A History Of LEGO Games

Erin gives an extensive history of LEGO video games.

- Erin McCallister

If asked what a LEGO game is, most would respond with something along the lines of “a collect-a-thon developed by Traveller’s Tales, now known as TT Games, that loosely retells existing stories in a cutesy, brick world.” Those people would, primarily, be correct, at least by modern standards. For the past 15 years, TT has released amazing hits centering around these LEGO game adaptations of classic titles, such as Star Wars and both DC and Marvel comics. Today, LEGO games are a nighunstoppable force and a staple of adventure games. However, it wasn’t always this way.

The first LEGO-branded videogame wasn’t even an adventure game. Instead, The LEGO Group and SEGA developed a puzzle title for the SEGA Pico in 1995 to Japanese audiences, titled LEGO Fun to Build. Arguably, a puzzle game on the primarily education-focused console was a perfect choice for a brand of childrens’ interlocking brick toys, but Fun to Build never made its way outside of Japan. Not even Denmark, the home of The LEGO Group, received any official distribution, due to the general failure of the Pico’s sales in European markets.