LEGO Nintendo 72046 Game Boy announced!

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Following a teaser earlier this year, LEGO has today unveiled 72046 Game Boy, which will be launched on October 1st!

72046 Game Boy
Rated 18+, 421 pieces
$59.99 / £54.99 / €59.99
Available at LEGO.com from 1st October

Recapture the excitement you felt when you first played on the Game Boy with this LEGO model building kit for adults (72046). A fantastic gift for fans of Nintendo video games, the collectable set features a near 1:1 scale brick-built replica of the original Game Boy handheld game system from Nintendo.

Press the +Control Pad, A and B Buttons, and SELECT and START, just like on the real system. The model has other iconic Game Boy details too, including the contrast adjustment and volume dial and the Game Pak slot. Customise your display with interchangeable, brick-built The Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening or Super Mario Land Game Boy Game Paks and corresponding lenticular screens (or a Nintendo start screen). Place your creation on the buildable display stand to complete a nostalgic display.


What do you think of this LEGO recreation of the Game Boy? Let us know in the comments and via our poll.

Will you be buying this set?

Yes, as soon as it's released
Yes, eventually
Yes, if it's discounted
Maybe, I haven't made up my mind yet
No, it doesn't interest me
No, it's too expensive
No, it's too big
No, but I like it

115 comments on this article

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By in United States,

Please make a Game Boy Advance SP and Nintendo DS! I'd buy those in heartbeat.

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By in Australia,

My 8yo is obsessed with Nintendo and builds replica hand held consoles all day long. This is pretty much his dream set.

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By in New Zealand,

Holey heck! So peak!! This is amazing! And out of the blue too.

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By in United States,

It seems pretty expensive. But if it’s printed parts I won’t complain.

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By in United Kingdom,

OH MAH GAWD OOOO

still cant believe we had a new nintendo console, before this ol thing.
so long ago it was teased

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By in United States,

The Link's Awakening screen is leagues better than the other two. Works for me, since that's a favorite game of mine.

I never was that into the Gameboy, but this seems cool and cheap enough to pick up eventually.

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By in United States,

I'm in! Day 1!
LOVE IT!

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By in United States,

*Birabuto Kingdom music intensifies*

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By in Australia,

If I wasn’t a PlayStation devotee as a child, I might get this.

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By in United States,

Notes:
-No Tetris?
-Would have gone with white instead light bley, but whatever.

Otherwise, great set!

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By in Australia,

@Brickbuilder0937 said:
"It seems pretty expensive. But if it’s printed parts I won’t complain."

I was looking at the pictures for the "sticker lines" and can't see anything that stands out, so either all/mostly prints or edited photos.

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By in United States,

I'm kind of shocked by the price given what appear to be some nice printed elements. If this was a star wars set it would be like $80 minimum... Pretty sure the game paks are stickers, but as someone who hates stickers that actually doesn't bother me as the actual game packs use stickers too, and no way a print would look as good.

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By in Puerto Rico,

What a fantastic and wonderful set of memories I just got, thank you.

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By in Spain,

It is nice to see almost all (if not all) printed parts. When will that policy be applied to other themes? especially those where you pay exhorbitating prices and those premium printed elements would be more meaningful and welcomed (cough cough star wars cough cough)

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By in United States,

Somewhat unique idea with the swap-able 'screenshots' and it is somewhat cheaper than most... but I'm adding this one to the ever-growing list of pricey licensed shelf sets for a 'nerdy' pod-caster/u-tuber put in the background to show off how 'nerdy' they are. For more examples, see 76313, 75407, 72037, 76429, 75398, 75379 (or 75308), 71438, 76262, 71426, 76209, 76223, 71411, 76391, 76191, 71395, 71374, and the entirety of the Star Wars helmet collection/Marvel masks/77000.

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By in United States,

@Lego - It's not too late to throw in a Tetris screen! It was the most iconic game on the Gameboy.

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By in United States,

@jkole said:
"Somewhat unique idea with the swap-able 'screenshots' and it is somewhat cheaper than most... but I'm adding this one to the ever-growing list of pricey licensed shelf sets for a 'nerdy' pod-caster/u-tuber put in the background to show off how 'nerdy' they are. For more examples, see 76313, 75407, 72037, 76429, 75398, 75379 (or 75308), 71438, 76262, 71426, 76209, 76223, 71411, 76391, 76191, 71395, 71374, and the entirety of the Star Wars helmet collection/Marvel masks/77000."

Or maybe people just buy things that appeal to their interests. We all display “nerdy” Lego sets in our homes by virtue of simply owing them. You can’t even see what a podcaster has in their home so whats the use of keeping a list?

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By in United States,

Yep, that's a day one buy lol. Excellent cart and screen choices! Functioning buttons is also fantastic.

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By in United States,

$60 for that is honestly a steal.

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By in United States,

If this was an Atari Lynx it’d definitely be a day one!

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By in United States,

@ObijuanDunnobi said:
"My 8yo is obsessed with Nintendo and builds replica hand held consoles all day long. This is pretty much his dream set. "

Sweet!

I remember my boy building a proton pack out of cardboard just after seeing Ghostbusters for the first time. He had such a great time playing with it.

Then, I bought him the same thing made of plastic with lights and sounds. He hardly used it. :(

Imagination is the best toy. :)

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By in United States,

On my YouTube channel, I create custom Lego Nintendo sets. The buttons seem to be new pieces, and possibly the Start/Select buttons, too. It looks very good; I just find it odd, though, that with all the resources and talent Lego has, that they continue to make sets that have
A. Been created before by fans (there have been endless GameBoy MOCs), and
B. Are competing with the original product itself (Why not just have a regular Gameboy? Why not just get a large figure of Mario riding a Kart?)
Then again, judging it for what it is, it looks very good. I was not expecting $60... a reasonable price when those are becoming less common.

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By in United Kingdom,

Beautiful! It could be even better with a sound brick, but this is definitely a set you can 'hear' without one. Love the choices for the titles included, but it would be cool to see some more Game Paks in the future. Maybe Pokémon Red, Blue, and Yellow with that partnership next year. What's next for systems? An Atomic Purple Game Boy Color? GBA/SP? Still hoping for the SNES!

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By in United States,

I'm surprised many people expected Tetris tbh. I get that it was a pack-in title and one of the most iconic games for GB... but it's not a Nintendo property. Super Mario Land was a clear shoe-in, even if it isn't that fondly remembered nowadays.

Pokemon wasn't going to happen until the Mega license expires and the Lego license kicks in.

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By in Hong Kong,

It really needs Tetris, but I guess Nintendo want to push Mario and Zelda as they're still releasing games...

Even so, I'll definitely pick this up sooner or later - I have relatively few non-minifig scale "display sets" but this one is a reasonable size and cost, at least for a licensed set.

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By in United States,

@SetToBuild said:
"Beautiful! It could be even better with a sound brick, but this is definitely a set you can 'hear' without one. Love the choices for the titles included, but it would be cool to see some more Game Paks in the future. Maybe Pokémon Red, Blue, and Yellow with that partnership next year. What's next for systems? An Atomic Purple Game Boy Color? GBA/SP? Still hoping for the SNES! "

My first year in college, I had a roommate who brought one of these to campus with him. I'd never played one, so I was trying it out...and then realized I could use a line-in cable to plug it into my boombox. The guy in the next room ran over, freaking out because he could hear the game through the wall. Good times...

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By in United States,

"You got Marin!"

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By in United States,

@Studnotontop said:
" @jkole said:
"Somewhat unique idea with the swap-able 'screenshots' and it is somewhat cheaper than most... but I'm adding this one to the ever-growing list of pricey licensed shelf sets for a 'nerdy' pod-caster/u-tuber put in the background to show off how 'nerdy' they are. For more examples, see 76313, 75407, 72037, 76429, 75398, 75379 (or 75308), 71438, 76262, 71426, 76209, 76223, 71411, 76391, 76191, 71395, 71374, and the entirety of the Star Wars helmet collection/Marvel masks/77000."

Or maybe people just buy things that appeal to their interests. We all display “nerdy” Lego sets in our homes by virtue of simply owing them. You can’t even see what a podcaster has in their home so whats the use of keeping a list?"


Video podcasts are on the rise (I was reading an article about it recently), so a podcaster might well decorate their studio with such sets.

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By in France,

@Darth_Dee said:
" @Lego - It's not too late to throw in a Tetris screen! It was the most iconic game on the Gameboy."

Well, wanna add $10 to the base price to cover the licensing fee of 2 exclusive printed pieces?

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By in United States,

Very unexpected, but very, very welcome! I never played Gameboy, but this looks really nice, and great for the prints! Great job Lego, I’m not complaining about the ppp!

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By in Canada,

Size and price are excellent, and model is pretty. A *very* rare Lego pre order placement for me, but I'm happy to support such sets.

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By in United States,

As someone who’s modded a few Gameboy’s for fun in the last few years, this is surprisingly appealing. That Zelda cartridge speaks to me. And somehow $60 feels decent?

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By in United States,

@Brick_Master said:
"It really needs Tetris, but I guess Nintendo want to push Mario and Zelda as they're still releasing games...

Even so, I'll definitely pick this up sooner or later - I have relatively few non-minifig scale "display sets" but this one is a reasonable size and cost, at least for a licensed set."


There are still new Tetris games these days too (some very good ones, in fact—Tetris 99 and Tetris Effect are some of my favorites), but the rights to Tetris reverted to the creator in 1996 so are currently held by a separate company (which would likely mean separate licensing talks for Lego to represent the game here). Mario and Zelda, being titles owned solely by Nintendo, don't have that issue (and the fact that both have had successful Lego sets before probably doesn't hurt).

It probably wouldn't be too hard to customize some alternate cartridge labels, but probably trickier to make alternate screens (especially with that cool lenticular effect).

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By in Japan,

As someone who owned an original Game Boy (with Tetris of course) as a 10 year old back in the day, I'll definitely be getting this iconic piece of video game nostalgia for sure (and even take a pic side by side of the real thing when I've built it)

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By in United States,

are the a and b buttons new elements? I cant tell if they are or if it is just an odd render

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By in United States,

@jkole I think you are missing the point of a display set

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By in United States,

@COCONABE said:
" @Darth_Dee said:
" @Lego - It's not too late to throw in a Tetris screen! It was the most iconic game on the Gameboy."

Well, wanna add $10 to the base price to cover the licensing fee of 2 exclusive printed pieces?"


Yes, yes I do.

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By in United States,

@bondre said:
"are the a and b buttons new elements? I cant tell if they are or if it is just an odd render"

I was wondering the same thing. I couldn't come up with any part of that size that has that type of slightly rounded top, so I assume it's a new part.

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By in United States,

@Darth_Dee said:
" @COCONABE said:
" @Darth_Dee said:
" @Lego - It's not too late to throw in a Tetris screen! It was the most iconic game on the Gameboy."

Well, wanna add $10 to the base price to cover the licensing fee of 2 exclusive printed pieces?"


Yes, yes I do."


Bet it be $30

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By in Turkey,

Hahaha, this is so lovely, brings back so many memories. I think I'm gonna get it.

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By in United States,

@Daniel___Walsh said:
"Please make a Game Boy Advance SP and Nintendo DS! I'd buy those in heartbeat. "

GBA with printed screen tiles for Matoran Adventures and Galidor as throwbacks to LEGO history.

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By in Germany,

Looks better than expected.

Not sure I like the cardboard/foil thingies for the screen though. But better than stickers, I guess...

A bit too expensive as a replacement for my faded Super Mario Land cartridge sticker I guess? xD

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By in United States,

Place your bets on any dioramas hidden inside! My bet is that Tetris will somehow be referenced inside

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By in United States,

Also, get ready for all the pictures of Mighty Bowser playing on his Game Boy (although I am curious to see how the sizes compare)

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By in United Kingdom,


@SetToBuild said:
"...
Still hoping for the SNES! "

The SNES is the one set I think they won't ever develop because it's production would start a major international incident:

Which version do they produce...? Whichever major design they go for will leave people on opposite sides of the Atlantic\Pacific aghast.

The version available in the Americas would be so much easier to recreate in LEGO, but how could the staff at TLG work on something that isn't the version they would be familiar with in Denmark...?

(I grew up playing on a European SNES and was completely weirded-out when I first encountered my cousins' Brazilian SNES; not having the coloured buttons was crazy to me as an eleven year-old!)

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By in United States,

Love it! And nice to have one of these retro gaming models in a much lower price range.

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By in Poland,

@Daniel___Walsh said:
"Please make a Game Boy Advance SP and Nintendo DS! I'd buy those in heartbeat. "

A nintendo Wii would be great as well. I'd buy it!

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By in United Kingdom,

@missedoutagain said:
" @Darth_Dee said:
" @COCONABE said:
" @Darth_Dee said:
" @Lego - It's not too late to throw in a Tetris screen! It was the most iconic game on the Gameboy."

Well, wanna add $10 to the base price to cover the licensing fee of 2 exclusive printed pieces?"


Yes, yes I do."


Bet it be $30"


Definitely needs Tetris, who owns a gameboy and not Tetris?

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By in New Zealand,

Ay, caramba!
I'm fortunate enough to still own a working Game Boy with multiple game carts.
Bart Simpson's Escape from Camp Deadly was a favourite for me :)

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By in Germany,

No Tetris is a major oversight imho.
Still, if the discount is right it may join my LEGO NES.
Funnily enough I never had a real NES as a kid, nor did I have a GameBoy, contrary to most of my friends.

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By in Netherlands,

Looks good, and it's actually cheaper than the thing it's replicating. But I already have the real thing, albeit in gorgeous translucent red.

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By in Netherlands,

Cool! Though indeed should have included Tetris. Or my personal favorite from long ago: R.C. Pro Am Never had one myself, but nevertheless have played wit it a lot.

Now this probably won't be the most mindblowing build ever, but they have captured it pretty well I'd say, and I aprticularly like little details like the Start and Select buttons. And indeed seems all prints, as it should!

And as much as I liked the NES and a bit less so the Atari, I didn't get those mostly because they are kinda a pain to display properly (or I just need a bigger house). This on the other hand is perfect! And while the PPP looks pretty terrible, I honestly don't feel the price is that bad at all. Premium price sure, but for a premium product. I will probably still wait for a discount (hey, I'm Dutch, of course I do!), but will certainly get this!

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By in Ireland,

Looks like an interesting build, with studs going in all directions.
It's not cheap though. €60 for just over 400 parts...

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By in Netherlands,

Having the real thing at home i don’t really know if i need it that bad. But it really looks good, and it is cheap enough to impulse buy at some point.

About Tetris: there will probably be customisers out there making custom tetris tiles especially for this set.

Other games i would like to see: Dr. mario, TMNT

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By in Germany,

Interesting side note. When I was about 17 my class went on a school outing to a local prison facility, and in the prison workshop one of the tasks the inmates performed was assembling GameBoys for Nintendo (the European Corporate headquarters of which were based near where I lived at the time). I was fascinated by the hundreds of GameBoys on the assembly line they had set up there. The classic accepted trope at the time was that inmates would glue paper bags as a main task ;-)

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By in United Kingdom,

@Daniel___Walsh said:
"Please make a Game Boy Advance SP and Nintendo DS! I'd buy those in heartbeat. "

I'm hoping for a Switch with an Animal Crossing game card!

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By in Italy,

Very well-realized set.
A bit pricey but, at least, it is not anothe hundreds euro set.
Maybe I'll give it a chance.

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By in United Kingdom,

@jkole said:
"Somewhat unique idea with the swap-able 'screenshots' and it is somewhat cheaper than most... but I'm adding this one to the ever-growing list of pricey licensed shelf sets for a 'nerdy' pod-caster/u-tuber put in the background to show off how 'nerdy' they are. For more examples, see 76313, 75407, 72037, 76429, 75398, 75379 (or 75308), 71438, 76262, 71426, 76209, 76223, 71411, 76391, 76191, 71395, 71374, and the entirety of the Star Wars helmet collection/Marvel masks/77000."

"Let" "people" "like" "things".

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By in Sweden,

Gotta give it to Nintendo, they know how to make collectibles feel premium with all the printed pieces

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By in Netherlands,

This looks amazing. It's an instant buy for me.

But if you want the full experience, you're going to have to shell out a lot more money over the coming years to buy brick-built versoins of the supplemental battery-packs, the highly necessary external light-sources, the magnifying screen, the additional casing with joystick-mounts, further additional lighting, the power antenna, the sonar add-on, the camera and the printer, the carrier bag, the carrier bag for the carrier bag, even more light-sources, the link-cable (because how else are you going to trade and evolve your Pokémon?), the Z-axis gyroscope, the boosters, the thrusters, the IV-drip, the massaging rod, the thrusters, the nozzle, the stim-packs, the phylactery...

I know the GB wasn't the only device that suffered a glut of staggeringly useless third-party attachment-products, but it surely must have been one of their favourite platforms to unload their terrible products on. If your GB didn't end up looking like a dime-store Voltron on a fully back-lit studio-set, you weren't doing it right.

In the end, "portable" was mainly just a suggestion.

It's also nice to see that this does not fall into the "you can buy a real one for cheaper"-category. This is because Gameboys are notoriously hard to destroy, and there's a very good chance that the GB you forgot about until just now, is probably still in perfect working order, and worth quite a lot on the secondary market. Go play Super Mario Land! It's not very good!

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By in Netherlands,

Marketing Blob said:
"Customise your display with interchangeable, brick-built The Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening or Super Mario Land Game Boy Game Paks and corresponding lenticular screens (or a Nintendo start screen)."

Does the "lenticular" bit means you'll only see the screen if you look at it from a certain angle? If so, that would be truly next level!
(doesn't show on the pictures though)

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By in United Kingdom,

@jedisquidwardagain said:
"On my YouTube channel, I create custom Lego Nintendo sets. The buttons seem to be new pieces, and possibly the Start/Select buttons, too. It looks very good; I just find it odd, though, that with all the resources and talent Lego has, that they continue to make sets that have
A. Been created before by fans (there have been endless GameBoy MOCs), and
B. Are competing with the original product itself (Why not just have a regular Gameboy? Why not just get a large figure of Mario riding a Kart?)
Then again, judging it for what it is, it looks very good. I was not expecting $60... a reasonable price when those are becoming less common."


The start and select buttons look like tyres slotted in, but I'm not sure. I can't identify the pieces around them though - they look to be two studs long but 2/3 of a brick high?

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By in United Kingdom,

@Username28 said:
"Notes:
-No Tetris?
-Would have gone with white instead light bley, but whatever.

Otherwise, great set!"


There can't be Tetris due to the claims of Russian interference.

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By in Poland,

Cool. But I have no need for such boring sets

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By in Australia,

Anyone notice the serial number on the back, looks to be the date the GameBoy was launched.

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By in Sweden,

@WizardOfOss said:
"Marketing Blob said:
"Customise your display with interchangeable, brick-built The Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening or Super Mario Land Game Boy Game Paks and corresponding lenticular screens (or a Nintendo start screen)."

Does the "lenticular" bit means you'll only see the screen if you look at it from a certain angle? If so, that would be truly next level!
(doesn't show on the pictures though)"


It looks like the screens are animated, in the video on the Lego website you can see that the ”Nintendo” text drops down (like on a real Game Boy). From the photos it looks like Mario jumps to the ? block. I’m guessing the seagulls are animated in the Zelda one.

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By in United States,

Ah yes, another dust collector
Looks neat, fairly accurate as a build. Even as someone who adores the Gameboy and collects it like I do however, I just fail to see the point of this other than "nerdy display piece"
@jkole: People are going to be upset, but you're absolutely correct. Just another in a long line of Lego "sets" that ultimately boil down to a simple question: why was this at all necessary?

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By in Netherlands,

@Legonk said:
" @WizardOfOss said:
"Marketing Blob said:
"Customise your display with interchangeable, brick-built The Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening or Super Mario Land Game Boy Game Paks and corresponding lenticular screens (or a Nintendo start screen)."

Does the "lenticular" bit means you'll only see the screen if you look at it from a certain angle? If so, that would be truly next level!
(doesn't show on the pictures though)"


It looks like the screens are animated, in the video on the Lego website you can see that the ”Nintendo” text drops down (like on a real Game Boy). From the photos it looks like Mario jumps to the ? block. I’m guessing the seagulls are animated in the Zelda one.
"


I see it now, that's very cool!

Not quite like the real thing though, where the viewing angle only changed if you could barely see the image on screen or wouldn't see anything at all ;-)

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By in United States,

No TETRIS, no sale.

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By in United States,

@Onatu said:
"Ah yes, another dust collector
Looks neat, fairly accurate as a build. Even as someone who adores the Gameboy and collects it like I do however, I just fail to see the point of this other than "nerdy display piece"
@jkole: People are going to be upset, but you're absolutely correct. Just another in a long line of Lego "sets" that ultimately boil down to a simple question: why was this at all necessary?"


Could you point me to the sets that *were* necessary?

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By in United States,

@Andrusi said:
" @Onatu said:
"Ah yes, another dust collector
Looks neat, fairly accurate as a build. Even as someone who adores the Gameboy and collects it like I do however, I just fail to see the point of this other than "nerdy display piece"
@jkole: People are going to be upset, but you're absolutely correct. Just another in a long line of Lego "sets" that ultimately boil down to a simple question: why was this at all necessary?"


Could you point me to the sets that *were* necessary? "


Or that don't collect dust (an unfortunate reality of any Lego set you leave out for a while, whether it's a display set like this or a kid-focused playset).

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By in Netherlands,

Dust repelling bricks.....now that would be a huge USP over the competition!

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By in United States,

Grew up playing my dad's OG Gameboy. Might have to get this.

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By in United States,

Do I spot connectors in the carts built out of click-hinges? That's pretty ingenious way to replicate the look while retaining function!

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By in United States,

@Robot99 said:
"Do I spot connectors in the carts built out of click-hinges? That's pretty ingenious way to replicate the look while retaining function!"

Yeah, I thought that was clever too! I think it uses clips on the inside of the handheld to connect them too, a great connection method for when you want something to "snap" securely but not so securely that it can't be easily removed.

I was just trying to reverse engineer this on Stud.io and there's quite a lot of interesting techniques... lots of interesting methods of SNOT/stud reversals to maintain that studless look all the way around while leaving space for things like the volume and contrast dials and maintaining stability in such a small space.

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By in United States,

It looks really well done. I never had a Gameboy so I don't have any affinity for it, but it looks cool. My older brother had the NES console only and then I had a Sega years later. So I missed out on a lot of ways to play in my youth. Less screens and more hands on LEGO (or GI Joe/TMNT). Oh well...

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By in United States,

@xboxtravis7992 said:
" @Daniel___Walsh said:
"Please make a Game Boy Advance SP and Nintendo DS! I'd buy those in heartbeat. "

GBA with printed screen tiles for Matoran Adventures and Galidor as throwbacks to LEGO history."


Well, one of those, at least. Don’t risk giving Galidor another chance to cause TLG to post an annual loss.

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By in United Kingdom,

Dear designer,
Take a bow.
Brilliant set.

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By in United States,

Looks cool, very cool. Love Gameboy.
But, you'd want a real working one over this no?

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By in Germany,

The number of printed parts in a 60€ set is shocking to any Star Wars / Marvel / DC collector.

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By in United States,

Amazing!! I definitely will get this - what an accurate representation with a great looking build. I played this one, but my first was a Game Boy Color.

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By in United States,

@Lyichir said:
" @Robot99 said:
"Do I spot connectors in the carts built out of click-hinges? That's pretty ingenious way to replicate the look while retaining function!"

Yeah, I thought that was clever too! I think it uses clips on the inside of the handheld to connect them too, a great connection method for when you want something to "snap" securely but not so securely that it can't be easily removed.

I was just trying to reverse engineer this on Stud.io and there's quite a lot of interesting techniques... lots of interesting methods of SNOT/stud reversals to maintain that studless look all the way around while leaving space for things like the volume and contrast dials and maintaining stability in such a small space."


71374 used that technique for the plugs. Incidentally, when pulling up its database entry to get the set number, I found out that the pixelated Mario is considered a minifigure by Bricklink, and thus Brickset. Be an interesting day if that gets chosen for RMotD.

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By in United States,

Zero interest for me personally (I'm a little too old for this to have been my childhood nostalgia system), but my goodness what a beautiful model! It is a bit pricey for the number of parts, but in absolute terms $60 is cheap compared to other, similar nostalgia technology sets Lego has released, and it looks fantastic. I can see this one flying off the shelves. Especially since "Yes, as soon as it's released" currently is in the lead in the Brickset poll with 22% and "Yes, eventually" is 2nd at 21%. I'm trying to remember the last time I saw a new set introduction article here with those poll results.

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By in United States,

This gets weirder and weirder. A life sized model of a game console. You loved it when you were younger, right? That means it's probably in a drawer somewhere collecting patina... Why not fish it out, put it on a display stand and see if it powers up...
Fifty-five pounds saved- or put aside for buying something more, well, playable?
(Typewriter? yes, I do have the typewriter, but that was a very clever build, and it's the real typewriters that are out "on display". the Lego one is in deep storage.)

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By in Austria,

@Onatu said:
"Ah yes, another dust collector
Looks neat, fairly accurate as a build. Even as someone who adores the Gameboy and collects it like I do however, I just fail to see the point of this other than "nerdy display piece"
@jkole: People are going to be upset, but you're absolutely correct. Just another in a long line of Lego "sets" that ultimately boil down to a simple question: why was this at all necessary?"


and yet, you will be the first one to buy at least 8 sets of this. did I forget something else ?

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By in United Kingdom,

Some like display sets. Some like play sets. Some like both. Why do some get so worked up because others like a type of set that they don't!

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By in United States,

@brick_beard said:
"I'm kind of shocked by the price given what appear to be some nice printed elements. If this was a star wars set it would be like $80 minimum... Pretty sure the game paks are stickers, but as someone who hates stickers that actually doesn't bother me as the actual game packs use stickers too, and no way a print would look as good."

I felt that way about the games for the NES set. Stickers make sense when the real world item also used these. Same for the one on the back of the television in that set. Those are always stickers. If the handheld is all printed, then I'm good.

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By in United States,

@bananaworld said:
"
@SetToBuild said:
"...
Still hoping for the SNES! "

The SNES is the one set I think they won't ever develop because it's production would start a major international incident:

Which version do they produce...? Whichever major design they go for will leave people on opposite sides of the Atlantic\Pacific aghast.

The version available in the Americas would be so much easier to recreate in LEGO, but how could the staff at TLG work on something that isn't the version they would be familiar with in Denmark...?

(I grew up playing on a European SNES and was completely weirded-out when I first encountered my cousins' Brazilian SNES; not having the coloured buttons was crazy to me as an eleven year-old!)
"


They already went ahead and made the NES but not a Famicom.

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By in Jordan,

The more I see of this the more I like it. I'm not particularly nostalgic for the Game Boy (I had a GBA SP and a DS Lite as a kid), but this is so well done I might end up getting it anyway.

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By in United States,

@Pongo said:
"This gets weirder and weirder. A life sized model of a game console. You loved it when you were younger, right? That means it's probably in a drawer somewhere collecting patina... Why not fish it out, put it on a display stand and see if it powers up... "

Uh, no? I still have my GBA SP as well as two of my favorite GB carts, but I have no idea where my original GB is. At one point it became my sister's when I got a Game Gear (what a mistake), then mine again when I realized how bad the Game Gear library was, then who knows what happened to it when I got my SP that could play all my GB games as well as GBA games.

Also, patina is something that happens to metals and some stones and wood objects. Plastics get dirty, yellow, and eventually crumble. Age wear on plastics is about as attractive as a mustard stain on your t-shirt.

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By in United States,

I continue to be weirded out that, out of all the websites I regularly visit where people might talk about a Lego version of a Game Boy or Optimus Prime or whatever, it's the dedicated Lego fansite for Lego enjoyers where I see the greatest number of people who don't understand why people would want a Lego version of the thing when the option of a non-Lego version exists.

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By in United Kingdom,

@bananaworld said:
"
@SetToBuild said:
"...
Still hoping for the SNES! "


Which version do they produce...? Whichever major design they go for will leave people on opposite sides of the Atlantic\Pacific aghast."


They managed to make the Great Deku Tree a 2-in1 set, so why not both?

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By in United States,

@SetToBuild said:
"They managed to make the Great Deku Tree a 2-in1 set, so why not both?"
That's a really darn good idea! I'm almost upset that I didn't think of it lol

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By in United States,

@sjr60 said:
"Some like display sets. Some like play sets. Some like both. Why do some get so worked up because others like a type of set that they don't!"

Too many people insist that their way of doing something is the only correct way of doing it. Unfortunately, this applies to things of much more import than Lego.

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By in United States,

@Yergs said:
" @Brickbuilder0937 said:
"It seems pretty expensive. But if it’s printed parts I won’t complain."

I was looking at the pictures for the "sticker lines" and can't see anything that stands out, so either all/mostly prints or edited photos."


The game cartridges look to have stickers.

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By in Singapore,

Oh boy, I've been gaming since the Pong TV console, then the 8 and 16 bit Sega and Nintendo consoles, Saturn, original Playstation etc.

On handhelds and portables, had those Pac-man & Galaxian electronic games, then a few of the Game & Watch handhelds, GBA, GBA SP, DS Lite, PSP, PS Vita etc.

But I've never owned the original Gameboy, didn't buy it then due to the bulkiness and the monochrome screen but definitely going to get this Lego version.

Btw, still playing games now with my PS5 Pro (also had a gaming PC laptop), and play retro games running on miniPCs with Batocera OS. Owned a few modern handhelds like the Anbernic RG35XX, RGB30 (4" square screen), Evercade etc. Still thinking of getting the Retroid Pocket Flip 2 though.

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By in Netherlands,

@SetToBuild said:
" @bananaworld said:
"
@SetToBuild said:
"...
Still hoping for the SNES! "


Which version do they produce...? Whichever major design they go for will leave people on opposite sides of the Atlantic\Pacific aghast."


They managed to make the Great Deku Tree a 2-in1 set, so why not both?"


Then rather let them make two sets......I can't feel it's a bit of a waste when they make such 2-in-1 sets that leave a lot of leftover pieces with either build. After all, Lego will sure make you pay for those pieces....

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By in Hong Kong,

@Lyichir said:
" @Brick_Master said:
"It really needs Tetris, but I guess Nintendo want to push Mario and Zelda as they're still releasing games...

Even so, I'll definitely pick this up sooner or later - I have relatively few non-minifig scale "display sets" but this one is a reasonable size and cost, at least for a licensed set."


There are still new Tetris games these days too (some very good ones, in fact—Tetris 99 and Tetris Effect are some of my favorites), but the rights to Tetris reverted to the creator in 1996 so are currently held by a separate company (which would likely mean separate licensing talks for Lego to represent the game here). Mario and Zelda, being titles owned solely by Nintendo, don't have that issue (and the fact that both have had successful Lego sets before probably doesn't hurt).

It probably wouldn't be too hard to customize some alternate cartridge labels, but probably trickier to make alternate screens (especially with that cool lenticular effect)."


Oh, I didn't know that! Thank you for sharing, now I know why Tetris hasn't really been a thing in the last 25 years....

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By in Netherlands,

@gearwheel said:
" @Pongo said:
"This gets weirder and weirder. A life sized model of a game console. You loved it when you were younger, right? That means it's probably in a drawer somewhere collecting patina... Why not fish it out, put it on a display stand and see if it powers up... "

Uh, no? I still have my GBA SP as well as two of my favorite GB carts, but I have no idea where my original GB is. At one point it became my sister's when I got a Game Gear (what a mistake), then mine again when I realized how bad the Game Gear library was, then who knows what happened to it when I got my SP that could play all my GB games as well as GBA games.

Also, patina is something that happens to metals and some stones and wood objects. Plastics get dirty, yellow, and eventually crumble. Age wear on plastics is about as attractive as a mustard stain on your t-shirt."


The original Game Boy is almost supernaturally unkillable. I would argue that destroying a GB would require cluster-explosives, a flame-thrower, a vat of acid and days of sustained Buddhist chanting, but that might not even be enough. Here's one that survived active duty and a bomb-strike in the Gulf War:

https://www.theverge.com/2023/6/30/23780549/gulf-war-game-boy-nintendo-nyc

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By in United States,

@Crux said:
" @gearwheel said:
" @Pongo said:
"This gets weirder and weirder. A life sized model of a game console. You loved it when you were younger, right? That means it's probably in a drawer somewhere collecting patina... Why not fish it out, put it on a display stand and see if it powers up... "

Uh, no? I still have my GBA SP as well as two of my favorite GB carts, but I have no idea where my original GB is. At one point it became my sister's when I got a Game Gear (what a mistake), then mine again when I realized how bad the Game Gear library was, then who knows what happened to it when I got my SP that could play all my GB games as well as GBA games.

Also, patina is something that happens to metals and some stones and wood objects. Plastics get dirty, yellow, and eventually crumble. Age wear on plastics is about as attractive as a mustard stain on your t-shirt."


The original Game Boy is almost supernaturally unkillable. I would argue that destroying a GB would require cluster-explosives, a flame-thrower, a vat of acid and days of sustained Buddhist chanting, but that might not even be enough. Here's one that survived active duty and a bomb-strike in the Gulf War:

https://www.theverge.com/2023/6/30/23780549/gulf-war-game-boy-nintendo-nyc"


I thought of that, too. Nontendium, the hardest substance on Earth.

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By in Netherlands,

@TheOtherMike said:
" @Crux said:
" @gearwheel said:
" @Pongo said:
"This gets weirder and weirder. A life sized model of a game console. You loved it when you were younger, right? That means it's probably in a drawer somewhere collecting patina... Why not fish it out, put it on a display stand and see if it powers up... "

Uh, no? I still have my GBA SP as well as two of my favorite GB carts, but I have no idea where my original GB is. At one point it became my sister's when I got a Game Gear (what a mistake), then mine again when I realized how bad the Game Gear library was, then who knows what happened to it when I got my SP that could play all my GB games as well as GBA games.

Also, patina is something that happens to metals and some stones and wood objects. Plastics get dirty, yellow, and eventually crumble. Age wear on plastics is about as attractive as a mustard stain on your t-shirt."


The original Game Boy is almost supernaturally unkillable. I would argue that destroying a GB would require cluster-explosives, a flame-thrower, a vat of acid and days of sustained Buddhist chanting, but that might not even be enough. Here's one that survived active duty and a bomb-strike in the Gulf War:

https://www.theverge.com/2023/6/30/23780549/gulf-war-game-boy-nintendo-nyc"


I thought of that, too. Nontendium, the hardest substance on Earth."


Nah, just drop a Nokia 3310 on it.....

Gravatar
By in Netherlands,

@WizardOfOss said:
" @TheOtherMike said:
" @Crux said:
" @gearwheel said:
" @Pongo said:
"This gets weirder and weirder. A life sized model of a game console. You loved it when you were younger, right? That means it's probably in a drawer somewhere collecting patina... Why not fish it out, put it on a display stand and see if it powers up... "

Uh, no? I still have my GBA SP as well as two of my favorite GB carts, but I have no idea where my original GB is. At one point it became my sister's when I got a Game Gear (what a mistake), then mine again when I realized how bad the Game Gear library was, then who knows what happened to it when I got my SP that could play all my GB games as well as GBA games.

Also, patina is something that happens to metals and some stones and wood objects. Plastics get dirty, yellow, and eventually crumble. Age wear on plastics is about as attractive as a mustard stain on your t-shirt."


The original Game Boy is almost supernaturally unkillable. I would argue that destroying a GB would require cluster-explosives, a flame-thrower, a vat of acid and days of sustained Buddhist chanting, but that might not even be enough. Here's one that survived active duty and a bomb-strike in the Gulf War:

https://www.theverge.com/2023/6/30/23780549/gulf-war-game-boy-nintendo-nyc "


I thought of that, too. Nontendium, the hardest substance on Earth."


Nah, just drop a Nokia 3310 on it....."


But what would even happen? Would the two cancel eachother out, crumbling into nothing? Would they fuse to create a tiny indestructible singularity, so dense that it might sink into the Earth's core, causing our planet to shatter, or possibly implode?

I'm kind of hoping for the latter, resetting the entire universe. It will start, not so much with a big bang, but with a bright chime and some arcane scrawlings cascading down a greenish-white void.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hz2QPBkDkFc

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By in Netherlands,

Sounds like we just gotta try....now who has a Game Boy and a 3310?
(and is willing to risk both those and the existance of our planet?)

Gravatar
By in United States,

@WizardOfOss said:
" @TheOtherMike said:
" @Crux said:
" @gearwheel said:
" @Pongo said:
"This gets weirder and weirder. A life sized model of a game console. You loved it when you were younger, right? That means it's probably in a drawer somewhere collecting patina... Why not fish it out, put it on a display stand and see if it powers up... "

Uh, no? I still have my GBA SP as well as two of my favorite GB carts, but I have no idea where my original GB is. At one point it became my sister's when I got a Game Gear (what a mistake), then mine again when I realized how bad the Game Gear library was, then who knows what happened to it when I got my SP that could play all my GB games as well as GBA games.

Also, patina is something that happens to metals and some stones and wood objects. Plastics get dirty, yellow, and eventually crumble. Age wear on plastics is about as attractive as a mustard stain on your t-shirt."


The original Game Boy is almost supernaturally unkillable. I would argue that destroying a GB would require cluster-explosives, a flame-thrower, a vat of acid and days of sustained Buddhist chanting, but that might not even be enough. Here's one that survived active duty and a bomb-strike in the Gulf War:

https://www.theverge.com/2023/6/30/23780549/gulf-war-game-boy-nintendo-nyc"


I thought of that, too. Nontendium, the hardest substance on Earth."


Nah, just drop a Nokia 3310 on it....."


That's a real "unstoppable force meets immovable object" scenario, there.

Gravatar
By in United Kingdom,

@WizardOfOss said:
"Sounds like we just gotta try....now who has a Game Boy and a 3310?
(and is willing to risk both those and the existance of our planet?)"

Planet? That’s a Big Bang level event you’re talking about. And nobody’s surviving that… except Chuck Norris.

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By in Netherlands,

Chuck Norris can break a Game Boy. That's actually how the DS was created.....

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By in United States,

wheels wedged between slopes?

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By in United States,

can go to amazon and preorder it.

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By in United States,

@Crux said:
"The original Game Boy is almost supernaturally unkillable. I would argue that destroying a GB would require cluster-explosives, a flame-thrower, a vat of acid and days of sustained Buddhist chanting, but that might not even be enough."

Funny you claim that. When I was a little kid, my OG GB actually died, and due to the cost of the machine at that point, we got it repaired instead of replacing it. I think they had to replace the mainboard.

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By in Australia,

@Andrusi said:
"I continue to be weirded out that, out of all the websites I regularly visit where people might talk about a Lego version of a Game Boy or Optimus Prime or whatever, it's the dedicated Lego fansite for Lego enjoyers where I see the greatest number of people who don't understand why people would want a Lego version of the thing when the option of a non-Lego version exists."

100%!
LEGO AFOL’s are their own worst enemies!
No matter how great the set, there will be like 30-40% of commenters here complaining, and unable to understand how millions of people around the world might have a different opinion to them!!…

Gravatar
By in United Kingdom,

Tetris? Nah, Probotector is where it's at. Not a bad R-Type conversion either, given the system limitations. But yes, "Legend of Zelda: Links Awakening" has a story to it comparable with the great "Ocarina of Time".
I can put this on display, next to my real one.

Gravatar
By in United Kingdom,

I'm glad TLG has included the caveat on the box "No light, sound and digital play functions". That means it's "Whatever doesn't float your LEGO boat"! For £55 we get to make a replica of the unit and slide in some stickered "cartridges". They called a ZX81 a doorstop but this is worse. Maybe if your Gameboy is in a drawer then the LEGO set can replicate its action too :D

The price per piece is also high but with the franchise that might be inevitable. The only relevant voting option was "too expensive"; I might have chosen "poor play value" if that option had existed.

Following Pacman 10323 the technology exists to do a games machine with working joystick and "jump" button and interchangeable levels using a single motor and battery unit with some gear-shift pieces and differential gears from the supercar sets. I've done it for Donkey Kong, replicating the 4 original levels and adding example games of my own. That would cost around £500. That's a set that would actually DO something as well as providing a challenge for Technic builders. It would meet the Technic play value maxim of £10 per manual function and £30 per motorised function.

Some people would like a Tetris "cartridge". A working Tetris game would be more difficult to replicate, owing to the moving pieces and the need to transfer the user input to the next piece and detect a full line of blocks and delete them. I won't say "never" but let's do user-character-movement games first. A small version could be tried on a SPIKE Prime unit though.

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