Last month, Nintendo announced an unexpected partnership with Lego to create an interactive Mario experience. While this creative idea intrigued fans of all ages, Nintendo hid many of the details, which included expansion packs, prices, and features. On Monday, Nintendo of America released a one-minute video that flooded the market with new information.
A New Challenger has Arrived
In a move reminiscent of the partnership between Taco Bell and Doritos, Nintendo partnered with Lego to create the ultimate fan experience: Super Lego Mario. Nintendo’s criteria for Lego to utilize its iconic Mario property was as follows:
- Instantly recognizable as a Mario set
- Highly modular so fans could create their own courses
- A starter set that showcased a series of features, which include an accelerometer, gyroscope, sensor, speaker, and screen to show Mario’s reaction
The starter set checks all of these blocks by offering an intuitive Mario design, customizable course, and interactive technology. Lego Mario features a screen that interacts with different blocks based on color and enemies based on bluetooth connectivity. But one glaring omission is Mario’s arch nemesis, King Bowser.
The bane of our favorite plumber’s existence also happened to be the focus of Nintendo’s update: the King Koopa expansion kit. The new features for this key expansion included the following:
- New enemies, which include Dry Bones, Boos, and Podoboos
- Castle-themed blocks, such as towers, lava blocks, and walls, as well as iconic music
- A “boss-battle”, which features Mario attacking Bowser in a lava pit
While all of aforementioned features are exciting, fans are most curious about the release date and price. In the new trailer, Nintendo answered both of these questions.
- The starter set and Bowser’s castle boss battle expansion set will release globally on August 1st
- The starter set costs $59.99 USD and the Bowser expansion set costs $99.99
While the cost of the Lego Bowser expansion far exceeds that of the average “triple-A” video game on launch day, the selling price is comparable to popular Lego Star Wars and Pirate sets. If the August launch proves successful, Nintendo could be poised to earn a significant return for sharing its Mario property.
Conclusion
While Nintendo continues to struggle with distributing Switch hardware, the partnership between Lego and Mario could bolster the company’s profits. So long as the world recovers from the pandemic this summer, an August 1st release window should also bode well. But we want to know what you think. Do you buy Lego products? If so, will you buy Lego Mario? Let us know in the comments below or the social media links on the right. Also, be sure to check out our other news items on Pokemon, Modern Warfare, Capcom, Blizzard and more.
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