LEGO NES Set Release Date and Price Officially Confirmed

Lego has revealed a massive recreation of a classic Nintendo Entertainment System set-up.

Lego NES set
Photo: Nintendo/Lego

Lego and Nintendo have confirmed the upcoming release of the LEGO NES set previously revealed via leaked photos published on Chinese gaming website VJGamer.

This 2,646 piece set will allow you to construct both a replica of the NES and a retro tube television that displays a Lego version of Super Mario Bros. It’s a large and elaborate model that will certainly demand quite a bit of time and effort to complete.

Actually, this model may be more complicated than it may initially appear to be. For instance, the TV features a crank that lets you scroll the background on the screen and move Mario through the level. There’s even a controller cable and plug for the console designed to replicate the feel of the real thing, and you can insert a Super Mario Bros. cartridge in the front of the system.

Furthermore, this set will support Lego’s previously released Mario figurine. If you hook that figure up to the top of the Lego television in this set, it will play Super Mario Bros. music and even produce accurate in-game sounds whenever the on-screen Mario interacts with certain objects.

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Here’s the potentially bad news. This set will retail for $229.99 and will likely be very popular if previous special release Lego sets are any indication. That combination of a high price tag and potential scarcity will likely help ensure that not everyone who wants one of these sets will be able to get their hands on one when the Lego NES set launches on August 1.

As we mentioned before, this isn’t the first Nintendo-based set that we’ve seen from Lego. Earlier this year, Nintendo and Lego announced that they had entered a partnership. Shortly thereafter, it was revealed that Lego was working on an elaborate new Super Mario set that lets fans create their own Super Mario levels and navigate them with the help of a special Mario toy. While it initially seemed that could be the only Nintendo-based Lego set we get this year, we now know that will not be the case.

It’s also certainly interesting to see that the Lego sets revealed thus far are related to Super Mario. Considering that 2020 is the 35th anniversary of the Super Mario franchise, many assumed that Nintendo would proudly proclaim 2020 to be the year of Mario and release various projects associated with their mascot. While the COVID-19 pandemic almost certainly interrupted those plans, rumors suggest that Nintendo still intends to release remasters of classic Super Mario games on Nintendo Switch before the end of the year. There’s also the upcoming release of Paper Mario: The Origami King.

Additional reports suggest that Nintendo may be working on a new Super Mario Odyssey title for Switch (or a new Super Mario game of similar scope), the delay of the previously planned Nintendo Direct showcase suggests that many previously planned Nintendo projects could be delayed.