The reason Rick was able to make the toy work with Super Mario Bros. is that the figure features an accelerometer, gyroscope and Bluetooth chip to allow it to communicate with the different physical and digital elements that make up the Lego Super Mario sets. All told, the project took @r1ckp approximately four hours. The most complicated part was figuring out the toy’s Bluetooth protocol. They say they plan to share their code once they’ve had a chance to clean it up.
We can’t wait to see if this inspires a new category of Super Mario Bros. speedruns. After all, if someone can beat Dark Souls 3 with a Guitar Hero controller, why shouldn’t the community try to take on a Mario game using an effigy of the mustachioed man himself?