Lego and Nintendo have been slowly trickling out sneak peeks of their upcoming playsets, including expansion packs and an ever-growing collection of buildable levels. Today Nintendo also revealed that Mario himself can also be upgraded through four different Power-Up Packs giving the hero new costumes and new abilities.
The costumes will be sold separately to the Lego Super Mario starter pack, which includes the interactive over-sized figure, and the expansion pack levels, which add obstacles and additional baddies like Piranha Plants and Koopas. Each one comes with a swappable hat and matching pair of overalls, which makes us slightly curious what Mario without pants looks like. (You probably don’t want to Google that.)
The four Power-Up Packs include Fire Mario which give the plumber the ability to shoot fireballs at his enemies, Propeller Mario which allows players to collect additional coins by performing mid-air stunts and manoeuvres, Builder Mario from Super Mario Maker who can jump and then smash down on structures to collect coins, and finally Cat Mario from Super Mario 3D World who can climb walls to earn bonuses and, more importantly, make actual cat sounds.
With the incredible success of Animal Crossing–which arrived at the perfect time to give everyone under quarantine a way to pass the time, it comes as no surprise that Lego and Nintendo are going to maximise the opportunities for consumers to spend money on this new line and collaboration when it arrives on August 1. And with iconic Mario getups like his Tanooki suit or Super Mario Racoon not represented, it’s safe to assume more of these Power-Up Packs will be coming after the line’s initial release.