-hour tour before today’s grand opening in the city’s iconic Union Square.

Yes, I warp-piped all the way there from NYC (well, I hopped a plane and took an old-fashioned trolley) to give you a full sneak peek – and 33 photos – of what’s inside.

Curious San Franciscan window shoppers, cupping their hands against the glass to get a glimpse, seem excited for today’s big opening. They’re almost as excited as people waiting to get their Nintendo Switch 2 pre-order on June 5. Of course, I’m going to give you updates on when and where Switch 2 restocks happen and bring you The Shortcut’s review (a follow-up to our Switch 2 hands-on) and unboxing of the console whenever we get our hands on it again.

You’ll see Nintendo fans in cosplay, like @mcd00dle and @whoischelsea (on Instagram), in and around Union Square (Image credit: Matt Swider / The Shortcut)

For now, let’s take a look at the hidden treasures I discovered. A video of the experience is coming soon, first for paid subscribers (I need a little more time to put it together).

This GIF is on an angle because San Francisco is very hilly (Image credit: Matt Swider / The Shortcut)

🌉 The heart of San Francisco. This is Nintendo's second store in the US and its first on the West Coast. It’s located in Union Square, against the backdrop of the park and frequent trollies.

Mario greets you at the entrance of the new Nintendo San Francisco Store (Image credit: Matt Swider / The Shortcut)

🍄 Mario greets you at the entrance. There’s a big Mario statue at the front of the Nintendo San Francisco Store. He’s surrounded by dishware straight from Japan.

🚪🏃‍♂️ Notice this? It’s not just Mario. All of the characters, whether they’re statues or artwork printed on T-shirts, face the entrance, greeting you at the door.

I went through the process of creating a custom Switch OLED. It ends with confetti that match the colors you choose (Image credit: Matt Swider / The Shortcut)

🎮 Create your own Switch OLED. The coolest thing I saw was a create-your-own Nintendo Switch OLED maker. Nintendo San Francisco has tablets that let you customize the console. You can choose the color of each Joy-Con, the straps, and the dock. And it’ll be made for you at the front desk on demand, conveniently while you shop.

Before you ask in the replies, no, the Switch 2 wasn’t here. Except Nintendo was showing off the trailer at the custom Switch OLED maker station (Image credit: Matt Swider / The Shortcut)

🤔 What about Switch 2? This interface is dedicated to the Switch OLED. When asked about the Nintendo Switch 2, we were told to stay tuned for updates from official Nintendo channels regarding the new console, which launches June 5. There was, however, a trailer for the Switch 2 playing at this station. It’s only a matter of time.

This is a special tag (Image credit: Matt Swider / The Shortcut)

🏷️ Exclusive merch tag. There’s a special red Nintendo tag on some of the merch to designate that that item is exclusive to the Nintendo Store. This can mean it’s exclusive to the physical stores or the online store.

🌉 Exclusive to the SF store. You’ll even find some items exclusive to Nintendo San Francisco, like the Splatoon x Animal Crossing crossover merch. I haven’t seen that anywhere else.

There's a giant game wall and options for using either the Joy-Con and Pro controller (or both in multiplayer)

📺 Huge game wall. There are several game stations on the downstairs floor, but only one giant gaming wall to play a number of Switch 1 games.

🍌 But, be warned, the projected image, which looks to be about 100 feet, will ensure everyone sees you finish in second place after hitting a last-minute banana peel. For a totally made-up example that didn’t happen to me at all.

🕹️ Classic game controllers. Pro tip: You can buy classic controllers for the Switch 1 (and compatible with Switch 2) at Nintendo San Francisco without having to be a paid Switch Online member (a requirement of ordering it online). I can attest to their quality. I have 4 N64 Switch 2 controllers specifically for Mario Kart 64 and GoldenEye 007.

🫥 What’s missing? No sign of the GameCube Switch 2-exclusive controller that just launched. I know some of you missed it before it sold out this week.

I counted over 100 different amiibos. Some of very rare (Image credit: Matt Swider / The Shortcut)

😮 Hard-to-find amiibos. There’s a wall of over 100 different amiibos, many of them rare and out of stock at most other stores. The Nintendo Store plans to keep these digitally interactive statues in stock as best they can.

One of the largest collections of Kirby merch in the world (Image credit: Matt Swider / The Shortcut)

🍄 Tons of merch from every major franchise. The two-floor San Francisco store reps just about every major Nintendo franchise with merch, from plushies, to clothes to toys, to game accessories, to cookware.

• Mario (obviously)

• Zelda

• DK

• Kirby

• Pokemon

• Metroid

• Animal Crossing

• Splatoon

• Pikmin

‘Who’s that butter dish?’ I regret not buying this. (Image credit: Matt Swider / The Shortcut)

⚡ Pokémon? You ‘butter’ believe it! Among the hundreds of Pokémon merch from Nintendo and The Pokémon Center, my favorite was this butter dish shaped like a Pikachu lying down. This means someone else thought he looked like an electrified slab of butter? I feel seen! If you see something you love in the Pokémon section, you may want to grab it. Nintendo is promising to “refresh this product frequently.”

Lots of Zelda treasures at the San Francisco Nintendo Store (Image credit: Matt Swider / The Shortcut)

⚔️ Zelda was my favorite section. This is where I spent the most time, and I have lots of photos to prove it.

Some items are geared toward adulting, including button-down dress shirt (Image credit: Matt Swider / The Shortcut)

🛡️ Legendary Zelda gear. Many Zelda games are rated E10+, so you’ll find a lot of fashionable Link, Princess Zelda, and “Hey, listen” Navi gear that appeals to both kids and adults: wallets, mugs, and even button-down dress shirts you could wear to work.

Ouch! (Image credit: Matt Swider / The Shortcut)

👇 Please touch most things. “This isn’t a museum,” we were told at the outset of our tour. You can pick up and touch most things at Nintendo San Francisco. Only the giant statues of Mario, Link, Pikachu, etc ask you not to touch or climb on them.

LEGOs are scattered around the various sections of the store (Image credit: Matt Swider / The Shortcut)

🧱 Let’s-a-go! LEGOs. Nintendo and LEGO have been putting out Mario-themed LEGO sets for a few years, and a lot of them are featured at Nintendo San Francisco. My favorites include the complete collection of Mario Kart LEGOs, which I haven’t seen in person before today.

🛍️ What I bought. I flew all the way to San Francisco so I couldn’t walk away empty-handed.

Some Link-themed light reading material (Image credit: Matt Swider / The Shortcut)

• 📖 A little reading material. I had my eye on an official The Legend of Zelda Encyclopedia the entire tour. According to my parents, when I was a little kid (maybe 4 or 5 years old?), I studied Nintendo Power Issue #1 (and still own it) because it had a pull-out map/poster of The Legend of Zelda on NES. This reminded me of my Nintendo gaming origin story.

Getting merch for friends (Image credit: Matt Swider / The Shortcut)

• ☕ Coffee beans canister. Exclusive to the Nintendo Store (in-store and online), I bought the Roost Collection - Fresher Roast Glass Canister from Animal Crossing. I bought two for friends, including YouTube’s David Cogen, who recently opened up a coffee shop in Brooklyn called Coffee Check ✅ and even more recently became a paid subscriber of The Shortcut and donated to my friends who lost their home in the LA fires. Thanks for the continued support, David, and surprise (I haven’t told him yet)!

You can collect stickers daily using the QR code in the Nintendo Today app (Image credit: Matt Swider / The Shortcut)

🛂 Sticker Passport. We wrote about the Nintendo Today app when it first launched, and I’m glad I had it downloaded. You can scan your Nintendo Account QR code and get a sticker for a paper passport that the store hands out for free.

Some hidden treasure found at the Nintenso Store in San Francisco (Image credit: Matt Swider / The Shortcut)

🪙 Collectible Coins. I also got a commemorative coin at the register after making my purchase. I already have Mario and Link checked off my list. That’s a great start.

This bag didn’t exist before today (Image credit: Matt Swider / The Shortcut)

🛍️ Say yes to the bag. It cost $0.25 for this medium-sized bag (city rules) with a purchase, but these didn’t exist before today, so I said yes. On my flight back, people were asking me about this “mythical” Nintendo San Francisco Store. “It’s now a real thing,” I told them.

🎟️ Your visit. I know we have a lot of Nintendo fans on our 153,000-strong Substack subscriber list and among my 845,000 Twitter/X followers. I hope this sneak peek helps prep you for the two-floor store that’s filled to the brim with Nintendo memories.

🗽 Also see NYC. We’ve been enjoying the Nintendo New York store at Rockefeller Center for a decade now (also worth a visit), but it’s about time people on the West Coast have gotten a chance to go on a ‘Super Mario’ shopping spree.

Nintendo’s very big month

Super Nintendo World Orlando opens on May 22. Here’s an image from the Hollywood location (Image credit: Matt Swider / The Shortcut)

🎢 Nintendo is on a roll-ercoaster. In addition to the San Francisco store opening, Super Nintendo World opens at Universal Studios Orlando on May 22, and the Switch 2 launches on June 5. The next few weeks are going to be massive for Nintendo fans.

• Flashback: Super Nintendo World Universal Studios Hollywood review for a good sense of what to expect in Orlando

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