Nintendo and The Lego Group are teaming up for Lego Super Mario, a new physical play experience that is part brick-building, part game. It’s not a video game, however. As demonstrated in a new trailer for Lego Super Mario, players will build levels, physically move Mario through them, and defeat enemies.
At the center of the new Lego line is an interactive Lego Mario figure with built-in screens and a speaker. Players will move Mario around levels that they build, collecting coins and stomping on Goombas, Koopas, and Shy Guys as they try to reach the end-of-level flagpole. Mario’s expression will change as players move through hand-built levels, and his trademark “Wahoo!” and “Here we go!” voice lines will complement the play experience.
“I have always liked LEGO products and how they help children use their imagination to play,” Takashi Tezuka, executive officer and game producer at Nintendo, said in a news release. “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.”
The reveal trailer shows off a variety of enemies, including Bowser Jr. and Piranha Plants, as well as allies like Yoshi as part of the Lego Super Mario play set. Lego Mario himself appears to have Bluetooth connectivity, and levels are structured like the branching paths of a Super Mario Bros. game overworld.
Lego Super Mario is slated to launch later this year. Pricing and construction sets were not announced, though the video notes that multiple sets are on display in the reveal trailer. Nintendo teased the reveal of the new Lego Super Mario line on Tuesday, March 10, otherwise known as Mario Day.
