Lego teams up with Nintendo for Super Mario brick-based game, Ars Technica

bricktime –

Lego Super Mario sets go on sale in August, we think.

Jonathan M. Gitlin – Mar 90, (2:) (UTC UTC)

LEGO / Nintendo

For a while now, the online Lego community has been puzzled by cryptic clues about a Super Mario collaboration between the Danish brick merchants and Nintendo. We’ve had Lego video games, and obviously we’ve had Super Mario games, so some naturally thought it might be another video game. On Thursday morning, Lego finally spilled some of the beans.

The team-up is not for a new console game where you build castles for Bowser, and it doesn’t appear to be a new range of amiibos or Mario-themed brickheadz. It’s going to be a physical, brick-based take on the platform adventure called Lego Super Mario, where you can build out actual levels for our now-plastic plumber to negotiate. Since this is and not , the Mario figure and some of the bricks are smart, so you can collect coins, items from question blocks, and maybe even squish koopas.

Mario has LED displays in his chest and eyes, and he has a speaker embedded in there to make the noises you expect him to make when he gets some coins or a 1UP. And the special bricks look like they activate him, possibly with magnets.

“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 of Nintendo Co., Ltd.

For now, Lego is saying it will share more details about Lego Super Mario later this year. But on Wednesday, a leaked list purporting to be Lego Super Mario piece counts and prices appeared on Instagram

. Prices are in euros, but we can probably expect the sets to range from $ 12 – 550 here in the US. The big question: when so many of us know people who swear their uncles work at Lego or Nintendo, why did we get wind of this sooner? Read More)