Here’s some balm for your soul this Thursday morning: There’s a museum in Japan that aims to reunite people with the Famicom games they once owned (via my city).
Have you ever scrawled your name on an old cassette or game box, only to sell it later? You might just find it on Called the Cassette Museum in Tokyo (Famicom cartridges are known as cassettes in Jap an). Opened in 2015 and run by Junji Seki, the museum displays all manner of Famicom games where owners scrawled their names on the cartridges with the goal of one day hopefully being returned to their owners. What a nice idea.
The museum currently has 920 cartridges and cartridges ranging from Famicom, N64, Game Boy and every retro Nintendo console in between. There are even some NES cartridges from across the pond.
The idea of writing on a cartridge might make us retro collectors cringe a little, but Seki sees the sentimental value of using a pen on a cartridge. Some of the things he’s picked up over the years include prices and photos, and these little extras can add more story to a game, like when it’s sold or bought (via interview for mirai-idea.jp).
If you happen to spot your game in a museum, the magic doesn’t stop there. Seki will deliver the cartridge to you personallyyou can buy it back for whatever price you want, and you’ll need to share your story with him about how you parted with the cartridge, what you did with it, etc. so that he can document the story on the museum’s website.
It’s such a fantastic idea and maybe we’re praying that somehow something we parted with made it all the way to Tokyo. We also just want to see the cartridges and feel the nostalgia in person.
The museum recently had an exhibition at Flyhigh Cade in Tokyo in November/December 2022, but you can check out more details about this wonderful endeavor on the museum’s website official sitefollowing them on Twitteror follow Seki on Instagram.
Do you remember selling your old games? Would you like to see a museum like this? Let us know in the comments.
