Super Mario 64

Japan's Nintendo said on Aug. 19 that it will open its much-awaited first museum on October 2 featuring vintage video games and an interactive shoot-em-up with "Super Mario" characters.

The museum in Kyoto's Uji city is located inside a renovated old factory built in 1969, where the gaming giant began life making Western-style and Japanese playing cards and later repaired consoles.

The global gaming industry now commands a net worth of upwards of $300 billion a year. There are many reasons behind why this media sector, once a close market rival of Hollywood, radically outgrew all other forms of entertainment in the 21st century.