New tech-smart Mario
Lego and Nintendo’s Super Mario collaborate to launch the ultimate kids playsets, writes Alice Clarke.
While there have been very few good things to happen in 2020 so far, at least we have an incredible team-up featuring two of the greatest 90s kids brands to look forward to: Lego and Nintendo’s Super Mario playsets are due to launch on August 1.
It’s a smart and unexpected mash-up that brings the Skylanders ‘‘toys to life’’ concept even further into the real world.
After some time with the sets I think they’re going to be amazing for kids, though adult Lego builders accustomed to finishing a set and putting it on their shelf may be let down.
The hero of these sets, in more ways than one, is Super Mario. This large Mario figure is the smartest Lego figure ever released.
He has LCD screens in his eyes, mouth and belly to display emotions, scores and other useful information. In his body is an accelerometer and a gyroscope, so he knows where he is, and there’s a colour sensor in his feet. The goal is to physically move him through levels and score points by interacting with obstacles and enemies.
Parents worried about giving their kids more screen time will be pleased to know that playing does not require a smart device; all scoring happens on Mario himself.
However, there are no oldschool paper instruction manuals, so you need a device for the initial setup and introduction.
According to Jonathan Bennick, digital design lead on Super Mario at Lego, that was a deliberate move following a lot of kid-testing.
‘‘In order for you to appreciate what Mario does, you need to know how he walks, how he jumps, how do you use the functions,’’ he said.
‘‘We tried putting this on paper and then having arrows pointing towards how you should move Mario, but [Millennials] seem to be the last generation that understands arrows.
Kids gloss over the building instructions that are not just saying ‘‘put a brick here’’; they think everything that has arrows and explanations is optional.’’
Unlike most Lego sets, where builders are told how to construct a whole level, the Lego Mario app instructs on how to build each element, such as a platform or a tree.
There are interactive 3D models that show you how things should look as you go, as well as fivesecond videos showing how Mario interacts with the more complicated elements.
The arrangement of the level is entirely up to players, and is very much for play rather than display. Small sections would work for an adult fan of Lego’s display case, but every step of the way this is clearly designed with delight and adventure first.
‘‘The magic of this project is that there is no way to build it right,’’ Bennick said.
But although these are sets primarily for kids, they carry high prices considering the number of blocks included. The Lego Mario starter set will cost A$90 (NZ$96), with the expansions announced so far falling between A$30 (NZ$32) and A$150(NZ$159). There will also be additional power-up costumes for Mario at A$13, and character blind bags at A$6.
Ordinarily I’d gauge a A$100 (NZ$106) set, including 1000 pieces (that is, an average of 10 cents per piece), as good value, but that might not apply here since the playsets have so many large, new and unique pieces, as well as lots of printed tiles (there are no stickers to be found here, which is worth a lot in my book).
Mario’s foot sensor can detect unique elements thanks to tiny barcodes (for example on an enemy’s head), but he can also tell the difference between regular red, yellow, green and blue Lego bricks, so parents may be able to expand on the cheap by just buying standard bricks to help the levels along.
The collection may get more expensive for parents with more than one child, because only one person can play with the levels at a time until a Luigi or other character is released with Mario’s smarts.
Kids can build levels for each other or together, but there’s no way to have a proper competitive mode yet.
Bennick expressed the hope that this might help kids learn to share.
I spent the weekend building the starter set and three expansions, which involved everything from cloud platforms and boss battles to hidden treasure and a moving mine car trapped between two piranha plants (Mario gets extra coins if he can balance the sliding car and avoid hitting either plant).
While I originally cursed the lack of display ability, eventually I got lost in actually playing physical Super Mario Maker, tried unsuccessfully to convince my wife to test out my levels, and vowed to order every single one of the additional sets, characters and costumes. –
1605 – Russia’s teenaged Tsar Theodore (or Fyodor) II is assassinated in a palace coup. 1756 – Scores of British prisoners are imprisoned in a dungeon known as the ‘‘Black Hole of Calcutta’’, where all but 21 die from suffocation and heat exhaustion.
1789 – French assemblymen representing the common people vow not to leave the tennis court where they meet until a constitution is drawn up, signalling the start of French Revolution.
1791 – Louis XVI of France attempts to flee in the so-called Flight to Varennes, but is caught. 1837 – Queen Victoria succeeds to the British throne, aged 18, on the death of her uncle, William IV.
1840 – Samuel Morse patents his telegraph. 1900 – The Boxer Rebellion, in which Chinese nationalists kill several Westerners and besiege foreign legations, begins in Beijing.
1943 – Ten United States Navy personnel drown off Paeka¯ka¯riki, north of Wellington, during a training exercise in bad weather. 1947 – Benjamin ‘‘Bugsy’’ Siegel is shot dead at the Beverly Hills mansion of his girlfriend, Virginia Hill, on the orders of mob associates. 1963 – The US and the Soviet Union agree to establish a nuclear ‘‘hotline’’ between their nations.
1967 – Champion boxer Muhammad Ali, left, is sentenced to five years by a jury in Houston for refusing to be drafted.
1973 – Juan Peron returns to Argentina after an 18-year exile.
1975 – Jaws is released in US cinemas.
1987 – The All Blacks win the inaugural Rugby World Cup, beating France 29-9 at Eden Park.
1991 – German parliamentarians narrowly vote to return the reunified country’s seat of power from Bonn to Berlin.
1992 – Czech leader Vaclav Klaus and Slovak leader Vladimir Meciar agree to split Czechoslovakia in two.
1994 – US athlete OJ Simpson pleads not guilty to charges of murdering his ex-wife and her friend.
2005 – Death aged 81 of Jack Kilby, inventor of the integrated circuit, the basis of the computer chip revolution.
2011 – John Key delivers the first speech by a New Zealand prime minister to Australia’s federal parliament.
2017 – US golfer Tiger Woods checks into a clinic to manage his pain medication and sleep disorder, after his arrest for drinkdriving; actor Daniel Day-Lewis announces his retirement.
Birthdays:
Errol Flynn, Australian-born actor (1909-59); Chet Atkins, US guitarist (1924-2001); Brian Wilson, US musician (1942-); Lionel Richie, US musician (1949-); John Goodman, US actor (1952-); Jim Moriarty, NZ actor/director (1953-); Nicole Kidman, Australian actor (1967-); Suzy Cato, NZ TV host (1968-); Josh Kronfeld, All Black (1971-).