A full set of rare Super Mario Land figures from the 1980s has just been 3D scanned and preserved, ensuring this obscure piece of Mario merchandise isn't lost forever.
If you've been following Time Extension (or Nintendo Life) over the last few years, you may have seen us covering the work of Keshi Corner in the past.
The brainchild of the video game collector and archivist MrTalida, it is a noble attempt to document and preserve obscure video game-themed toys (referred to as "keshi gomu"), which were released in Japan throughout the 80s and 90s, and typically distributed through "gashapon" machines in capsules or inside “shokugan” (candy toy) blind boxes
In the past, we've seen them successfully collect and 3D scan incredible sets of Super Mario Bros, Zelda, Donkey Kong Country, and Street Fighter II, allowing fans of these series to download and print these toys for themselves to paint and display or to digitally manipulate and animate.
But now it appears they're back with another set — this time based on the 1989 Game Boy classic that saw everyone's favourite Italian plumber travelling to Sarasaland.
According to MrTalida, there are 21 pieces in total in this set, which includes three versions of Mario, a figure of Daisy, and various bad guys like bombshell Koopas, Gaos, Pionpis, and Gunions. Some of these are exceptionally difficult and costly to acquire today (especially in good condition), with the collector informing us that a complete Tatanga and spaceship, for example, can sometimes sell for over $100 online.
To celebrate the completion of the set, MrTalida has put together an amazing animation using the scans of the figures, showing some of what is possible for those among you who are particularly creative.
This animation shows a Mario keshi escaping from a Game Boy and getting into all kinds of scrapes before landing in the middle of a large diorama.
You can grab the .stl files for the figures now on Archive.org.