Nintendo and Lego team up on a $229 mechanical NES and TV set

If you were disappointed because the first Lego/Nintendo collaboration was aimed at young children, you might be more impressed with the pair’s latest project.

Lego

If you were disappointed because the first Lego/Nintendo collaboration was aimed at young children, you might be more impressed with the pair’s latest project. Lego

The Lego NES console will accept a Lego NES cartridge and features a controller, too. Which looks like it might hurt your thumbs as much as the real thing if you were to spend hours mashing those buttons. Which you shouldn’t, because it doesn’t work like that!

Lego

The Lego NES console will accept a Lego NES cartridge and features a controller, too. Which looks like it might hurt your thumbs as much as the real thing if you were to spend hours mashing those buttons. Which you shouldn’t, because it doesn’t work like that! Lego

The set also features this retro TV, and if you turn the handle on the side, the level scrolls.

Lego

The set also features this retro TV, and if you turn the handle on the side, the level scrolls. Lego

The Lego NES console will accept a Lego NES cartridge and features a controller, too. Which looks like it might hurt your thumbs as much as the real thing if you were to spend hours mashing those buttons. Which you shouldn’t, because it doesn’t work like that! Lego

The set also features this retro TV, and if you turn the handle on the side, the level scrolls. Lego

The construction looks really interesting.

Lego

If you happen to have the Mario figure from the other set, he will make noises as the level scrolls.

Lego

This might be one of the coolest Lego sets I’ve seen in ages.

Lego

$200 is a lot, but the set does have 2,646 pieces, so it’s actually not bad value in Lego terms.

Lego

Back in March, we found out about a collaboration between Nintendo and Lego, who have teamed up to make a Super Mario platform game made out of Lego bricks. It’s fair to say that Lego Mario was met with an underwhelming reception from adult fans of Lego—no surprise since that set was aimed squarely at children. On Tuesday, the two companies revealed another joint project, one we think most of you will love: a brick-built Nintendo NES and TV, complete with a mechanical scrolling Super Mario on the screen.

The set includes an NES console with one controller, along with a game cartridge that fits into the cartridge slot, just like the real thing. While that’s pretty neat, I’m more impressed with the little retro TV set, inside of which is part of a level from Super Mario Brothers. As you turn a handle on the side of the TV, the level scrolls by, with Mario jumping over the obstacles in 8-bit glory, bouncing on Koopas and collecting power-ups as he goes. Not only does it look totally awesome, it also appears to use some really interesting building techniques that go to show how far Lego’s construction methods have come since the sets of my childhood all those decades ago.