This $200 Lego NES set features a scrolling 8-bit Mario

The last Nintendo/Lego was for kids, but this one is aimed at the adults.

Read the whole story

 

[tratclif]

Anyone ever wonder about (or feel guilty purchasing) all this non degradable plastic Lego just keeps producing ?

1. I have 54-year-old bricks that are still usable.

2. LEGO has committed to sustainable plastics. I believe soft-plastic bricks are now plant based but don’t remember how far they are on replacing ABS.

 

[Spiderman10]

Ahh damnit! This looks so good! RIP wallet.

 

[Spiderman10]

Very cool, I'm definitely right in the target demographic for this one. Getting a NES as a kid was a big deal.

But I'm also at that age when I look at things like this and think "neat", and then follow it up with "where the heck would I put that after I built it?" I simply don't have the free surface space. Maybe other adults have tastefully empty houses with white drawers just waiting for the right accent piece to go on top of them.

Me? I've got so many toys already they're spilling out of shelves. I'm looking semi-guiltily at the LEGO Voltron kit in the corner of my office that's still only half built, and not sure where those lions are going when it's done. They used to live in a half-finished state on top of the CRT stand in that corner, but got kicked off when I put my 3D printer there.

It's a good problem to have, the too many toys thing, but it does curb impulse purchases of big display pieces like this I gotta admit.

I hear ya. The key is rotation, rotation, rotation! Like Christmas decorations, you gotta rotate in and out your display toys throughout the year

 

[raxadian]

Honesty, you really must love Mario and Lego to get this thing.

Is both too precious to play with and too useless to play Super Mario Bros with it.

 

[pauleyc]

I don't mind Lego making some bank on the licensed type products.

I just wish they'd bring back Pirates and Castles ...

Or Classic Space, ideally in a more affordable form than Benny's Spaceship. That would be a perfect nostalgia trip back to my youth.

https://www.lego.com/en-us/product/emme ... shop-70821

https://www.lego.com/en-us/product/benn ... quad-70841

Somehow I missed those...thank you!

 

[Z1ggy]

Now they need a Duck hunt one.

:O

Come on, we could have the ducks fly around, and then the dog would popupfrom below after a few turns of the krank.

 

[Fred Duck]

SNOT—studs not on top—is how AFOLS—adult fans of Lego—prefer to build stuff now.

Weird. Why didn't they just call those "Studs on Bottom," those SOBs?

I guess no one liked the "no unique pieces joke."

I'll have to work on building better LEGO jokes.
How about this one? It's funny how for carpentry, they have stud finders but for LEGO, parents just use their feet.

Come on, we could have the ducks fly around, and then the dog would popupfrom below after a few turns of the krank.

I guess since it's not a scrolly-wolly type of game, it would be more natural to have plates to pop on and off. One with ducks flying, one completely white, then one with a duck suffering a flesh wound.

 

[foofoo22]

Anyone ever wonder about (or feel guilty purchasing) all this non degradable plastic Lego just keeps producing ?

Quick googling suggests that ABS requires about 95MJ/kg for production, which suggests that as a very handwavey order of magnitude sort of guess, this kit has about the environmental impact of several days, maybe a week, of my short commute.

So: a fair bit more than zero, but not a lot more than the fact that I ought to turn up my thermostat set point in summer and down in winter. We make these happiness-impact trades every minute of our lives.

Sure that's one way to think of it. I think about how it ends up in a landfill or an ocean physically polluting the environment for a few millennia.

 

[Skyfire77]

Anyone ever wonder about (or feel guilty purchasing) all this non degradable plastic Lego just keeps producing ?

1. I have 54-year-old bricks that are still usable.

2. LEGO has committed to sustainable plastics. I believe soft-plastic bricks are now plant based but don’t remember how far they are on replacing ABS.

Lego plans on replacing all ABS by 2030, but thus far the bioplastics they've investigated were too soft, didn't take color properly, or couldn't meet safety standards.

 

[Fancy Internet Person]

Anyone ever wonder about (or feel guilty purchasing) all this non degradable plastic Lego just keeps producing ?

1. I have 54-year-old bricks that are still usable.

2. LEGO has committed to sustainable plastics. I believe soft-plastic bricks are now plant based but don’t remember how far they are on replacing ABS.

Lego plans on replacing all ABS by 2030, but thus far the bioplastics they've investigated were too soft, didn't take color properly, or couldn't meet safety standards.

You got me looking, and latest update isn't great on their plastic replacement. https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyl ... go-on-sale

I know folks love these toys so i expect the down votes. But to me its really quite wasteful. It would be nice if Lego was held accountable to the same standard we hold computer manufacturers with their recycling.

The downvotes are because you're picking minor nits.

Industries should be taxed and held accountable for their externalities.

And also, ABS plastic (worldwide) is about 3% of all plastic.

Someone serious about reducing plastic waste would focus on single-use plastics or the biggest producers of plastic waste (companies like Coca Cola).

Your posts read insincere because they are very off topic.

 

[0xdeadc0de]

Wait, so it isn't actually functional?

The Brixty Four laughs in their general direction.

 

[bruindrummer]

Very cool, I'm definitely right in the target demographic for this one. Getting a NES as a kid was a big deal.

But I'm also at that age when I look at things like this and think "neat", and then follow it up with "where the heck would I put that after I built it?" I simply don't have the free surface space. Maybe other adults have tastefully empty houses with white drawers just waiting for the right accent piece to go on top of them.

Me? I've got so many toys already they're spilling out of shelves. I'm looking semi-guiltily at the LEGO Voltron kit in the corner of my office that's still only half built, and not sure where those lions are going when it's done. They used to live in a half-finished state on top of the CRT stand in that corner, but got kicked off when I put my 3D printer there.

It's a good problem to have, the too many toys thing, but it does curb impulse purchases of big display pieces like this I gotta admit.

I rotate through my big LEGO sets. I can only display a few but own more than a few, so whenever I want to mix things up I have to disassemble a kit first.

 

[floyd42]

I don't mind Lego making some bank on the licensed type products.

I just wish they'd bring back Pirates and Castles ...

Pirates: they've been running strong with pirates lately and even have an upcoming set 3-in-1 Pirate Ship

Castles: they did castles with a steampunk slant with their Nexo Knights line a few years back and they're guaranteed to do something again soonish. They're still big in the MOC space with things like Loewenstein Castle and my wife even got me an old castle from 1984 for pretty cheap.

 

[Rising_Darkness]

Yup, that's an easy purchase for my game room. Cool idea!

Expensive for essentially a glob of plastic, but I can appreciate the talent and art that went into designing it. Plus at that price, not just everyone will be able to get it.

 

[john-whorfin]

Anyone ever wonder about (or feel guilty purchasing) all this non degradable plastic Lego just keeps producing ?

1. I have 54-year-old bricks that are still usable.

2. LEGO has committed to sustainable plastics. I believe soft-plastic bricks are now plant based but don’t remember how far they are on replacing ABS.

Thats great if true. But, ultimately those bricks end up in the garbage either when you die or whomever takes it when you die then dies. Somewhere along the line this plastic is garbage.

That applies to ALL non-biodegradable toys, not just Lego. The difference with Lego is that bricks made today are still compatible with bricks made 50 years ago. A Lego set missing a few pieces is still useful for building your own creations, but a Barbie doll missing the head is not much fun.

Most of the Lego bricks I have (approximately 250,000 pieces) were purchased second-hand, and there is a thriving aftermarket for used Lego. If the owners of the toys are interested in keeping it out of landfills, there are plenty of ways for them to do it, either by selling it themselves or donating to Goodwill, Salvation Army, Savers or any number of other organizations that will resell it.

 

[rosen380]

Anyone ever wonder about (or feel guilty purchasing) all this non degradable plastic Lego just keeps producing ?

1. I have 54-year-old bricks that are still usable.

2. LEGO has committed to sustainable plastics. I believe soft-plastic bricks are now plant based but don’t remember how far they are on replacing ABS.

Thats great if true. But, ultimately those bricks end up in the garbage either when you die or whomever takes it when you die then dies. Somewhere along the line this plastic is garbage.

Sorry, that is just about the worst way to look at it.

Sure, almost anything we buy or make will end up in the trash at some point; that the bricks my parents bought me from 1985-1990 are still in use by my daughter now and work as well as they did new makes them insanely more environmentally friendly than most any other toy I had at the time.

And when she's done, they'll go back in the boxes for the next round and probably still work better than the modern off-brand bricks.

 

[gizmotoy]

Anyone ever wonder about (or feel guilty purchasing) all this non degradable plastic Lego just keeps producing ?

1. I have 54-year-old bricks that are still usable.

2. LEGO has committed to sustainable plastics. I believe soft-plastic bricks are now plant based but don’t remember how far they are on replacing ABS.

Thats great if true. But, ultimately those bricks end up in the garbage either when you die or whomever takes it when you die then dies. Somewhere along the line this plastic is garbage.

That applies to ALL non-biodegradable toys, not just Lego. The difference with Lego is that bricks made today are still compatible with bricks made 50 years ago. A Lego set missing a few pieces is still useful for building your own creations, but a Barbie doll missing the head is not much fun.

Most of the Lego bricks I have (approximately 250,000 pieces) were purchased second-hand, and there is a thriving aftermarket for used Lego. If the owners of the toys are interested in keeping it out of landfills, there are plenty of ways for them to do it, either by selling it themselves or donating to Goodwill, Salvation Army, Savers or any number of other organizations that will resell it.

Someone upthread mentioned that most of this LEGO plastic ends up in the landfill or in the ocean and I'm just here thinking "Oh my god, people throw away LEGO?!?" They're pretty valuable, even used, and as you mentioned all backwards-compatible and practically good forever.

 

[BevansDesign]

To do Duck Hunt, they would need to make the Zapper, but I suspect that Lego doesn't do guns, even fake ones. I could be wrong.

Also, how long do we think it'll take for someone to rebuild this as a fully-playable NES? I'm thinking the emulated Raspberry Pi version (with LCD screen) appears a couple weeks before the one that can read actual NES cartridges.

 

[Threadripper3]

Omg . Something positive for once from geek consumer culture. . I must have this

 

[rosen380]

To do Duck Hunt, they would need to make the Zapper, but I suspect that Lego doesn't do guns, even fake ones. I could be wrong.

They used to at least...

https://www.bricklink.com/v2/catalog/ca ... 9#T=C&C=11

That is a part used in 22 sets as recently as 2017, per BrickLink...

 

[EBone]

More expensive than a Switch Lite.

When did we all agree that Lego’s ridiculous prices for little bits of plastic is okay?

 

[faustshausuk]

Absolutely do not need this, but this is really fun, and not what I expected to come out of this partnership at all.

How long before someone fits a Raspberry Pi in this thing?

 

[Dr Gitlin]

To do Duck Hunt, they would need to make the Zapper, but I suspect that Lego doesn't do guns, even fake ones. I could be wrong.

Lego has indeed made weapons for a long time—they have an entire line of Star Wars sets, after all.

 

[Sarty]

More expensive than a Switch Lite.

When did we all agree that Lego’s ridiculous prices for little bits of plastic is okay?

If you think you can manufacture and sell compatible precision plastic components of equivalent quality in a wide variety of shapes and sizes at less than ten cents each, you're welcome to try to undercut the Lego Group.

Take note that several other manufacturers have been trying that for decades without much success.

 

[Threadripper3]

Anyone ever wonder about (or feel guilty purchasing) all this non degradable plastic Lego just keeps producing ? Most of it eventually ends up in a landfill or floating in the ocean.

No guilt at all , my LEGO from 20 years ago is still in use be me and my kid . It would make me sad if it degraded and then they would have to waste energy making more


Lego that degrades is a horrible idea

 

[Defenestrar]

I don't mind Lego making some bank on the licensed type products.

I just wish they'd bring back Pirates and Castles ...

https://www.lego.com/en-us/product/pira ... -bay-21322

That's awesome! (1)

I pulled out my old Pirate Legos when my kids were just starting to age out of Duplo and my son accidentally broke a unique piece. I figured I'd just grab some old kit cheap on Ebay and boy was I surprised! I like that this new set is an order of magnitude cheaper than the "collectors" version (at least when I checked a couple of years ago). $200 is still a doozy for a toy, but I guess that's not too far ahead of inflation (about $100 in 1990).

I remember saving my (small) allowance, packing my own lunch to pocket lunch money (a parental incentive to encourage thrifty behavior), and chipping cement off of old bricks. I think I got about $0.10 per cleaned brick. Unfortunately, the price had been set assuming it was mortar - but cement had been used instead. Lots of bricks and patient savings is what got me my Legos!

(1) I understand the desire to use more than one exclamation point, but it's still wrong, so I didn't.

 

[Threadripper3]

Lego is expensive , but it is high quality and worth the price

The knock of stuff is shit and bad for the environment

 

[gijames1225]

That's pretty cool, but I'd think they'd make it so you could slot a Mini NES into and have a functioning unit if you wanted to.

Fortunately, being Lego, we can figure out how to do that ourselves

 

[mtgarden]

With sets like this, people will be lining up for blocks.

 

[john-whorfin]

I don't mind Lego making some bank on the licensed type products.

I just wish they'd bring back Pirates and Castles ...

https://www.lego.com/en-us/product/pira ... -bay-21322

That's awesome! (1)

I pulled out my old Pirate Legos when my kids were just starting to age out of Duplo and my son accidentally broke a unique piece. I figured I'd just grab some old kit cheap on Ebay and boy was I surprised! I like that this new set is an order of magnitude cheaper than the "collectors" version (at least when I checked a couple of years ago). $200 is still a doozy for a toy, but I guess that's not too far ahead of inflation (about $100 in 1990).

I remember saving my (small) allowance, packing my own lunch to pocket lunch money (a parental incentive to encourage thrifty behavior), and chipping cement off of old bricks. I think I got about $0.10 per cleaned brick. Unfortunately, the price had been set assuming it was mortar - but cement had been used instead. Lots of bricks and patient savings is what got me my Legos!

(1) I understand the desire to use more than one exclamation point, but it's still wrong, so I didn't.

If you want to replace that broken part, check out bricklink.com or brickowl.com. Bricklink is possibly the largest online marketplace for used Lego parts, with many resellers all in one website (which is now owned by Lego). Brickowl is similar, and includes sales of customized and third-party parts. Those sites also have retired sets for sale.

Depending on which part you need, you may be able to purchase directly from Lego at https://www.lego.com/en-us/service/repl ... parts/sale.

 

[Sarty]

With sets like this, people will be lining up for blocks.

note to ars: please add a "downvote, funny" option

 

[Skyfire77]

With sets like this, people will be lining up for blocks.

 

[bolccg]

Very cool, I'm definitely right in the target demographic for this one. Getting a NES as a kid was a big deal.

But I'm also at that age when I look at things like this and think "neat", and then follow it up with "where the heck would I put that after I built it?" I simply don't have the free surface space. Maybe other adults have tastefully empty houses with white drawers just waiting for the right accent piece to go on top of them.

Me? I've got so many toys already they're spilling out of shelves. I'm looking semi-guiltily at the LEGO Voltron kit in the corner of my office that's still only half built, and not sure where those lions are going when it's done. They used to live in a half-finished state on top of the CRT stand in that corner, but got kicked off when I put my 3D printer there.

It's a good problem to have, the too many toys thing, but it does curb impulse purchases of big display pieces like this I gotta admit.

As somebody with the Voltron, the Saturn V and the Apollo 11 lander Legos all perched rather awkwardly around the house I completely sympathise with this perspective and will totally 100% be getting one anyway (my wife is a complete Mario / NES nut, thus giving me some cover...)

P.S the completed Voltron is really cool - finish that sucker up man!

 

[gizmotoy]

I don't mind Lego making some bank on the licensed type products.

I just wish they'd bring back Pirates and Castles ...

https://www.lego.com/en-us/product/pira ... -bay-21322

That's awesome! (1)

I pulled out my old Pirate Legos when my kids were just starting to age out of Duplo and my son accidentally broke a unique piece. I figured I'd just grab some old kit cheap on Ebay and boy was I surprised! I like that this new set is an order of magnitude cheaper than the "collectors" version (at least when I checked a couple of years ago). $200 is still a doozy for a toy, but I guess that's not too far ahead of inflation (about $100 in 1990).

I remember saving my (small) allowance, packing my own lunch to pocket lunch money (a parental incentive to encourage thrifty behavior), and chipping cement off of old bricks. I think I got about $0.10 per cleaned brick. Unfortunately, the price had been set assuming it was mortar - but cement had been used instead. Lots of bricks and patient savings is what got me my Legos!

(1) I understand the desire to use more than one exclamation point, but it's still wrong, so I didn't.

If you want to replace that broken part, check out bricklink.com or brickowl.com. Bricklink is possibly the largest online marketplace for used Lego parts, with many resellers all in one website (which is now owned by Lego). Brickowl is similar, and includes sales of customized and third-party parts. Those sites also have retired sets for sale.

Depending on which part you need, you may be able to purchase directly from Lego at https://www.lego.com/en-us/service/repl ... parts/sale.

Woah. How did I miss that LEGO acquired BrickLink? I guess it makes sense, but I'm surprised they were interested.

 

[SomeOtherName]

Unless the assembled kit can actually play game carts, I'll pass.

Doesn't look like Nintendo did anything but provide the IP here. I'm thinking an ancient RPi and a small LCD could run an emulator well enough though.

 

[Zeroumus]

Anyone ever wonder about (or feel guilty purchasing) all this non degradable plastic Lego just keeps producing ?

1. I have 54-year-old bricks that are still usable.

2. LEGO has committed to sustainable plastics. I believe soft-plastic bricks are now plant based but don’t remember how far they are on replacing ABS.

Thats great if true. But, ultimately those bricks end up in the garbage either when you die or whomever takes it when you die then dies. Somewhere along the line this plastic is garbage.

the problem with this argument is, if one does not purchase lego, it is likely replaced with something that has even less re-use value

if my kid is not re-using my lego, she is asking for shit like hatchimals and other so called "collectables" that will be in the garbage in a very short time

 

[drstorm]

The last Nintendo/Lego was for kids, but this one is aimed at the adults.

So the same people.

 

[Zeroumus]

Am I the only one that does not really get all that impressed when someone sticks a rasberry Pi into something like this?

Dont get me wrong, I love rasberry Pi, I have a bunch of them. but sticking one running an emulator into a lego box is really not all that creative.