LEGO and gaming has been a combination that has seen a good amount of attention over recent years. Gaming fans have often made tributes to their favorite titles through LEGO, creating everything from art pieces to a recreation of the entire map from the first Legend of Zelda game. It seemed like the natural evolution then for LEGO to release gaming-themed sets itself.
The most recently announced LEGO gaming set was a Tallneck set inspired by the Horizon franchise. Coinciding with the release of Horizon: Forbidden West, the Tallneck set features a miniature version of the giant machine, though with over 1000 pieces making up the set, it's quite the task to put it all together. Rather than go further with a PlayStation franchise though, recent leaks are suggesting that LEGO's next gaming set will return to Nintendo IPs.
Nintendo has made dozens of crossovers with some its most popular games over the years. From a Pokemon x Converse line of shoes and clothing, to a Super Mario promotion that brought together Tencent, Nintendo, IKEA and Holiday Inn, there seems to be no limit on the potential for Nintendo crossovers with other brands. Nintendo and LEGO are now teaming up once again according to listings on Eugene Toy & Hobby, which has multiple new Nintendo LEGO sets listed under the codename 'Leaf.'
This codename has been used for all the Super Mario LEGO sets so far, such as the set that transformed Luigi's Mansion into a LEGO setting. What the new sets will be is still up for speculation, as Eugene Toy & Hobby only listed prices and code numbers for the upcoming sets. The prices for the nine sets range from $5.99 all the way to $229.99, meaning that any Super Mario fan looking to collect all the LEGO items will likely be spending a large amount of cash. Currently, there's no official announcement of the upcoming release for the LEGO sets, though LEGO site Promobricks is predicting an August 2022 release for eight of the sets, with the most expensive being release in October.
While the status of these upcoming Super Mario sets is under speculation for now, back in November new Super Mario LEGO sets were revealed, expanding on the previous Luigi's Mansion set and including one set based on Super Mario 64. It's clear then that LEGO and Nintendo have seen strong sales from this collaboration, and there's still plenty of inspiration left from the Mario games that LEGO could take inspiration from.
Source: Videogames Chronicle
