Lego’s Donkey Kong arcade machine lets Mario jump endless barrels — Miyamoto is reportedly happy - The Verge

What the report says

The Verge reports that Lego is preparing to release an official Donkey Kong arcade cabinet set on August 1, priced at $200 in the U.S. The set recreates the classic Nintendo arcade machine as a mechanical Lego model, with a working joystick, a jump button for Jumpman — the character later known as Mario — and a lever-driven barrel system designed to mimic the original game’s obstacle-dodging action.

According to The Verge’s Sean Hollister, Lego designer Carl Merriam helped develop the set after working on other nostalgia-focused Lego releases, including the Nintendo Game Boy and Piranha Plant. Merriam said the model does not operate exactly like the video game, since Jumpman cannot climb to the top through normal play, but it does include a functional loop: pulling a lever releases barrels that roll down the structure while the player tries to make Jumpman jump over them.

The article says the barrel mechanism uses a stack-and-pump design that can hold 20 barrels, with several rolling through the playfield at once before being collected and recirculated. Merriam told The Verge that tuning the barrels so they moved slowly without jamming was the hardest part, and that the set reuses a barrel element Lego first introduced for pirate sets in 1989. Nintendo also reportedly asked Lego to make poison barrels heavier, which the designers did by adding minifigure heads inside.

The release is part of Lego’s broader push into premium sets aimed at adult fans and collectors, especially those tied to gaming and pop-culture nostalgia. Merriam said he had not met Shigeru Miyamoto, but had heard the Mario and Donkey Kong creator was pleased with the final design.