After the surprising announcement by Lego and Nintendo in March that the two companies were working on interactive Super Mario Lego play sets, we are finally getting details about the actual sets and how the interactive video game elements work in real life. Lego and Nintendo also announced pricing and release dates for the sets, which will be released on August 1st.
The cornerstone of the Super Mario Lego sets is the Adventures with Mario Starter Course, which costs $ 59.99 and includes the interactive, Bluetooth-enabled Mario character. In addition to smartphone connectivity, the character has LCD displays on Mario's eyes, mouth and stomach to show reactions and gameplay elements, as well as a speaker for music and sound effects. There are also sensors for recognizing colors, movements and special “action stones” that can interact with the figure in different ways. (However, Mario itself is battery powered, for anyone hoping for a USB-C plumber.)
The adventures with Mario starter course
Photo: Lego / Nintendo
With the base set, players can complete their own modular course while collecting digital coins and going through their own Mario level (from a whistle to a checkered flag at the end), fighting Goomba and Bowser Jr. characters. As part of the experience, there's also a Lego Super Mario app that lets you track the results and help players design new courses.
Building on the starter course set are the first two expansion sets that add new challenges and characters to players that they can add to their courses (think of this as an IRL DLC for your IRL Mario game). The first is a Piranha Plant Power Slide expansion set for $ 29.99, which (as the name suggests) adds a pair of Piranha Plants, a Koopa Troopa, and new gameplay elements to the mix. The second is the largest of the first three sets: the $ 99.99 Bowser Castle Boss Battle expansion set that allows players to battle Bowser themselves.
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The Piranha Plant Power Slide extension set
Photo: Lego / Nintendo
The two expansion sets are also completely modular, so that players can expand the sets as desired and integrate them into their courses. And it is quite possible that Lego and Nintendo will offer further expansion sets in the future.
Pre-orders for the Super Mario Lego Starter Course Set begin today. All three sets are scheduled to start on August 1st.
