Credit: Lego
Now you’re playing with bricks.
My, Lego and Nintendo have gotten chummy lately, haven’t they? With the recent announcement of the Lego Mario kits, set to ship in August, they’ve started quite the entertainment partnership. But as neat as the Lego Mario kit is, I’ve always found it a little more impressive when people use Legos to create scale replicas of stuff. The kind of meticulous care that has to go into something like that is completely beyond me, which is what makes it so impressive. If you’ve got that same feeling, and are a fan of old-school Nintendo, then Lego’s got something that might tickle your fancy.
Several days ago, the existence of a Nintendo Entertainment System-themed Lego kit leaked online. Rather than play coy about it, Nintendo and Lego decided to just come right out and say it: they’ve got a new kit in the works that will allow you to assemble a 1:1 scale replica of an NES, as well as a little tube TV to play games on. Well, “play,” in quotes, since it’s not really a game, but simply the illusion of one.
Credit: Lego
The kit features a complete recreation of the NES in Lego form, complete with opening cartridge slot and a Lego Super Mario Bros. cartridge. It’s even got the same spring-loading action that the real console had! It comes with a controller too, though it’s not functional. The way the little TV works is you assemble a scrolling picture of a Super Mario Bros. map, slot it in, and then turn a crank on the side to make a little Mario icon run through it. It’s not an actual game, obviously, but it’s still a pretty cool trick. Also, you can pair the little TV with the Lego Mario figure; just place the little guy on top of the box, and he’ll play appropriate sound effects for jumping and stomping, as well as the classic Overworld theme.
The 2,646 brick set will be available on August 1, same day as the Lego Mario kit. If you want this thing, though, you’re going to have to cough up a slightly exorbitant $229.99. Ironically, that’s actually more than what a real NES would’ve cost you back in 1987.
