Building levels was probably the biggest revelation of the project because that is really where the core LEGO play comes in. Essentially, you can’t go wrong building levels but certain combinations and tricks will make the level better and get more coins from it. For that, we worked with Nintendo and play-tested with kids for quite a few iterations until we solidified the idea of building levels.

Once we put the cap on, we were all like, “Yeah, that’s Mario!” and we instantly fell in love with him as an interactive LEGO character.īut we didn’t know exactly what to do with him and how to make the most of the functionality. But it was basically just a tiny little brick, maybe four modules high with a screen and speakers that we put a cap on and paint red. I hope one day we get to share this with the world because I think it would be quite interesting for people to know where it came from and how it evolved. We wanted to make sure that when LEGO and Nintendo come together, those two big brands with lots of fans, that we do it justice.Ībout half a year into the project we made this first prototype of an interactive Mario figure.

For Nintendo, it is seamless interactivity and innovation. For LEGO, that’s of course the brick, being creative and using your imagination. We decided early on that we wanted to leverage what both parties are good at. I’ve been working on this project for four years, but about a half a year before that, leaders from both LEGO and Nintendo met up to talk about what we could do together and where our core competencies lie.

In an interview with The Brothers Brick, Digital Design Lead for LEGO Super Mario Jonathan Bennink spoke about the origins of the project and its unique concept. Earlier this week, Nintendo and LEGO revealed a brand new line of LEGO sets based on the Super Mario franchise.

Digital mario lego