In brief: The new play set has all the trappings of a traditional Super Mario Bros video game - Goombas, warp pipes, flags and so on - as well as an interactive Mario character with what appears to be an LED readout on his chest that serves as a timer and to keep track of coins collected. He also talks and plays music as highlighted in Nintendo's teaser video.
Nintendo earlier this week teased what appeared to be some sort of collaboration with Lego. The post was short on details but now, we've got some concrete information to go on.
Nintendo and Lego on Thursday announced Lego Super Mario, a new product line that is neither a video game nor a traditional Lego brick-based set. Instead, it features an interactive Lego Mario that "collects coins in real-life game levels created with Lego bricks."
Takashi Tezuka, executive officer and game producer at Nintendo, said he has always liked Lego products and how they help children use their imagination to play.
"The new product we created together with the Lego Group seeks to combine two different styles of play - one where you freely build the world of Mario and the other where you play with Mario in the very world that you have created," the executive added.
Lego Super Mario will be available later this year. Unfortunately, a specific launch date wasn't supplied, nor was pricing information. Lego bricks aren't cheap, however, and given Nintendo's willingness to license its Mario IP, it's probably a safe bet that this will fall on the pricey side.