It looks like a LEGO Mario announcement is imminent
Nintendo and LEGO are teasing a Super Mario LEGO set.
It appears a Super Mario LEGO set is coming soon, according to teases from Nintendo and LEGO posted to Twitter. Today is Mario Day so the tease hints that an announcement is coming soon. It's possible the collaboration could be announced during a Nintendo Direct, or just a typical press release - but what's clear is that a Super Mario and LEGO collaboration is on the way.
This could absolutely be a LEGO Super Mario game in the vein of the Star Wars, Harry Potter and Jurassic World games, for instance - but it seems more likely it'll be actual physical LEGO play sets from the Mario universe. For one, this was teased through LEGO social media channels rather than video game themed ones. Secondly, typical LEGO game developer Traveler's Tales is owned by Warner Bros. and tends to focus on multi-platform games, which a Mario game would of course not be.
Lego has begun to dabble in video game licensing a fair amount of late, however. The company released an entire range of LEGO Overwatch sets and is still releasing new ones currently, and it also licensed brands like Atari and Sonic the Hedgehog for the Dimensions video games. Licenses such as Sonic have also shown up on LEGO Ideas - a site where fans can submit designs which will be reviewed by LEGO and can turn into a fully-fledged LEGO set.
Lego site StoneWars.de suggests that the internal LEGO codename for the Mario-themed sets is 'Leaf' - and if this is true, there are 13 currently unannounced sets attached to that code name, ranging in price from €3.99 to €99.99. Once the announcement drops, we'll give you all the details.