LEGO Donkey Kong wants to be your next retro arcade set
The LEGO Group’s next retro arcade set could take inspiration from a Nintendo classic thanks to the latest LEGO Ideas project to reach 10,000 votes.
By If You Build It’s Donkey Kong project has taken a little over two years to rack up enough votes to reach the review stage, and now qualifies for the second 2024 review (alongside 28 other potential models). That means it was conceived and submitted long before last year’s 10323 PAC-MAN Arcade hit shelves, but in essence it guns for the same thing: a brick-built version of a retro arcade game.
While the LEGO Group has already tackled Donkey Kong as part of its LEGO Super Mario theme, this project specifically recreates the original DK games that introduced a certain moustachioed plumber to the world (though at the time he was called ‘Jumpman’ rather than Mario). The 1981 arcade game is considered by many to be the first true platformer, and tasks players with jumping over barrels and climbing ladders to save Pauline.
This LEGO Ideas project captures the spirit of that gameplay loop with a huge brick-built Donkey Kong, platforms, ladders, barrels and a Pauline minifigure. Curiously absent from proceedings is Jumpman himself (presumably thanks to the lack of an actual Mario LEGO minifigure), but otherwise all the hallmarks of the game are here – including the score meter, Nintendo and Donkey Kong logos and even a bonus score meter.
It all gives off great Donkey Kong vibes, but will that be enough to convince the LEGO Group to release it as an official Ideas set? Given this seems like ripe fruit for a LEGO Icons or Nintendo model, it’s the kind of thing you could imagine the designers in Billund already floating around the table, which could either help or hinder its chances. We’ll find out come the results of the second 2024 review in early 2025.
Check out the full roster of LEGO Ideas projects in contention in this round (so far) below. The qualifying window for the second 2024 review will close in early September.
LEGO Ideas projects in the second 2024 review
| Number | LEGO Ideas project | LEGO Ideas user | Date qualified |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Claw Machine | 2A2A | May 8, 2024 |
| 2 | Wallace & Gromit – A Grand Day Out | Vaicko | May 11, 2024 |
| 3 | Pioneer CDJ 2000 Nexus Multi Player | Tomasso | May 18, 2024 |
| 4 | Impression Sunrise – Monet | HunshuiMOYU | May 21, 2024 |
| 5 | The Loneliness of the Voyage – NASA’s Voyager Mission | CuteHackler036 | May 24, 2024 |
| 6 | Humpback Whale Breach | 2 by 4 | May 26, 2024 |
| 7 | Tintin – Space Rocket | tkel86 | June 3, 2024 |
| 8 | The Iron Giant in the Forest | hachiroku24 | June 4, 2024 |
| 9 | Tetris Solid | victorvey300 | June 5, 2024 |
| 10 | Working Image Projector “Magic Lantern” | Norders | June 8, 2024 |
| 11 | Popcorn Machine | dimexart | June 19, 2024 |
| 12 | Arsenal F.C. – The Invincibles | PetaS | June 19, 2024 |
| 13 | Sony Walkman | Jimmi-DK | June 27, 2024 |
| 14 | Hydroelectric Power Plant | Baron von Barron | June 30, 2024 |
| 15 | Floating Sea Otter | HisBrickMaterials | June 30, 2024 |
| 16 | Avatar: The Last Airbender | Firecracker_ | July 5, 2024 |
| 17 | Blacksmith – Wild West | llucky | July 6, 2024 |
| 18 | Bluey!! | Monkey Scout | July 8, 2024 |
| 19 | New Holland CR Combine | YELLOW style | July 24, 2024 |
| 20 | Wednesday: The Room and The Balcony | Airbricks95 | July 25, 2024 |
| 21 | Lisbon Tram (Elétrico 28) | Ezequiel Alabaca | July 26, 2024 |
| 22 | Market Village | J.K.Brick | July 28, 2024 |
| 23 | Modular Post Office in Neoclassical Style | Ubertoys | July 29, 2024 |
| 24 | Working River Rapids Ride – Fairground Rafting Coaster | Baron von Barron | August 2, 2024 |
| 25 | Italian Riviera | LEGOParadise | August 6, 2024 |
| 26 | Vintage Radio | dimexart | August 10, 2024 |
| 27 | Snoopy – Campfire | bossofdos64 | August 11, 2024 |
| 28 | Mallard | AmbientFive23 | August 14, 2024 |
| 29 | Donkey Kong | By If You Build It | August 15, 2024 |
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- I like to think of myself as a journalist first, LEGO fan second, but we all know that’s not really the case. Journalism does run through my veins, though, like some kind of weird literary blood – the sort that will no doubt one day lead to a stress-induced heart malfunction. It’s like smoking, only worse. Thankfully, I get to write about LEGO until then.
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