LEGO Nintendo Entertainment System officially announced

Following yesterday’s leak and tease, the LEGO Nintendo Entertainment System has been officially announced. It will begin to launch on August 1 from LEGO Retail Stores and LEGO.com, followed by other retailers in 2021.

The LEGO NES lets fans create “a mechanically functional version of an all-time favorite console with LEGO bricks.” It features a controller with a connecting cable and plug, an opening slot for the Game Pak with a locking feature, and a buildable retro TV. LEGO Mario can also be scanned so that the character “reacts to on-screen enemies, obstacles and power-ups just as he would have in the iconic Super Mario Bros. game.”

Here’s the full press release:

The LEGO Group today announced a LEGO® Nintendo Entertainment System (NES) Building Kit for adults, letting grown-up fans create their own NES console with LEGO bricks. The new kit, the latest product of the LEGO Group and Nintendo partnership, offers a brick-built NES model packed with realistic details, including the accompanying 1980’s style LEGO television set, so nostalgic gamers and LEGO fans can recreate their favorite Super Mario Bros. childhood experiences.

Today’s announcement will let adult fans take a trip down memory-lane by building a mechanically functional version of an all-time favorite console with LEGO bricks. The new NES Building Kit will include a controller with a connecting cable and plug and even an opening slot for the Game Pak with a locking feature. The console also comes with a buildable retro TV, featuring a flat 8-bit Mario figure on the scrolling screen. Fans can scan an included action brick with LEGO Mario from the LEGO Super Mario Starter Course, so he reacts to on-screen enemies, obstacles and power-ups just as he would have in the iconic Super Mario Bros. game.

“Super Mario has been a cherished figure in the gaming world for over thirty years now,” said Maarten Simons, Creative Lead on LEGO Nintendo Entertainment System, the LEGO Group. “Many adults still fondly remember that first time they saw Mario leap across the small screen, even if the graphics were a lot simpler than they are today. With the LEGO Nintendo Entertainment System, we’re letting them truly indulge in that nostalgia, recreating one of the most-loved consoles of all time so they can see the Super Mario from their childhoods once again – and even to share the experience of gaming in the 1980s with their own children.”

The LEGO Group and Nintendo announced their partnership earlier this year, bringing a fun-packed LEGO Super Mario universe to life through a Super Mario Starter Course set that exclusively features a LEGO Mario figure who displays a wide variety of instant reactions to movement, color and various action bricks. This entry point set was followed up on in May with a series of Power-Up Packs and in June with the announcement of a range of Expansion Sets and collectible Character Packs. All have been designed to build out the world of LEGO Super Mario, letting players unleash their creativity by building exactly the levels and challenges they want to see LEGO Mario and friends compete in.

This highly collectible NES building set is part of a range of inspirational LEGO models designed for discerning hobbyists, as they look for their next immersive challenge. The LEGO NES will be available exclusively from LEGO Retail Stores and LEGO.com from August 1st 2020. From 2021 it will be available also at other leading retailers around the world.

We have a video showing off the LEGO Nintendo Entertainment System below.