LEGO and Nintendo unveil Super Mario Adventures starter course and Bowser’s Castle expansion set [News]

LEGO and Nintendo have unveiled the first wave of sets in the Super Mario theme, with the core set being 71360 Adventures with Mario. The 231-piece starter course comes with the Mario “digi-fig,” buildable Bowser Jr. and a Goomba, and will retail for US $59.99 | CAD 69.99 with pre-orders beginning today for general availability starting August 1st.

LEGO and Nintendo have also revealed two expansion sets, Bowser’s Castle Boss Battle which will retail for US $99.99 | €59.99 and the Piranha Plant Power Slide which retails for US $29.99 | €29.99.

Revealed last month, LEGO Super Mario is a product line that features an interactive LEGO Mario figure who collects coins in levels created with physical LEGO bricks. The oversized “digi-fig” Mario figure contains a screen and speaker and reacts to the level built around it.

The base set in the product line, 71360 Adventures with Mario, is touted as a starter set. The 231-piece starter course is built from modular sections that can be created into custom levels. The set comes with the Mario “digi-fig,” buildable Bowser Jr. and a Goomba.

Also revealed today are two previously unknown expansion sets. LEGO Digital Designer Jonathan Bennink alluded to many expansion packs on the way, and the first does not disappoint.

Bowser’s Castle Boss Battle expansion set is the largest LEGO Super Mario set yet revealed and features the titular castle, another Mario figure and a buildable Bowser, Dry Bones, and Boo.

The second expansion set is the Piranha Plant Power Slide, a smaller set featuring a Piranha Plant, a Koopa Troopa and another Goomba. The set will retail for US $29.99 | €29.99, and looks to include a unique “action brick” with the LEGO Mario figure that are unique to each set.

Lastly, LEGO.com has uploaded a listing for 40414 Monty Mole & Super Mushroom Expansion Set, which appears to be an upcoming gift-with-purchase likely to be timed with the launch of the core set on August 1st. We will update this article with an image and more information as it becomes available.

Also included in the announcement was mention of the LEGO Super Mario app which tracks game scores and provides digital building instructions, likely pairing with the Mario “digi-fig” via Bluetooth.

71360 Adventures with Mario (US $59.99) and both expansion packs are available for pre-orders today with shipping and general availability beginning August 1st. An expanded photo gallery and the press release from LEGO are included below.


The LEGO Group and Nintendo lift the lid on exciting new LEGO Super Mario details; preorders begin today

The LEGO Super Mario Starter Course and the first of a range of LEGO Super Mario Expansion Sets now revealed, underpinning the new physical play experience that brings Super Mario to life in the world of LEGO bricks.

BILLUND, April 7, 2020: The LEGO Group today announced pre-order availability of the LEGO Super Mario Adventures with Mario Starter Course. Fans can now secure their own set of this upcoming and highly anticipated new product line, the result of a unique partnership with Nintendo. The new LEGO Super Mario product line features an interactive LEGO Mario figure that collects coins in real-life game levels created with LEGO bricks. Neither a video game nor a traditional LEGO brick-based set, it promises to change the way people interact with Super Mario in the physical world and engage in LEGO experiences.

Disclosed for the first time today by LEGO Design Lead Jonathan Bennink, fans will be able to begin exploring the fun-packed LEGO Super Mario universe with the Adventures with Mario Starter Course. This entry point set to the world of LEGO Super Mario is needed to unlock expansion sets and features seven action bricks for different interactions with the LEGO Mario figure that are only included in this set.

The LEGO Mario figure itself has LCD screens in his eyes, mouth and belly to display a wide variety of instant reactions to movement, color and action bricks. Also included is a speaker that plays iconic sounds and music from the video game series.

“Super Mario has continued to appear, always in a form adapted to the current hardware of the time.” said Takashi Tezuka, Executive Officer and Game Producer of Nintendo Co., Ltd. “I am thankful that in this project with the LEGO Group, Mario is jumping out of the digital world of game consoles and smart devices, and we are able to bring him into the world with a new, physical type of Mario play. It’s very exciting to think of LEGO Mario becoming a real friend to children and to picture them playing in their very own Mario world that they imagined themselves.”

Kids aged 6+ can build levels and play their own way, with action-packed challenges having lots of creative fun in a highly interactive experience. LEGO Mario is used to collect virtual coins as he runs and jumps from the Start Pipe to the Goal Pole via LEGO bricks, cloud platform, and clashes with the Goomba figure and Bowser Jr. figure.

The Starter Course can be combined with LEGO Super Mario Expansion Sets, which each unlock unique challenges and characters to play with and against friends. The first Expansion Sets, also revealed today, include the Piranha Plant Power Slide Expansion Set and the Bowser’s Castle Boss Battle Expansion Set. And because the products all include modular builds, fans are fully in charge of creating exactly the LEGO level course they want to see Mario come to life in.

Fans will also love the free LEGO Super Mario app by the LEGO Group, a supporting feature to further enhance the physical play experience. It keeps track of scores to encourage continuous rebuilding, and it provides digital building instructions with zoom and rotate viewing tools to make building easier, suggests other creative ways to build and play, and is a safe forum to share ideas with friends.

The update was shared in a video posted by the LEGO Group and Nintendo earlier today and on the LEGO Super Mario website at www.LEGO.com/SuperMario.

“We were thrilled to see the global reaction to news of LEGO Super Mario,” said Jonathan Bennink, Digital Design Lead on LEGO Super Mario, the LEGO Group. “Fans have been keen to learn more, so I am pleased that today we were able to reveal more details about this exciting new collaboration that has led to a reimagination of the LEGO building experience and an entirely new way to play inspired by the beloved video game icon, Super Mario. We can’t wait to see fans get creative and challenge each other with this highly engaging and social play experience.”

The full LEGO Super Mario assortment will launch Aug. 1st 2020, but fans can now pre-order the LEGO Super Mario Adventures with Mario Starter Course on www.lego.com/supermario-startercourse and from select leading retailers around the world.

The recommended retail price for the Starter Course is 59.99 EUR/USD, while the recommended retail price for the two expansion sets will be 29.99 USD/EUR for the Piranha Plant Power Slide Expansion Set and 99.99 USD/EUR for the Bowser’s Castle Boss Battle Expansion Set.



Make sure to check out the other LEGO Summer 2020 product reveals:

3 comments on “LEGO and Nintendo unveil Super Mario Adventures starter course and Bowser’s Castle expansion set [News]

  1. Patrick Donovan

    Not really sold on any of this – but we’ll see what the kids think! I did find this aspect interesting though: “LEGO Super Mario app… and is a safe forum to share ideas with friends.” !

  2. Chris Martin

    If you think about it, Mario Maker 2 is $60 and offers a ton of content for kids to design and play. In contrast, if you were to purchase all the current starter and expansion packs it would run you $190 for kids to have some fun with. Not worth the investment.

Comments are closed.