The Mario day celebrations have started off with a bang, as Nintendo is teasing a collaboration between the Super Mario Bros. franchise and Lego toys. March 10 is known as Mario Day, as the date is often written as Mar 10 (or Mar10), and Nintendo has been celebrating the occasion since 2016 with fun events.
Lego is known as one of the most popular toy brands in the world, but there are also lots of Lego video games, many of which are based on popular franchises like Star Wars or The Lord of the Rings. The Lego games developed by Traveller Tales have included some popular titles and many of them have graced Nintendo systems, but there has yet to be an official crossover between the two companies.
The time has finally come for some sort of collaboration between Lego and a major Nintendo franchise. The official Nintendo of America Twitter account has tweeted a video showing what appears to be a Lego figurine of Mario, followed by the logos of both The Lego Company and the Super Mario Bros. series, with the promise of more information to come.
There are two likely options for what this video is promoting. The first (and most likely) is that there will be official Super Mario Bros. Lego figures in the future, with the toy in the image being a hint at the famous plumber's model. The second option is that there is a Lego x Super Mario Bros. game in development, though this seems less likely. There are already a number of popular Super Mario Bros. games on the Nintendo Switch, including Super Mario Maker 2, which already has a strong creative element in its design. Then again, the Nintendo Switch's 2020 lineup is surprisingly empty and there is no word on any new Super Mario Bros. games in development. Nintendo has shown more of a willingness to let other companies use its precious first-party characters (as was the case with Cadence of Hyrule for The Legend of Zelda franchise last year), so it is possible.
There is an entire underground market for bootleg Lego figures based on big franchises, most notably involving adult-oriented series that normally wouldn't collaborate with Lego, like The Witcher. The world might never see The Witcher Lego sets (no matter how much the fans want them), but a Lego Super Mario Bros. set feels like a match made in heaven and it's surprising that it has taken so long to happen. It's still unclear as to what form the collaboration will take, but it's likely that fans will soon be assembling their own Mushroom Kingdom out of blocks.
Source: Nintendo of America/Twitter