Oh wow
LEGO Super Mario will let you build and play real-world game levels
Minifigs with displays react to environments users create, racking up coins and generally being the coolest thing on planet earth.
Oh thank god, it's not a minifig clock. Two days after teasing LEGO Super Mario on "MAR10 day" (get it?), the iconic Danish toy company has shared more info on the way-larger-than-a-minifig Mario figure and the embedded screen (screens?!) and speaker used to bring the plumber to life.
Touted as a new kind of playset, the LEGO Super Mario toys have an "interactive LEGO Mario figure who collects coins in real-life game levels created with LEGO bricks." While there's little technical information to go on, LEGO's video on the Mario set suggests people (LEGO's press release targets the playset at "kids" which offends me, TBH) will be able to make Mario-esque levels, complete with green pipes, bricks, and platforms, to land on. There are also Goombas and a Bowser Jr. (because you can't have a Mario level without some baddies).
Interactive play — As you can see in the video above, the Mario figure comes with screens to help him express himself as you move him around a level. His eyes appear capable of displaying several types of expressions and his mouth different levels of excitement. The screen on his chest also shows different things like the number of gold coins you've collected, along with graphics when he's interacted with different parts of a level or enemies.
“The new product we created together with the LEGO Group seeks to combine two different styles of play – one where you freely build the world of Mario and the other where you play with Mario in the very world that you have created," said Takashi Tezuka, executive officer and game producer at Nintendo.
Per LEGO's website:
LEGO Mario has color sensors, plus LCD screens in his eyes, mouth and belly to display over 100 different instant reactions to movement. Also included is a speaker that plays iconic sounds and music from the video game.
App connected? — LEGO's press release makes no mention about any kind of app connectivity, but we can clearly see in the first seconds of the video there's a Bluetooth button on the back of the Mario figure. It would make sense for LEGO and Nintendo to release a companion app that would, say, let you keep tabs on how many coins you've collected and let you do things with them. Like, perhaps using them to unlock items and levels in Nintendo's mobile apps like Super Mario Run or Mario Kart Tour? That'd be sick.
Launching this summer — The 231-piece LEGO Super Mario start set is available for pre-order on LEGO's website right and comes out on August 1 for $59.99.
Between LEGO Super Mario, Hot Wheels' R/C Cybertrucks, and new consoles like the PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X, this holiday season is going to be packed. I'm going to be so broke.
