Super Mario Maker 2 is an awesome tool for getting kids thinking creatively, but there’s something special about the extra tactile layer of using physical elements to the same end. The LEGO/Mario crossover goes hand-in-hand with Nintendo’s recent philosophy of putting the tools for game design in players’ hands. Again, in the early 90s, my younger self would have died to get his hands on official Mario-themed sets-especially ones that can be programmed to make sounds and look like an actual level. They go hand-in-hand, given the block-centric levels of the earliest Super Mario Bros games. ![]() It’s a product union made in licensing heaven: LEGO blocks and Mario “Jumpman” Mario. If you can’t make it to California now, you can still bring a real-world Mario experience home with LEGO’s Super Mario line. For parents, this Mario crossover is a great way for kids to engage with the loveable video game mascot without racking up screen time. At this point, the majority of the game’s sizable roster has made at least one appearance through 20 waves of toys, and there’s a handful of exciting track sets like the epic Rainbow Road above to add a real sense of speed. Since 2019, Mattel has brought designs from Mario Kart 8 Deluxe into the real world with a series of high-quality toys featuring both a character from the game and a kart that suits them-a step above the usual crossovers the toy line produces. It ties in very naturally with one of the best Mario crossovers I’ve ever seen, the Hot Wheels series of Mario Kart toys. ![]() The kart racing series is almost as much of an institution as the Super Mario games themselves. ![]() Mario Kart 8 Deluxe is to the Switch what Tetris was to the Game Boy: an evergreen killer app that almost every console owner has in their library and an insurmountable sales record that few games could hope to challenge. With all the benefits of the Minecraft engine and loving recreations of elements from its source material, this Mario crossover is no mere cash-in-it’s distinctly cool to explore your way through these worlds from a first-person perspective for a change.
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