Our other stop on our 1200+ kilometre trip to Redmond, WA was of course Nintendo of America HQ. Unlike Microsoft, Nintendo doesn’t except casual visitors of any kind on their property. We were able to catch a few rare pictures when we showed up and no one was home on Labor Day, but when we went back to try to talk our way into the company store to buy some rare swag we were (fairly politely) told to get the crap out of there because they have a “closed campus”. All we managed to snag was one of the business cards they have at their reception desk. We can only hope that Nintendo rethinks their current PR policy at their headquarters some day and once again lets people in to buy cool rare Nintendo stuff.
-
- The mildly ironic visitor parking.
-
- The front desk that I would be ejected from the next day.
-
- An artist’s interpretation of the welcome that people receive at Nintendo of America HQ
-
- The preview reel was running on the walls even when nobody was home.
-
- Nintendo’s grounds are immaculate, not a single blade of grass was out of place and it put Microsoft’s grounds to shame.
-
- In case you didn’t know that they don’t want you there, there are signs everywhere to remind you.
-
- Nintendo is *very* protective of their Astroturf soccer field.
-
- So much for playin’ b-ball outside school…
-
- The official Nintendo parking garage.
-
- This is what it looks like when you’re waiting for the elevator — I was too chicken to press the button for fear that sirens would go off or something.
-
- Even have their logo on the recycle bin labels.
-
- I’m assuming this is the patio for their cafeteria.
-
- Replete with fancy waterfall accents.
-
- *salutes*
-
- And this is the view straight out the front of Nintendo HQ — a little less romantic than the view of the building.
