The fine folks over at Nintendo and LEGO have decided to join forces yet again to expand their already thriving collaboration! Recently LEGO had announced new sets for Animal Crossing, Super Mario World, and for the first time ever – Mario Kart!
Mario & Yoshi
Super Mario fans can get nostalgic with the Super Mario World “Mario and Yoshi” set. This is the first time Yoshi will be brought to life in 2D LEGO form. This set pays homage to the SNES classic and features Mario and Yoshi in all their pixelated glory. Once built, the set also has animation capabilities which allows the iconic characters to truly come to life. This set is part of LEGO’s ‘Adult’s Welcome’ series. Its complex build and callback to the classic Nintendo era are meant to bring memories back to LEGO fans who grew up loving Super Mario.
“In this model, we wanted to capture the original sprite animation from Super Mario World. This meant re-creating the pixel art in LEGO bricks and then adding a mechanism to make Yoshi run with Caped Mario riding on his back. AND if that wasn’t enough fun, we also added a dial to make Yoshi’s tongue pop in and out – just like in the game!” – Carl Merriam, a Senior Designer on LEGO Super Mario.
The Super Mario World: Mario & Yoshi set will be available October 1, 2024. You can pre-order it here.
Mario Kart
For the first time ever, Mario Kart has joined the LEGO family. To celebrate this particular collaboration, LEGO and Nintendo have created six sets to get started! Each of these sets are designed to bring fan favourite characters to life.
Customize your kart and race with Yoshi, Donkey Kong, Baby Mario, Baby Luigi, Baby Peach, and Toad. You can scan figures to add interactivity and famous Super Mario sound effects to your race.
“We are beyond excited to turbo-charge our LEGO Super Mario universe with the reveal of these latest Mario Kart sets, that we know fans have been eagerly waiting for. We can’t wait for builders of all ages to put their pedal to the metal and bring Mario Kart races to brick-built reality at home with friends and family. The brand-new LEGO Super Mario: Mario Kart sets provide an immersive building experience and capture the heart-pounding action of the beloved video game series – showing fans that the world is your track like never before!” – Simon Kent, Design Director at The LEGO Group.
The Mario Kart LEGO sets will be available January 1st, 2025.
Animal Crossing
Lastly, there are three new Animal Crossing sets being released next year. The three sets that have been announced for release are:
Stargazing with Celeste
Leif’s Caravan & Garden Shop
Able Sisters Clothing Shop
With these new sets, fans will be able to expand their LEGO village and spend time with their favourite villagers in brick-form. Check out the night sky with Celeste the owl; do some shopping with Leif at his caravan; spend time looking spiffy and fashionable with the Able Sisters at their clothing shop!
Like the Mario Kart set, the new Animal Crossing sets will also be released on January 1st, 2025.
