Latest news with #AnimalCrossing
Irish Times
15 hours ago
- Business
- Irish Times
Nintendo's Switch 2: Nostalgia is the driving force as gaming fans await heavily hyped console
Along a pristine sandy shore, a woman casts her fishing rod out into the sea and waits. She's dressed in a stripy swimsuit with cute red boots and star-shaped sunglasses. For her, every day is beach day. She is, of course, a character in Animal Crossing: New Horizons, the second most popular video game – with 48 million copies sold – for the Nintendo Switch. (Mario Kart 8 is first.) Animal Crossing has little in the way of a linear story. Players are entertained by endless low-stakes side quests such as fishing, farming, fossil hunting and helping out friends on the island – all to the tune of calm guitar, e-piano and drums. Above our fashionable angler, a neatly tied present floats inland on a parachute, ready to be knocked out of the sky with a slingshot. A fossil peaks out from a tuft of grass nearby. Butterflies socialise in the morning light. And the island's anthropomorphic inhabitants are chattering away in a high-pitched gibberish. READ MORE There are no threats here. Even the home-extension loans are interest-free. [ Can Nintendo's Switch 2 re-energise a stagnant gaming industry? Opens in new window ] In a recent episode of Kit & Krysta , a gaming podcast hosted by two former Nintendo employees, Krysta Yang said the game 'saved our lives'. It's a common sentiment: Animal Crossing was the breakout video game of the Covid pandemic, reaching women, men, casual players and hardcore gamers in equal measure. Released in March 2020, just in time to provide a much-needed antidote to the lockdown anxiety many were feeling, it cradled players when they needed it most and spawned an online community when corporeal ones were taken away. Its impact shows the difference between a good game and a great game – something Nintendo has achieved time and again. (At one point in the late 2000s, almost every livingroom seemed to have Wii Sports or Mario Kart on the television.) With the much-hyped release of Nintendo's Switch 2 next week, gamers are nostalgic for its predecessor, now the highest-selling games console of the last 20 years. 'Nobody really saw it coming,' says Stuart Dempsey, chief executive of GamerFest , Ireland's biggest gaming event. Following highs in the 2000s with the Nintendo DS and Wii, the Japanese games company appeared to lose its edge with the release, in 2012, of the Wii-U, a commercial and critical flop. 'So to rebound like that,' Dempsey says of the release of Nintendo Switch in 2017, 'was absolutely incredible.' Stuart Dempsey, chief executive of GamerFest, at the convention in the RDS last weekend. Photograph: Conor Capplis When The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild – then the latest in a long-running adventure series – was released alongside the Switch, it was immediately clear fans had their hands on something special. At the Game Awards in 2017, the jubilation on the faces of its creators when Zelda won game of the year was not only a heartwarming moment, but it also heralded the beginning of an era when Nintendo was back on top. I'm speaking to Dempsey just outside the RDS in Dublin, where thousands of attendees are wading into the main hall dressed in handmade costumes, videogame-themed hoodies and all manner of merchandise. The Switch 'was the first time a console had ever felt that portable to me. They'd tried it a few times, but that was when the magic happened' — Digital artist Katie O'Kane The event features virtual-reality demonstrations, game developers testing their latest projects on willing guinea pigs, and traders selling artwork, figurines and second-hand games. The legacy of Nintendo properties is pervasive here, almost every stall including some reference to Pokémon, Mario or Zelda. 'The Switch was a gamechanger,' says Dempsey. 'It [is] such an innovative console. They're not reinventing the wheel this time, but nonetheless I would expect it to do very, very well.' DFC Intelligence videogame industry projections. Graph: DFC Intelligence The Switch gives players the option to play games through their television or use it as a hand-held console – though, importantly, the system gives users more processing power in their pockets than ever before. 'Covid was actually a massive catalyst' for online gaming, says Dempsey. 'Because you had young people stuck at home with no opportunity to hang out together, gaming online became a really important outlet for them to keep in touch and socialise.' Nearby, we see this community out in the open. Some excitable teenagers in military khakis and Spider-Man masks hold up airsoft guns in a sort of Mexican standoff – a reference, no doubt, to a classic Spider-Man meme . We should give them some space, I suggest. Their weapons 'all get checked at the door', Dempsey says reassuringly. [ Sales of Nintendo Switch top 100m, surpassing Wii's lifetime figure Opens in new window ] It's nostalgia that comes up again and again when speaking to fans about what made the Switch and its games so special. And though the Switch 2 will come with a bigger screen, more storage and better performance, its biggest titles will feature the same old titans that have fronted Nintendo for years. Some cosplayers catch my eye. Devlyn Marcos and Matthew O'Donoghue are dressed as two such titans, Mario and Luigi. O'Donoghue, being the taller of the pair, is aptly dressed as Luigi. He has pre-ordered Switch 2; he says he's most excited about being able to play his favourite childhood games, from Nintendo's GameCube era in the early 2000s. Devlyn Marcos and Matthew O'Donoghue cosplaying as Mario and Luigi at GamerFest 2025. Photograph: Conor Capplis 'It's a nostalgia thing for me too,' says Amy Quinn, a long-time Nintendo fan who owns the video-game reseller Retro Ralph Gaming . 'It's the stuff I grew up with really. I'm going back to the same characters with new stories. The old classic games like Mario, they keep you entertained for hours on end. The new ones on the PlayStation 5, for example, you play them once or twice and it's not the same.' Helen and Amy Quinn at Amy's stall at GamerFest 2025. Photograph: Conor Capplis She's holding off on pre-ordering the new console, hoping it will come down in price over time. (Nintendo Ireland has priced the Switch 2 at €469.99 – that's without any games – at the time of writing.) In front of Quinn are stacks of video games, with not a Switch box in sight. They still sell very well, she says. Katie O'Kane is selling her artwork at a nearby stall. The digital artist has pieces inspired by a range of Nintendo video games, including The Legend of Zelda. Tears of the Kingdom, the latest game in the series, is her favourite. 'There's so much to it,' she says. 'You can pick it up and get lost for a few hours.' Digital artist Katie O'Kane selling her artwork at GamerFest 2025. Photograph: Conor Capplis 'Nintendo has always been about taking games wherever you go, in your pocket,' she says. The Switch 'was the first time a console had ever felt that portable to me. They'd tried it a few times, but that was when the magic happened.' Travis Mack, owner of Retromania , Ireland's largest reseller of retro Nintendo portable consoles and games, says that while other game companies chase the teenage or adult markets, Nintendo make games for all ages and genders. 'They didn't exclude anybody,' he says. 'They tried to push their console on everybody, and it worked. It literally is the biggest impact of a console in the last 20 years.' Travis Mack, owner of videogamer store Retromania, at GamerFest 2025 in the RDS. Photograph: Conor Capplis Mack says the backwards compatibility of the new console, which means users can play their old games on the new system, has been such an appealing feature that the usual trading in of old titles in advance of a new console launch isn't happening – to his apparent frustration. Gamers are, however, selling their old console to afford the new one, he says. Mack will travel to Wexford next week for a midnight launch of the Switch 2 at the Retro Gaming Store , where he will get together with some friends and play Mario Kart World, Nintendo's flagship title for its new console. The Switch 2 comes at a critical time for the stagnant gaming industry . As Nintendo projects a growing confidence in its supply chain, overcoming fears that US tariff chaos would hinder its rollout, the gaming-market analyst DFC Intelligence recently increased its year-one sales estimates for the Switch 2 from 15 million units to 16 million. It expects 100 million units to be sold globally by the end of the decade. Mario Kart World on the new Nintendo Switch 2: 'The only downside to the first Switch was that it was underpowered. The new Switch, though, is taking care of all of that,' says Travis Mack of Retromania. Photograph: Dimitar Dilkoff/AFP/Getty 'The Nintendo Switch 2 is arguably the most important product launch in video game history,' DFC said earlier this month, adding that it expects it to be the fastest-selling console system ever. Since Grand Theft Auto VI – widely considered the most anticipated video game of all time – was delayed from its 2025 release date to May 2026, much more is at stake for the industry this year than Nintendo's bottom line. DFC says the Switch 2 'has the potential to lift a video game industry that has been grappling with product delays, rising costs and economic uncertainty'. If the industry finds itself in the doldrums today, DFC expects sails to be raised high in the coming years and for hardware and software sales records to be broken. All eyes are on the Switch 2. 'It's bringing a bit of Japan to the rest of the world,' Mack says. 'Japan have been the masters of portable gaming. On trains, people are playing games. On planes, people are playing games. They're bringing their culture over to us and are embroidering the whole family unit. 'The only downside to the first Switch was that it was underpowered. The new Switch, though, is taking care of all of that.' Nintendo Switch 2 is available in Ireland from Thursday, June 5th
CNET
2 days ago
- Entertainment
- CNET
The Time It Takes to Beat Video Games Has Increased by 61%: These Games Take Longest
Think of the last computer game you actually beat. How long did it take you? A new study by game site Solitaired recently studied the games that take the longest time to beat, and the time it takes to do so. In just two years, the time it takes to beat, or complete, your average computer game has increased by 61%. Games released in 2023 take an average of 56.2 hours to fnish, while games released in 2024 take 66.2 hours. Both those averages are well above any other year in the past decade, the study says. The longest game to beat takes 469 hours Animal Crossing: New Leaf, a social simulation game, takes 469 hours to beat. Pandemic hit game Animal Crossing: New Horizons and Path of Exile are also top contenders. But CNET senior reporter David Lumb notes that some games aren't about the win, but the experience. "Often with these games, beating it isn't even the point — the appeal is to perform easy repetitive tasks in a delightful setting," said Lumb. Usually, players spend lots of time in games like Animal Crossing or Stardew Valley building up their home, making friends with cute animal friends, and exploring areas. "So while they may have win conditions that would lead them to beat the game, some players may not be eager to beat the games so they can spend more time in them," Lumb said. And some of the trickier games may look to their difficulty as part of their appeal. "Some, like Elden Ring and Dark Souls are intentionally very difficult as part of their appeal and charm," said Lumb. The survey found that turn-based games, like Civilization V and Baldur's Gate 3, take the longest to beat, along with role-playing and simulation games. Notable short games include the first Super Mario, Disney's Aladdin (1993), and Monument Valley. Nintendo DS, the Xbox Series consoles, and PlayStation 5 are the three consoles with the longest average video games. Long games don't seem to bother gamers. Out of the top 20 longest games on the list, just four have an average player rating below 80%.
The Verge
2 days ago
- Business
- The Verge
Animal Crossing: New Horizons was a glimpse at Nintendo's online future
Tiger Borgia, a content creator focused on cozy games, has been pulling weeds in Animal Crossing: New Horizons for over five years. Given the current landscape in which game developers constantly release new updates to vie for the attention of audiences, Borgia's dedication to New Horizons can come across as admirable. Nintendo has not released a major update to New Horizons since the Happy Home Paradise DLC in 2021. (Just this week the game was patched in advance of the Switch 2.) The version of New Horizons Borgia plays today — the one where she pulls weeds and fishes each day — is more or less the same game that the company released in the spring of 2020. At a time when seemingly every publisher is trying to capture a piece of the lucrative live-service boom, New Horizons showed Nintendo slowly inching its way into the space with more than a year's worth of regular updates after launch. And that expansion into live service is something that could become an even larger part of Nintendo's future with the Switch 2. Speaking to The Verge, Borgia explains that two years ago she would have said yes to having more content in New Horizons, but her opinion has since changed. 'Now I feel like the game should be left as is,' Borgia says via email. ' New Horizons already had its moment. I would be open to the next Animal Crossing title being a live-service game, but I would be skeptical about paywalls and subscription fees.' Since the release of Fortnite and PUBG: Battlegrounds in 2017, live-service games have become a core pillar of modern gaming. Live-service games — or what some call 'games as a service' — don't have a clear start and end. Instead, developers release a base game and continue to put out updates that add new characters, game modes, and other content to try and get people to play as much as possible. The model has become a massively popular way to monetize games. Industry analyst Mat Piscatella published data saying more than 40 percent of all time spent playing on PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X consoles in the US in the month of January was spent playing the top 10 live-service games. And the trend has hit the developer side too: a 2025 survey from the Game Developers Conference found that roughly 30 percent of all 'AAA' developers are working on a live-service game. Despite all the big numbers, Nintendo has been selective with the live-service games it develops. Creating a live-service game isn't as easy as flipping a switch, and even major companies like Sony have struggled to enter the space; it recently shut down development on two such projects. However, some fans are wondering if that could change with the Switch 2. Previous titles like Splatoon 3 have already gotten live-esque service with regular updates and events — even if the earlier entries in the series were ultimately shut down. And New Horizons received a steady stream of updates initially. New features, like the Switch 2's Discord-like social tool GameChat, could benefit live-service games that rely on online communication and logging in with friends regularly to play. Additionally, leaks from an October playtest suggested that Nintendo could be working on some sort of MMO for the Switch 2, which could also fall under the umbrella of a live-service game. But here is the most compelling argument that a shift could be on the horizon: Nintendo has already been investing in live-service games for years. If you look at Nintendo's mobile games, entries like Animal Crossing: Pocket Camp already used a free-to-play model with in-game transactions at launch. Some Animal Crossing fans welcome the possibility of adapting the mainline games to a live-service model. New Horizons is really good for people who like to get creative and design an island, but the game can run out of new content after players complete certain tasks and storylines. Tom, an artist who played the game for more than two years, tells The Verge a live-service version of the game could have kept him playing even longer. 'More updates would have made it way more likely that I'd have kept going, especially because it would keep friends coming back too,' he says. Additionally, the gameplay and structure of New Horizons could be the perfect fit for a live-service game, since it has seasonal events depending on the time of year and the region you play in. However, some of the fans I spoke to expressed skepticism. 'I was never expecting to get infinite content from Animal Crossing honestly,' Christi Kerr, a player who spent more than 700 hours playing New Horizons, tells The Verge. 'I was used to old AC games where all the content came out at once, and you play it until you feel like you've done all you want. I thought the updates to New Horizons were fun, but also kind of frustrating as a New Leaf player.' That's not to say that players The Verge spoke to are completely closed off to the live-service model with the next mainline Animal Crossing game; it just needs to be done in a way that feels respectful to players' time, money, and attention. Today, even beloved live-service games are regularly criticized by fans for requiring too much time to level up a battle pass or for poorly designed events. 'If Animal Crossing were to consider a live-service approach, I really hope that they would focus on seasonal events and quality-of-life updates,' Borgia says. 'I would be nervous to say I hope for continuous new content like furniture and clothing, because that can easily turn into a microtransaction nightmare. I'd love to have more seasonal celebrations, challenges, and temporary NPC visitors.' So far, Nintendo has shown a measured approach to live-service games. In the case of Pocket Camp, Nintendo ended up rereleasing it as a standalone game free of microtransactions. Now, people who missed the boat on playing Pocket Camp initially and don't like in-app purchases can still play the same game. For the fans we spoke to, this is good enough. Animal Crossing doesn't need to be some sort of never-ending forever game that trudges on like a zombie throughout the years. As Kerr put it, it's totally fine to have a game start and end, and then get a new one down the line. 'I would've been delighted to see updates like a live service game. [...] But like I said, I'm not bothered if the next Animal Crossing game sustains my interest for a while and then I'm done.'
Tom's Guide
3 days ago
- Business
- Tom's Guide
Huge Lego sale from $4 at Amazon, Best Buy and Walmart — 15 deals I'd shop now
Looking to fill your cart with Lego deals? You're in luck. I've been searching the web for the best discounts on Lego sets, and I have a ton of great ones to share. Right now, Amazon has Lego on sale from $5. In particular, you can score great deals on popular Botanicals sets, like the Lego Botanicals Lucky Bamboo on sale from $23 at Amazon. Over at Best Buy, you can score the impressive Lego Architecture Great Pyramid of Giza on sale for $114. Or, if you're on a budget, you can score this cheerful Lego Daffodils set on sale for $7 at Walmart. My favorite Lego deals are listed below. For more savings, see our Amazon promo codes coverage, and check out the Crocs deals I'd buy from $14 at Amazon. If Maple lives on your Animal Crossing island, you pretty much have to get this set. It's a simple 29-piece build that comes with a Maple minifigure and a small pumpkin garden to take care of. Every Lego build starts with sturdy foundations. This Lego Classic Green Baseplate is on sale for just $5, which is perfect if you want to get started on a city or park build. It's square-shaped with 32 studs in each direction. I don't know who was asking for this Airplane vs. Hospital Bed Race Car Pack, but now that it's on sale for just $6, it's tough to resist. Like the name implies, it comes with an airplane and a hospital bed that have been converted into road racers, as well as two minifigure drivers. Bring on spring with this Lego Daffodils building set. This simple build comes with 216 pieces and is great to brighten up your home, whether you display them on a shelf, in a vase or amongst the rest of your plant collection. Add a little sunshine to your day with these pretty Lego sunflowers. This simple build is excellent for anyone of any age or skill level. Plus, you can display them however you like in a vase or amongst real blooms. This Lego Marvel set is on sale for a nice discount, so it makes a great addition to your collection. You get minifigures of Thanos and Iron Man, as well as the Hulkbuster mech and a glider for the figures to pilot. Another great addition to your Lego Botanicals collection is on sale at Amazon. This Lucky Bamboo set comes with three stems in a pot, with a plinth to display it on. There's no watering required, so this is a great way to add some greenery to your home. Who doesn't love dinosaurs? This Lego Classic Creative Dinosaurs set comes with a bunch of colorful bricks, eyes and more. You can either use the instructions to build a T Rex, Pterosaur, Triceratops, Brontosaurus, baby T Rex, palm tree and volcano, or use your imagination to bring your own creations to life. Animal lovers will definitely want to pick up this cute Lego set. It comes with seven figures, five animals and a colorful array of festival booths and balloons. There are also plenty of accessories to help take care of the animals, including food bowls and brushes. Terrify and amaze all visitors with this Lego Jurassic World Dinosaur Fossils T. Rex Skull! This set comes with 577 pieces, allowing you to build a T. Rex Skull, footprint and an information plate. It's perfect for dinosaur lovers aged nine and up. What's better than plants? Tiny Lego plants! This Botanicals set contains a variety of brick greenery, including cacti and colorful flowers. Each one comes in its own pot. Score a nice discount on this Lego Ideas Polaroid Camera. While it doesn't take real photos, it faithfully recreates the OneStep SX-70 and comes with a box of film and cute pictures of Lego minifigures. The iconic design of the Vespa 125 scooter is recreated in this Lego set. It comes in a beautiful pastel blue color and has accessories to boot, including a helmet and a flower vase. The Lego Architecture Great Pyramid of Giza is a truly impressive build, and now you can get it for a lower price. With 1,476 pieces included, you'll be able to recreate the Great Pyramid, surrounded by a river, buildings and foliage. The top even lifts off to reveal a detailed look at the Pyramid's interior. This is a pricy set, but there's nothing better to represent Marvel's Black Panther. Coming with 2,961 pieces, this is an awesome build, and the model even comes with poseable, jointed fingers.
Business Mayor
6 days ago
- Entertainment
- Business Mayor
This Is Your Last Chance To Get The 10 Best Video Game LEGO Sets Retiring In 2025
Video game LEGO sets are the best of two worlds, combining the creativity and tactile fun of putting together a LEGO set with the beloved characters of a favorite video game. And there are plenty of LEGO sets created in collaboration with video game companies. Fans of Animal Crossing, for instance, can play the latest game on the Nintendo Switch, then log off and continue to interact with their favorite in-game characters through one of the game's corresponding LEGO sets. But if you've been waiting to get some video game LEGO sets, you might want to make the purchase sooner rather than later. No matter how popular LEGO sets are, they do eventually retire, and for some video game sets, the retirement date is approaching fast. Some video game LEGO sets will no longer be sold as of the end of this year, making them much more difficult (and expensive) to acquire. Fans considering taking the plunge into the world of video game LEGOs will want to act fast to get some of the most awesome, adorable, and just plain fun sets before they're gone. Unless stated, all the sets below are scheduled to retire on December 31, 2025. It's also worth noting that this date is subject to change, and retirement dates occasionally get rescheduled. 10 A Small Fortnite Kit With A Large Personality The unmistakable Durrr Burger is a staple from Fortnite, and this small 193-piece LEGO set recreates it perfectly, down to the lolling tongue. The fast food chain mascot is ubiquitous in the battle royale game, even showing up as a skin featuring a large mascot head and a colorful uniform. The Durrr Burger set is one of the smaller LEGO sets retiring this year, but at $14.99, it's a great catch for any Fortnite fan. Related A leaked image reveals an upcoming Mario Kart LEGO set that will bring to life one of the franchise's most iconic (and most hated) power-up items. The small set resembles a burger with a beef patty, tomato, and cheese between two buns. A pink tongue hangs out from under the top bun, and bulging googly eyes make the character appear to look in two different directions at once. An olive skewered on a toothpick tops the burger as the final touch on this gourmet fast food LEGO kit. As an added incentive, every set includes a LEGO Fortnite Operation Brite Starter Pack in-game. 9 The Turtle Beach House (#21254) Minecraft Crafting And Rafting A LEGO and Minecraft crossover makes perfect sense, since both the video game franchise and the toy are all about building and creating new worlds out of blocks. This particular kit features an adorable beach house shaped like a turtle, with plenty of little additions for Minecraft fans. The set costs $26.99 and contains 234 pieces, which include lanterns, a crafting table, a furnace, turtle eggs, and four adorable turtles—one big and three mini. Besides a green and beige turtle house, which has a removable top for easy access, this kit also comes with a bamboo raft and a small slice of beach. Two mob figurines are also included: a Turtle Skin Warrior and a trident-wielding Drowned. This kit is one of the many Minecraft sets retiring this year, including the other animal-themed abodes, The Fox Lodge and The Frog House, so this may be the last chance you'll have to complete your animal-shaped Minecraft houses collection. 8 Tails' Adventure Boat (#76997) Sonic And Tails Gotto Go Fast In The Water, Too Hit the water in a daring escape or just a joyride with Tails' high-speed boat LEGO set. This larger retiring set includes 393 pieces and is priced at $54.99, and features an interactive sphere launcher to bring the video game into the real world. The kit can be formed into a yellow and white boat measuring 4 inches tall and 8.5 inches long, with Tails at the helm and Sonic paragliding behind. A turtle (Tocky) riding atop a mechanical shark (Jawz) joins the duo along for the ride. Also included in the kit is the iconic arch formation from the Sonic games, with three rings just waiting to be collected on top. Just line up the boat, press a lever, and launch the large orange sphere for an exciting interactive element. Win points (or collect the rings!) for getting the sphere through the arch. 7 K.K.'s Concert at the Plaza (#77052) Own The Most Iconic Building In Animal Crossing: New Horizons K.K. Slider is in town for a performance, ready to serenade the townsfolk in front of the Resident Services town hall. Recreate a piece of your Animal Crossing: New Horizons island in LEGO form with this retiring kit, which comes with 550 pieces at $79.99. The set includes some of the franchise's most recognizable characters—K.K. Slider, Isabelle, and Audie—and locations—the island plaza's Resident Services and K.K.'s camper van (which has a removable top). Related Animal Crossing fan creates a precious stop-motion animation featuring the LEGO version of the stargazing astronomy-loving owl, Celeste. K.K. comes prepared with his guitar and a microphone stand, and after the concert, the characters can head to the adorable café for a sweet treat or a cuppa. In true Animal Crossing fashion, the island flag at the Resident Services building can be customized with the additional multi-color tiles included in the set. 6 Shadow the Hedgehog (#77000) Create And Display Shadow From The Helmet Collection While some LEGO sets are interactive and meant to be played with, others, like this Sonic the Hedgehog Shadow head, are intended to be displayed as a collectible. This $69.99, 720-piece LEGO set is marked as 18+ and is meant for adults to put together and display in pride of place, either with the other Helmet collection figures or on its own. The kit is a striking recreation of Shadow's head that stands at over 8 inches tall and 7 by 8.5 wide and long, and features a determined expression and the character's iconic black and red markings and spikes. The head is displayed on a special stand that includes a nameplate, so the final product looks more like a museum artifact than a LEGO set. Hidden inside the head and the stand are several Easter eggs for Sonic franchise fans, including a green Chaos Emerald. 5 Donkey Kong & DK Jumbo (#72033) Mario Kart's DK Races To The Finish Line Now is the perfect time to snag this Donkey Kong Mario Kart LEGO set before it's gone, with a new game coming soon in both franchises. Celebrate the Nintendo Switch 2 release of Mario Kart World and Donkey Kong Bonanza with this $34.99, 387-piece LEGO kit that recreates the large ape and his vehicle of choice for the racing game. The kit includes a large buildable Donkey Kong with his barrel-like kart of choice, the DK Jumbo. The set also comes with a target, and the DK Jumbo is equipped with a turtle shell launcher that can be used to shoot the projectiles at the target in a fun, interactive twist. Watch out for stray banana peels, though, as one of these iconic Mario Kart power-ups is also included in the set. 4 King Boo's Haunted Mansion (#71436) Explore The Haunted Mario Mansion Build a huge house full of fun Easter eggs and features with this 932-piece LEGO set from the Super Mario universe. The kit costs $74.99 and includes King Boo's mansion as well as buildable figurines of a scared small boo, yellow baby Yoshi, Dry Bones, and King Boo himself. Related A leaked post made to LEGO's Mexico page appeared to show off an early look at a new collaboration with the iconic Pokémon franchise, coming in 2026. While there's plenty to do in the outside courtyard, like toppling the king from his seat atop an interactive table, the mansion also opens up to reveal a detailed interior where even more fun can be had. The mansion's interior includes a magical sofa that acts as an elevator and a bookcase that hides the special key you'll need to unlock a special treasure chest for a fun surprise. This set is intended to be played with in combination with the Mario, Luigi, and Peach figurine sets for a tabletop version of a scene from Luigi's Mansion . 3 The LEGO Version Of The Iconic Fortnite Skin (Pun Intended) Ever wonder what goes on under Peely, the anthropomorphic banana in Fortnite? Apparently, the character's squishy exterior hides a skeletal structure. This can be clearly seen in the disturbingly realistic Peely Bone Fortnite skin, which was introduced to the game in 2019 and remains an iconic look that shows the character as half-banana, half-skeleton. This 18+ LEGO collectible set, which is retiring at the end of the year, is an accurate recreation of the in-game skin. The set consists of 1414 pieces at $99.99 and has everything you need to create a highly detailed display piece recreating Peely Bone in the real world. The 14-inch-tall character is depicted holding a paint launcher and a Peely Pick Pickaxe (read: a banana on a stick), and wearing a Banana Bag back bling. Best of all, you can pose him thanks to movable arms and wrists, with that never-fading smile plastered on his face. 2 The Mighty Bowser (#71411) The Massive, Fire-Breathing Mario Baddie The Mighty Bowser is one of the most impressive Super Mario LEGO kits, and it's about to be gone from the LEGO store forever. The set is a hefty $269.99, which reflects the large number of pieces included, 2807. Despite its interactive elements, this set is marked as 18+ and is meant to be built and displayed as a cool conversation piece or a unique collectible showing your love for the franchise and character. The set shows Bowser standing at 11.5 inches tall, between two torch-topped columns. Bowser is highly poseable, with arms, hands, legs, tail, and even eyes that can all be moved and positioned to recreate dynamic scenes from the Mario games. But the character hides an even more impressive feature: its mouth can open to shoot fireballs, just like its in-game version. 1 Kapp'n's Island Boat Tour (#77048) Hop On A Boat To Explore A New Animal Crossing Island Sail off to new lands aboard Kapp'n's ship in this Animal Crossing LEGO set that's retiring at the end of the year. The 233-piece, $29.99 set depicts the sandy beach section of an AC island, complete with a beach lounger, an umbrella, and two palm coconut trees. Of course, the set also comes with Kapp'n and his boat (serenading sea shanty not included) and a figurine of the popular villager, Marshal. The kit also comes with a fishing pole, bamboo, and several marine critters to capture, including a fish and a hermit crab. It even has a tiny LEGO shovel and a rock that hides some coins under it, just like in the Nintendo game. This set is part of the larger Animal Crossing LEGO collection, which has many kits retiring at the end of the year. Although several new sets have been announced for the summer, fans may want to act fast to get all the existing Animal Crossing sets before they're gone.
