LEGO and Nintendo have entered into a new partnership to create Super Mario-themed products. This product is neither a video game nor a LEGO brick set, but something new entirely.
The interactive LEGO Mario set includes a Mario figure who collects coins in real-life game levels created with LEGO bricks. Mario fans will be able to create LEGO levels filled with iconic Super Marios Bros. characters and props, including Goomba, Shy Guy, Piranha Plant and the flagpole. As LEGO Mario hops from brick to brink, he will emit sound effects from the various games in the Mario franchise.
"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" Takashi Tezuka, Executive Officer and Game Producer of Nintendo, said in a statement.
Nintendo has made forays into other avenues of entertainment with the Mario license; there is an animated Mario movie in development by Illumination Entertainment, and the Nintendo theme park in Japan has an attraction based on Mario Kart.
The LEGO Super Mario products will launch sometime in 2020.