Nintendo appears to be having a great time of late, recreating its classic TV ads for new products. A few months back, Paul Rudd reprised his pre-fame role in a classic SNES commercial in a new one for the Switch 2, and now we have a modern reimagining of a 1989 Game Boy ad for the fantastic-looking Lego Game Boy that releases later this year.
The Lego Game Boy was announced by Nintendo back in January. At the time it was all very coy about how it would look, and there was no mention of a price. Well, now we have both, and...it’s all incredibly good news! And it’s out October 1.
The new Lego build looks incredible. It’s a “near 1:1” model, and Lego appears to have conceded to multiple bespoke new blocks to achieve a perfect look. The A and B buttons have what look like unique fuchsia caps, along with a vented curved piece to recreate the bottom right corner of the incredibly familiar handheld. That’s then contrasted by the unabashedly Lego cross-shaped d-pad, to ensure it still has a bricky style. Then there are what appear to be printed pieces depicting the all-important “DOT MATRIX WITH STEREO SOUND” across the top, a headphones label down at the bottom, and of course the words “Nintendo GAME BOY tm” across the middle. Printed, and not fiddly stickers.
Perfectly finishing it off is the screen, behind which you can place lenticular lenses that mean the image changes as you move the block around. It doesn’t actually play games, what with being made of molded plastic bricks, but comes with pretend paks for Zelda and Super Mario Land that you can slot into the back, with the matching lenticular cards to create a moving image of that game.
It’s 421 pieces, and given the quality and the nostalgic hit, could easily have cost ludicrous amounts. However, it’s up for pre-order—ahead of October 1 shipping—for $60.
Right, now for those commercials. In 1989, when the Game Boy was arriving in the United States, the most wonderfully corny ad was launched in which a teenage boy and a robot, seemingly stood on an alien planet, took part in some sort of laser-shooting battle while also playing Tetris. You know, perfect.
This has been lovingly reproduced, with tongue firmly in cheek, for the Lego build:
While we’re here, we may as well enjoy those Paul Rudd commercials too.
Here’s the 1991 original, featuring baby Rudd:
And here’s the Switch 2 version:
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