LEGO Pokemon Smart Play Hands-On Preview: What The Smart Brick Was Made For

Introduced during the Consumer Electronics Show at the beginning of the year, the LEGO Smart Brick is a high-tech 2x4 LEGO block that contains a tiny chip that's no bigger than a single LEGO stud. This little chip interacts with LEGO Smart Tags; 1x1 tile pieces that cause the Smart Brick to produce lights and sounds based on the image presented on the Smart Tag.

Honestly, I've not been the biggest proponent of LEGO's Smart Brick technology. I still believe the LEGO Star Wars Smart Play range was an incredibly lackluster debut for the admittedly intriguing toy technology, with the wave containing some disappointingly stripped-back vehicle designs and some fairly one-note play features for a very premium price. But all that's to say, I was blown away by LEGO's new Pokemon Smart Play range.

The Latest LEGO Pokemon Wave Finally Fulfills the Smart Play Promise

Just prior to a SXSW presentation, LEGO gave a handful of press early access to a new wave of LEGO Pokemon Smart Play sets ahead of their August 1 release (pre-orders are open now). A total of 12 sets were revealed, 2 of which were 'All-In-One' sets that included the Smart Brick itself, and 10 of which were Smart Play-compatible. The sets are as follows:

• LEGO Pokemon SMART Play: Training House with Pikachu (72164) All-in-one set
  • $69.99, 400 Pieces, Comes with 1 Smart Brick

• LEGO Pokemon SMART Play: Charizard vs. Jolteon Ultimate Battle (72167) All-in-one set
  • $119.99, 751 Pieces, Comes with 2 Smart Bricks

• LEGO Pokemon SMART Play: Berry Bash with Bulbasaur and Bidoof (72155)
  • $19.99, 240 Pieces

• LEGO Pokemon SMART Play: Trainer's Buggy Adventure with Squirtle (72156)
  • $29.99, 320 Pieces

• LEGO Pokemon SMART Play: Charmander and Geodude's Cavern Clash (72157)
  • $19.99, 198 Pieces

• LEGO Pokemon SMART Play: Sprigatito, Fuecoco and Quaxly Battle (72158)
  • $34.99, 313 Pieces

• LEGO Pokemon SMART Play: Jigglypuff Concert (72159)
  • $14.99, 88 Pieces

• LEGO Pokemon SMART Play: Drone Search for Mythical Mew (72161)
  • $49.99, 429 Pieces

• LEGO Pokemon SMART Play: Eevee and Lapras's Treasure Hunt (72162)
  • $59.99, 623 Pieces

• LEGO Pokemon SMART Play: Mewtwo's Lab Break (72163)
  • $69.99, 605 Pieces

• LEGO Pokemon SMART Play: Umbreon vs. Garchomp Championship Battle (72165)
  • $79.99 831 Pieces

• LEGO Pokemon SMART Play: Cubone and Gengar's Spooky Showdown (72166)
  • $89.99, 782 Pieces

Smart Bricks obtained through previously released LEGO Star Wars sets are fully compatible with these upcoming LEGO Pokemon Smart Play sets, they just need to be updated via the mobile app.

(LEGO) Pokemon! Oh, You're My Best Friend

A good portion of my hands-on demo with the new LEGO Pokemon Smart Play sets revolved around the Training House with Pikachu set, and for good reason. As well as being the more affordable of the two All-In-One Pokemon LEGO sets, this set also acts as a natural showcase for this new wave's core Smart Play features.

It all begins with placing the Smart Brick in the stomach of the Pokemon, in this case, Pikachu. Immediately, I saw a noticeable improvement over the initial Star Wars LEGO Smart Play range as Pikachu sprung to life. While it's still only rudimentary lights and noises, the way these Smart Brick features are implemented in this wave is, at least in my opinion, much more instantly rewarding, with the synthesized sounds at least coming across as close approximations of the Pokemon it's trying to capture. The same couldn't really be said for most of the LEGO Star Wars Smart Play sound effects.

Once the Smart Brick is attached, Pikachu can then be interacted with in a variety of ways. Moving it across a surface will produce footstep noises, touching its stomach makes Pikachu giggle, feeding it an object with a Smart Tag on will result in an eating noise, and shaking the Pokemon charges up a special move based on its specific type, which in the case of Pikachu is a lightning attack. All 20 Smart Play Pokemon have unique sound profiles powered by the Smart Tags included in their set. For instance, Mewtwo has a deeper register and makes hovering noises, while swooshing Charizard around produces wind sound effects.

The LEGO Pikachu Training House set also comes with a few play features that are wholly unique to it. Pikachu can hide behind some bushes at the side of the set, and the user needs to throw the included brick-built Poke Ball at a tile in order to "catch" it, which produces a green light on the Smart Brick and plays a fun little victory tune. Most of the sets in this wave have their own distinct, built-in play features, some of which are Smart Tag-based and some of which are built physically into the set using LEGO pieces. The Lapras and Eevee set, for example, includes a Smart Tag-powered coin collecting minigame, while the Mew set has a play feature where you need to drop a LEGO piece onto a lever to fling open a panel revealing the fan-favorite legendary Pokemon.

"You're The Trainer Now"

But the real fun begins when you put the LEGO Pikachu above a Smart Tag piece located next to a brick-built training dummy. A brief, cheerful tune can be heard, and Pikachu is now in 'Trainer' mode, where users manually tap the model against an object to produce a punching sound effect. Repeating this several times in a row will play a high-pitched 'ding', which means that the Pokemon's attack level has been raised.

Training then feeds directly into the most ambitious feature of this LEGO Pokemon Smart Play wave, and the thing that really sets it apart from previous LEGO Smart Play sets. Shaking two LEGO Pokemon with Smart Bricks inside of them begins a Pokemon battle. Music signifies the start of the fight, and both users need to physically move their LEGO Pokemon models around a space to avoid attacks, push them forward to deliver a fast attack, and shake them to release their special elemental attack. The Pokemon's health is indicated by the Smart Brick, which changes color from green to red as the Pokemon loses HP.

The more the user has trained with their Pokemon before a battle, the stronger it will be and the more likely it is to win. That said, classic Pokemon type strengths and weaknesses are built into this feature, so a Squirtle, for instance, is going to be at a natural disadvantage in a battle against Pikachu. A Pokemon's elemental type is shown on its unique Smart Tag, which also lists its canon Pokedex number, which is a really nice touch.

Removing the Smart Brick from a Pokemon will reset its health and attack level.

The training and battle play features offer an impressive level of interaction that just wasn't present in the first LEGO Star Wars Smart Play range, and while there were certainly some technical hiccups during our demonstration, the feature was so inherently fun that those issues were quickly overshadowed as soon as it started working again. On top of these ambitious Smart Play features, most of these new LEGO Pokemon sets also have some great non-tech play features built-in, like joint articulation. The official tagline of this LEGO Pokemon Smart Play wave is "You're the trainer now," and I was genuinely surprised at just how well these sets paved the way for that universal fantasy.

A Big Charizard-Sized Leap in the Right Direction

Generally speaking, this upcoming LEGO Pokemon range is much more in line with what I, and many other LEGO fans, were expecting from Smart Play. But it's still not perfect. One glaring issue that can't be ignored is that many of these LEGO Pokemon models look awkwardly blocky. While that's to be expected to a certain degree with LEGO, the need to incorporate the chunky 2x4 Smart Brick leaves some sets looking a bit too bulky. That's especially the case with smaller models like Pikachu, Squirtle, and Charmander, with most of their body being taken up by the Smart Brick. For the most part, that isn't a major issue with larger models though, with Mewtwo, Charizard, and Garchomp all having incredibly detailed designs that some will definitely consider display-worthy.

Additionally, though it's a marked improvement over its implementation in the Star Wars range, the LEGO Smart Play technology itself still feels a bit too rudimentary given the higher price point of many of these sets. The sound effects are definitely a better fit for a mumbling Pikachu or Jigglypuff than a soaring X-Wing, but it's still not the actual sound effects or the official Pokemon battle music, and given just how iconic these pieces of audio are, that's a noticeable shortcoming, at least for adult LEGO fans.