Last year, Nintendo opened a Nintendo Museum in Tokyo Japan, where fans could visit and experience the company’s history and legacy.

Following the museum’s opening, fans noticed that a signboard for a “M.A.R.I.O Ramen” appeared across the street. As far as anyone could tell, this store didn’t seem to be affiliated with Nintendo in any way, nor did it match the branding any existing ramen stores which used the name “Mario”. This led to speculation that this store was attempting to capitalize on the location to trick fans into thinking it was an official Mario themed store.

宇治のニンテンドーミュージアム、正面玄関前に「M.A.R.I.O RAMEN」ができるみたい。
この距離だけに今後の動きに注目ですね、、 pic.twitter.com/ZbHHzcQ1yO

— 【公式】Kyotopi （キョウトピ）京都観光・グルメ・イベント (@Kyotopi_jp) January 23, 2025

However, as of January 29th 2025, the signboard has been removed from the store. It is not known if the owners realized how bad of an idea this would be given Nintendo’s notoriously litigious nature, or if it simply went under before it could be opened.

Earlier this week, a “Super Mario” supermarket in Costa Rico was successfully able defeat Nintendo in a trademark battle since the videogame giant did not own the trademark to the name for supermarkets. Unfortunately for M.A.R.I.O. ramen, Nintendo recently filed trademarks for several of their videogame franchises for use in “food and accommodation”, meaning the ramen store would have likely lost if a similar battle happened in their home country.

What do you think? Let us know in the comments.