After teasing the forthcoming team up between the LEGO Group and Nintendo earlier in the week, we now have a few more details released about the forthcoming range. (Read on for more images, and video of the forthcoming gameplay.)
Arriving later in the year, there will be a range of sets, which join together to form a path through a Game Level. There is also an electronic, Bluetooth enabled Mario figure, similar in size to a Brickheadz figure. He has an animated chest, mouth and eyes, and interacts with a scanned barcode on tiles, set in the path. There appear to be some new elements forming the path: 4x4x 2/3 ‘plates’, with curved corners,and a similar element in 8×8, pipes for Mario to enter, to say nothing of a multitude of characters, including a member of the Bowser Family, Shy Guy and Yoshi.
I am sure that as we learn more about the sets, specific details will become available. Overall, the gameplay appears to be a completely new spin on Super Mario: the ‘Smart Fig’ keeps score, as well as time to complete the level. Coins are hidden along the path – accessed by jumping onto barcodes.
I am intrigued by the interactive Mario Brick, and I wonder the purpose of the bluetooth connection. I suspect you enter the sets you have into your phone, so that the smart brick knows what to look for during the course of the game.
This looks like an interesting spin on the ‘Fluid Play’ we saw introduced last year as part of the Hidden Side theme. I appreciate a greater degree of flexibility that these sets might give you for construction, while still being available for creative play. However, being able to play without needing an app to run and maintain connection will certainly be appealing to some.
Designers from both companies join forces to create a new physical play experience that brings Super Mario to life in the world of LEGO® bricks, launching later this year.
BILLUND, March 12, 2020: The LEGO Group announced a partnership with Nintendo that will change the way people interact with Super Mario in the physical world and engage in LEGO® experiences.
Both companies share a passion for innovation and play and their collaboration has led to a reimagination of the LEGO building experience, enabling an entirely new way to play inspired by the beloved video game icon, Super Mario.
Neither a video game nor a traditional LEGO brick-based set, LEGO® Super Mario™ is a new product line that features an interactive LEGO Mario figure who collects coins in real-life game levels created with LEGO bricks. The new line will let kids experience the playful world of Super Mario like never before. Super Mario will be brought to life in the physical LEGO world and new levels of challenge and styles of play will be part of the iconic LEGO experience enjoyed by generations.
The news was also shared in a video posted by the LEGO Group and Nintendo earlier today (https://youtu.be/Fq3hw4imZ3g).
The video, which hints at what fans can expect when LEGO Super Mario launches later this year, shows a player using an interactive Mario figure to collect coins in a real-life game level that has been created with LEGO bricks.
“We are very excited to bring Mario into the physical world through interactive and social LEGO play”, said Julia Goldin, Chief Marketing Officer, EVP of the LEGO Group. “With this experience we will help millions of kids with love for Mario to engage and play in a completely new way, where they are in control of creating and playing games with their favourite character. By seamlessly incorporating the latest digital technology, LEGO Super Mario is a highly social, interactive and collaborative experience for kids.”
“I have always liked LEGO products and how they help children use their imagination to play”, said Takashi Tezuka, Executive Officer and Game Producer of Nintendo Co., Ltd. “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.”
LEGO® Super Mario™ will launch later this year, and more information will be made available in the future.
For many, combining the interactivity of LEGO, with the characters of Nintendo is a natural progression, opening up a myriad of characters and environments. That said, I suspect most of us were hoping to see minifigures too. But this appears to be a true collaboration- Nintendo taking care of the game, and LEGO making the elements.
What do you think? Leave your comments below.
I look forward to getting further details closer to the release date.
But until then, Play Well!