There are two wonderful things that really stand out from my childhood: Super Mario and LEGO. So you can imagine my excitement when I heard there would be new Super Mario LEGO sets created!

Luckily, my brother also knew my feelings on the matter and ordered me the starter set (affiliate link) for my birthday. It was backordered for about a month, but I finally got it…

It is BETTER than I would have ever dreamed.

The Details for LEGOphiles

• Number of pieces: 231
• 7 Action bricks to interact with Mario
• Includes Water, Grass, Lava terrain, plus brick and question blocks, Super Mario, Goomba, and Bowser Jr. minifigs, green pipes, goal pole, and other scenery bricks
• Requires 2 AAA batteries (not included)
• LEGO number 71360

This LEGO Set Really is Super

Not only is this a whole line of incredible sets (there are SO MANY) but these actually are interactive. I knew this already, and I had seen the trailer for it. But I guess my brain tried to categorize it as just being a regular LEGO set with a cheesy Mario figure that would make sounds and light up. It really is so much more than that. When they say interactive, they really mean interactive.

First of all, Mario can sense when you make him jump and makes the appropriate sounds. If you make him walk by going side to side, it sounds like he is walking. Just by moving the minifig (is it a minifig at this point?) around. Even more impressive, though, is that Mario has a scanner built in underneath him, so when he is on top of something he receives signals from whatever that piece is.

When he is on anything green, it reads to Mario as grass, and he makes the corresponding sounds. Red is lava, blue is water. Makes sense. Other tiles have special barcode type pieces such as one that is on top of this Goomba’s head.

When Mario then jumps on top of the Goomba, LEGO Mario knows that he just squished a Goomba and that gets a coin for it.

Other barcodes all read for what they are. Like, a level-beginning tile signals that you are starting a level. The LEGO set then begins a 60-second countdown and music. The barcode on the question mark blocks gives you coins, and when LEGO Mario hops onto the ending tile, he gets the familiar end-of-level victory fanfare, music, and coins.

But Wait… There’s-A More!

LEGO Super Mario’s electronic abilities don’t just stop there. Nintendo and LEGO have also created an app that corresponds to the toys. The app teaches you how to build the creations, but it you also can connect the LEGO Mario minifig to the app via Bluetooth. The app will collect coins that he gets by completing the levels that you have created.

Yes, each time you make your silly Mario LEGO minifig jump on Bowser Jr’s shell and beat him, your app records the imaginary coins earned. It is amazing.

The building of the levels is more your typical LEGO experience with being able to put things together however you want. You will just want to make sure that Mario can jump on the barcode tiles when he needs to. When you think about it (and actually dig in with the pieces), you realize that It’s kind of like a real life version of the Mario Maker games. That's not a bad thing.

(And with the Mario Kart Live: Home Circuit sets coming soon, Nintendo seems to be hopping into the third dimension in an all-new way.)

Final Thoughts on the LEGO Super Mario Set

Overall, I give this two thumbs up! I will be adding the other LEGO Super Mario (affiliate link) sets to my Christmas list for Santa too!

If you'd like to watch a quick video of me running LEGO Mario through my own silly little course, just press play:

Geek to Geek Rating: 5 out of 5

For other Super Mario goodness, be sure to check out our thoughts on the Super Mario 3D All-Stars collection, or read our review of Paper Mario: The Origami King.