Lego Super Mario Lego Sets

LEGO Super Mario

LEGO Super Mario is a licensed LEGO theme, based on the iconic Super Mario franchise from Nintendo that’s been around for decades. Started in 2020, LEGO Super Mario includes some display-ready sets but the vast majority are intended for play.

The collaboration between the LEGO Group and Nintendo came about the same year as Super Mario Bros. celebrated its 35th birthday but has continued to spawn fresh waves of sets ever since.

Super Mario LEGO sets

Some of the biggest LEGO Super Mario sets are designed to take characters and icons from the Super Mario franchise and translate them into display-ready models to put on your shelf. These range in size from the relatively smaller LEGO Super Mario Piranha Plant to the enormous and imposing buildable Bowser, complete with posable limbs and facial expressions.

However, there are also some LEGO Super Mario sets that aren’t directly based on creatures and people from the games. The LEGO Super Mario 64 Question Block might at first appear like the golden block that you can jump on in the games, but it physically folds out to reveal different Super Mario Bros. locations and references to the games.

Old-school gamers can also pick up 71374 Nintendo Entertainment System, a brick-built version of the iconic gaming console. You can see a tiny Mario fly across the screen, working his way through the very same 2D levels that you can buy as LEGO Super Mario sets.

Speaking of these more interactive builds, the rest of the LEGO Super Mario sets combine elements of both the digital video games and traditional LEGO sets, allowing builders to put together real-life versions of 2D Super Mario levels, from the green grasslands to the yellow deserts. There are even more specific location depicted, such as Peach and Bowser’s Castles and Donkey Kong's Tree House. .

To really capture the interactive element of the sets, some features also carry through from the video games. You can use the buildable figures of Super Mario characters to interact with sensors within sets, ‘playing’ your way through levels, losing lives when you touch brick-built lava, and even defeating baddies. For example, the scanners within the builds can detect the colour of red bricks, recognise that it’s ‘lava’, and any character that comes into contact with it will lose a life.

You can build on these features as you gather more sets, adding question blocks, power-ups, and Warp Pipes to interact more. Any and all of these actions will produce sound effects. .

Your actions interacting with different blocks can all be tracked via the official app, thanks to the Bluetooth connectivity within the sensors. Specific challenges can also be carried out via the app, as well as taking photos and reading digital instructions for any of the LEGO Super Mario sets.

LEGO Super Mario course builder

Of course, the more sets you have, the more levels you can play through. The best place to start is with the LEGO Super Mario starter courses. You can choose from a few different types, depending on who your favourite character is: 71360 Adventures with Mario Starter Course, 71403 Adventures with Peach Starter Course, and 71387 Adventures with Luigi Starter Course.

From there, the LEGO Super Mario theme is packed full of expansion packs, expanding the characters you have access to, the locations you can play in, and the complexity of the levels. There’s even integration with some of the ‘display’ LEGO Super Mario sets, with the towering buildable Bowser counting as a Big Boss. Mario can both lose lives and attack the enormous villain, adding some extra flair to a brick-built play session.

LEGO Super Mario course builder

Although LEGO Super Mario has never sparked any minifigures based on the characters, there are plenty of buildable figures that can play through the levels. Outside of the core trio of Mario, Luigi, and Peach that come with the starter packs, 2023 also saw the introduction of Donkey Kong in 71424 Donkey Kong's Tree House.

LEGO Super Mario characters

(Yoshi, Toad, Character Packs and so on)

The Kong dynasty rapidly expanded in the same wave, bringing with him Dixie and Diddy Kong at the same time. However, these buildable characters are not the same as the playable LEGO Super Mario figures of Mario, Luigi, Peach, and Donkey Kong. )

Instead, the Super Mario LEGO theme has expanded over the years to include a number of brick-built characters that don’t have the same interactive capabilities. This includes some fan favourites like Yoshi, Toad, Toadette, and the Kong clan, as well as some more niche appearances that joined the theme thanks to the LEGO Super Mario character packs. There have been two series of the LEGO Super Mario Character Packs, introducing 20 unique characters to the theme. )

That includes the colourful personalities of Huckit Crab, Spiny Cheep Cheep, Ninji, Foo, Parachute Goomba, Para-Beetle, Poison Mushroom, Thwimp, Fly Guy, and Bone Goomba, to name but a few. )

With more than four decades worth of Super Mario games to choose from, there’s plenty more inspiration for more sets, characters, and play-ready builds for the future. )

FAQs: How do you build LEGO Super Mario?

LEGO Super Mario works just like other LEGO sets during the build process, with detailed instructions to show you how to build them. Many of them have extra interactive features, such as blocks that move and different places for the characters to perch and score points.

How does LEGO Super Mario work?

The interactive Super Mario figures are key to how LEGO Super Mario sets come to life. Sets within the brick-built figures track interactions with other blocks, losing lives when they come into contact with danger and gaining Power Ups, for example.

How many LEGO Super Mario sets are there?

There are more than 150 LEGO Super Mario sets in total – and counting.

How do you use the LEGO Super Mario app?

The LEGO Super Mario app connects via Bluetooth to the brick-built characters, tracking points and allowing you to unlock extra features for some sets too. You can also access digital building instructions and take photos from within the app.