Tag Archives: Nintendo

Color me inspired with this LEGO Nintendo Game Boy

As we count down the days ‘til the release of the LEGO Nintendo Entertainment System (it’s tomorrow!), a LEGO Game Boy creation is just what we’ll need to add to our museum of buildable retro gaming consoles. Author of Tips for Kids: Transformers: Cool Projects for your Lego Bricks, and LEGO builder of many everyday items, Joachim Klang was inspired to build the green pocket-sized classic after finding an actual Game Boy Color at a flea market. Seeing the clean rounded edges and the cartridge built into the back are convincing details that it might power on. Klang’s recent creation is an upgrade from his previous lineup of Game Boy Color builds from 2017. Still, my all-time favorite is the see-through version with purple tint. LEGO x Nintendo = you’re playing with power, clutch power!

Also, check out these other LEGO Game Boy creations!

LEGO 71374 Nintendo Entertainment System is a buildable NES console complete with Super Mario Bros. [News]

LEGO and Nintendo have partnered to reveal 71374 Nintendo Entertainment System, a buildable NES console and a retro CRT “tube” TV that comes with a Super Mario Bro. cartridge and a scrolling level reminiscent of World 1-1. The instant nostalgia trip is made up of 2,646 pieces and even comes with an 8-bit Mario.

The NES will be sold exclusively by LEGO through the end of 2020 then expand to other retailers starting in 2021. The set will sell for US $229.99 | CAN $299.99 | UK £209.99 beginning August 1st, the same day that the other new LEGO Super Mario sets become available for purchase.

(Edit: LEGO originally listed the purchase price of US $199.99 online and in its press release and then updated the online price to US $299.99 and then updated it again to US $229.99. We have received confirmation from LEGO that US $229.99 will be the final price.)

Take a closer look at the LEGO Nintendo NES

LEGO Nintendo Super Mario full theme revealed with 16 sets and a collectible blind-bag series [News]

LEGO has revealed what we believe is the complete LEGO Super Mario lineup, which amounts to 16 individual sets and ten blind bags–one of the largest single-theme launches LEGO has ever undertaken. LEGO revealed its partnership with Nintendo back in March and has since been drip-feeding us information about the theme, revealing a few sets at a time.

The theme is focused around the base adventures set–which is the only set to include the electronic Mario “digi-fig”–and is available to pre-order now for US $59.99 | CAN $69.99 | UK £49.99. Today’s product reveal includes several previously unseen level expansions featuring Thwomp and King Boo, a LEGO Super Mario app, as well as a collectible bling-bag series of enemies including a Paragoomba, Fuzzy, Spiny, Buzzy Beetle, Bullet Bill, Bob-omb, Eep Cheep, Blooper, Urchin and Peepa. The entire LEGO Super Mario lineup will be available starting August 1st.

We’ve listed every set in the LEGO Super Mario theme along with photos, price and availability.

Click to see more photos of each product in the LEGO Super Mario lineup

LEGO adds to Super Mario theme, revealing four new Power-Up expansion packs [News]

LEGO has unveiled four small expansion packs for the upcoming LEGO Super Mario theme that integrates a large digital Mario figurine with a buildable game course. These expansions, called Power-Up Packs, are priced at $9.99 USD and will require the base Super Mario Starter Pack set that was developed in conjunction with Nintendo. The new expansions add more costumes for the world’s most famous plumber, adding a cat suit, builder outfit, propeller beanie, and fire suit, but don’t include the actual Mario figurine from the Starter Set. They join three previously announced LEGO Super Mario expansions that are much larger, which along with a small polybag set bring the theme’s total to nine sets revealed so far. All of the sets are slated to be available Aug. 1, and the Starter Pack is available to pre-order now for US $59.99 | CAN $69.99 | UK £49.99.

Click here to check out all the details

Retrieve Majora’s Mask before the Dawn of the Final Day

German gaming and LEGO enthusiast speedyhead takes us back to the haunting adventure of the Legend of Zelda: Majora’s Mask. This is very, very far from the only LEGO Zelda model we’ve highlighted over the years, but I’ll tell you why this one stands out to me.

Majora's Mask

First: colors. The in-game mask is certainly colorful, but seeing it in LEGO form is an explosion of hues. The dorsal fin piece featured here in no less than four distinct shades combines with the contrasting dark red and blue of the mask face to create a pop of color.

Second: look into those eyes! The mysterious, evil artifact is a key element of the game, and looks suitably possessed with malice here.

Finally, parts usage. I’ve already commented on the colorful fins, but the perfect use of croissants deserves a shoutout as well.

LEGO Metroid: My past is not a memory, it’s a force at my back

Samus Aran is one of Nintendo’s most iconic characters through a decades-long successful series of Metroid platformers and first-person shooters. Thanks to Spanish builder L-Di-Ego, the famed female bounty hunter’s personal spacecraft has made the jump to digital LEGO and has never looked better.

METROID: Samus Aran's Gunship

I’m so impressed with how loaded the ship is–this thing is absolutely packed with play features. The ship is ready to take on the dreaded Space Pirates with firing projectiles, adjustable engine intakes, a removable canopy allowing access to the spacious cockpit plus room for the Metroid containment pod, and my favorite, a functioning loading lift for the Samus Aran minifigure.

METROID: Samus Aran's Gunship

If you’re feeling nostalgic we’ve shared a couple of excellent takes on Samus in the past from builders like Eero Okkenen and Logey Bear.

This brick built figure is a real Peach

Builder ZiO Chao has given a us a beautiful rendition of a somewhat obscure character from the Mario Universe, Peachette. She made her first appearance in New Super Mario Bros. U Deluxe and is a unique form of another character but looks like Princess Peach. It’s all a bit confusing, but I digress.

This figure contains a lot of nice parts use and clever build techniques. The petals on her dress make use of the 4X4 with Bow brick combined with a few other types of curved bricks and plates to create a pleasing shape. The arms and puffy sleeves are nicely constructed and the modeling of the face and hair is detailed and full of character. The attention to detail includes perfect recreations of her unusual crown and trademark bow using the 1×1 heart tile. The pose is wonderful and really captures Peachette’s essence, bringing the whole character to life.

Peachette from Super Mario U

LEGO and Nintendo unveil Super Mario Adventures starter course and Bowser’s Castle expansion set [News]

LEGO and Nintendo have unveiled the first wave of sets in the Super Mario theme, with the core set being 71360 Adventures with Mario. The 231-piece starter course comes with the Mario “digi-fig,” buildable Bowser Jr. and a Goomba, and will retail for US $59.99 | CAD 69.99 with pre-orders beginning today for general availability starting August 1st.

LEGO and Nintendo have also revealed two expansion sets, Bowser’s Castle Boss Battle which will retail for US $99.99 | €59.99 and the Piranha Plant Power Slide which retails for US $29.99 | €29.99.

Click to see close-up views of all three of the LEGO Super Mario sets.

Double jumps and pipe dreams

If you think about it, the Super Mario universe is one of the only places where you want to go down the tubes. I mean, other than a water slide, where else can you find something fun at the end of a “plumbing” pipe? Perhaps this extra large (64×64 stud) pixleated pipe, built by H.Y. Leung, contains all the extra coins Mario could dream of.

It's Lego Mario time!

And don’t worry, he’s not going to be stuck in mid-air forever. This pipe contains an equally large mechanism inside to move him up and down.

If you’d like to see more of H.Y. Leung’s builds, be sure to check out our previous articles highlighting them.

LEGO partners with Nintendo to create LEGO Super Mario theme [News]

Teased on the LEGO Twitter account and Facebook page today, a brand new LEGO licensed theme developed in partnership with Nintendo is coming soon. It looks like one of the most famous video game characters, Super Mario is about to get his own lineup of LEGO building sets. The teaser doesn’t reveal much but gives a hint on what Mario minifigure will look like.

Click here to watch the teaser…

Now you’re playing with portable (elf) power!

With this retro gaming-flavored diorama, Kale Frost‘s early holiday dominance continues. Obviously the Nintendo Game Boy is the star of the show, and darned if it doesn’t look just like the one I unwrapped on Christmas in 1989. Not to be ignored, the wily minifigure elves have appropriated the device for their own purposes. Circuit boards, wires, and batteries are all expertly represented here.

Like Kale’s Santa creation before the iconic portable gaming console diorama is just one part of a larger whole, which is Kale’s bespoke Christmas scene.

Rundle Mall Display

It seems as if there are more LEGO stories to be shared from the display, but you can check out the whole thing for yourself at Rundle Mall in Adelaide Australia until January.

Now you’re playing with portable power

As a slightly sentimental fool, sitting on the shelf directly above my workspace is an original Nintendo Game Boy that fills me with moments of reminisce. LEGO sculptor Chungpo Cheng has created a smashing rendition that would not look out of place in my hands or alongside any of his other life-size models of Minifig utensils. The iconic “three rounded and one sharp angle” corners of the Game Boy have been captured nicely, and the spacing between the buttons brings brick-built gaming to the streets.

Nintendo Game Boy

What really gets me, though, is the power light. Quite a few LEGO Game Boy’s have been made over the years, but this is one of the first I have seen that has such a realistic looking screen. My guess is the light was made out of a red mechanical claw pushed through the back of the ever popular headlight brick.

Nintendo Game Boy

For a quick look at a maxi-solution to never loosing your keys again, check out Chungpo Cheng’s giant Santa minifigure key chain.