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Hand-crank a level of Super Mario Bros. on Lego’s new 2,646-piece NES kit
Feel that? That’s the unmistakable and overwhelming sensation of nostalgia for your misspent youth coursing through your blood, as the 35th anniversary of the Nintendo Entertainment System is sneaking up on you. The original NES turns 35 years old tomorrow, and to celebrate another shocking reminder of our own mortality, Lego just announced another fantastic-looking set scheduled to arrive later this summer.
Image Credits: Lego/Nintendo
After a brief tease, the NES Building Kit is now officially official, featuring a buildable console, cartridge and controller (even the RCA ports are present on the system’s side). The game can be loaded into the system and locked in place, and the controller has its own cable that plugs directly into the front. The pièce de résistance, however, is that period-appropriate television set. There’s a buildable 2D Mario that runs and jumps along a level that unfolds and scrolls as you spin a hand crank.
Image Credits: Lego/Nintendo
Honestly, the execution is great. Just really, really clever. It plays on the boxy eight-bit graphics of the classic console, while offering an adorable counterpart to the already announced Mario set. The power of synergy is strong here. The Mario from the other set actually plugs into the top of the TV set once you remove a piece, with its speaker playing out the soundtrack and effects as his 2D counterpart makes his way through the level.
Image Credits: Lego/Nintendo
No word on pricing, but I’m willing to bet that the final price is no object for many fans. Also, knowing what we know about Lego, it seems safe to guess it’s not going to be cheap. There are 2,646 pieces in the set. It’s one of the most technically impressive Lego sets I’ve seen, starting with the detailed accuracy of the console and really taking it up a notch with the crank system that advances the background, as Mario, attached to a stick, bounds up and down. The Mario from the other set, meanwhile, appears to scan for the colors on the series of blocks at the top, outputting the corresponding sounds.
Honestly, this thing effectively triggers all of the human nostalgia centers simultaneously, and you’re powerless to deny it, so you might as well earmark some cash and set aside some shelf space. If I had to guess, I would put it somewhere in the ballpark of $300. Consider the Mario set the playable one for the kids and this one a complimentary conversation piece for their parents who grew up playing the original system. It’s available through the Lego site (and those brick and mortar stores that happen to be open) starting August , along with the Super Mario set). It will be available at additional retailers at some point next year.
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Here’s the full lineup of Lego Super Mario sets, due out August 1
Back in March, Nintendo and Lego teamed up to reveal one of the most delightful bits of colorful ephemera in an otherwise overwhelmingly bleak time. Lego Super Mario continues to be one thing worth looking forward to through it all, for the young and nostalgia-inclined old alike. And thankfully you only have to hang tight a couple more months to get it.
Image credits: Nintendo
Today, the childhood staples revealed the full rundown of sets. The list includes the already announced Starter Course, along with 10 expansion sets. Four Power-Up Packs and a variety of Character packs. The Starter Course is currently up for pre-order on Lego’s site, and all will be made available on August 1, online and through select retailers that happen to be open for business.
The Expansion sets include a range of familiar levels from the Nintendo series and a few other riffs on the Mushroom Kingdom, including Bowser’s Castle Boss Battle, Mario’s House and Yoshi, King Boo and the Haunted Yard and Toad’s Treasure Hunt. Those range in price from $20 to $100. The Power-Ups will all run $10 and the blind bag Character Packs are $5. Nothing too crazy in Lego terms, but any fan will tell you these things add up quickly. All of the sets are designed to be used together, and each features clever articulation designed to mimic gameplay.
Image credits: Nintendo
The Starter Course, meanwhile is $60. Of the figures, Mario continues to be the most advanced, with four built-in LEDs (two eyes, a mouth and a chest), a speaker for sound and color sensors on his feet, so the figure can track where it jumps. Understandably, he’s the centerpiece of all the play sets.
There’s also some more information on the included app, which offers build guidance, keeps track of scores and presses young players to build and rebuild the levels. There’s a sharing function, as well, along with a kid-safe forum for discussing build ideas.
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This functional pinball machine is built entirely of LEGO
I’ve spent a good chunk of my life piecing together various LEGO projects… but even the craziest stuff I’ve built pales in comparison to this. It’s a fully functioning pinball machine built entirely out of official LEGO parts, from the obstacles on the playfield, to the electronic brains behind the curtain, to the steel ball itself.
Creator Bre Burns calls her masterpiece “Benny’s Space Adventure,” theming the machine around LEGO’s classic ‘lil blue space man. It’s made up of more than 15,000 LEGO bricks, multiple Mindstorms NXT brains working in unison, steel castor balls borrowed from a Mindstorms kit, plus lights and motors repurposed from a bunch of other sets. Bre initially set out to build the project for exhibition at the LEGO fan conference BrickCon in October of last year, and it’s just grown and grown ever since.
Bre told the LEGO-enthusiast site Brothers Brick that she’s spent somewhere between 200 and 300 hours so far on this project. Want to know more? They’ve got a great breakdown of the entire project right over here.
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Tenka Labs raises another $2M to get its kids’ LEGO engineering kits in retailers
Tenka Labs co-founder John Schuster is no stranger to walking friends through building gadgets using Arduino, an open-source hardware controller — except they might be great software engineers, but not understand the actual circuitry. But Tenka Labs, which builds simple kits that help young students create small gadgets with the use of motors and other bits that connect to legos, is… Read More
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LEGO Life is a new social network where kids can share their creations
Club Penguin may be shutting down, but there’s a new social network for kids arriving today from LEGO. The company known for its physical blocks and building sets is launching LEGO Life, a safe, online space where kids can share their LEGO creations, and connect with a broader community. Available as an iOS and Android application, the social network is aimed at those under the age of… Read More
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