Review: 71403 Adventures with Peach
Posted by benbacardi,
It's been two years since the launch of LEGO's Super Mario theme and the eponymous plumber with 71360 Adventures with Mario, providing a myriad of play sets designed to work with the app and the battery-powered figure. A year later, the famous green brother joined the range in 71378 , along with some Luigi-specific sets, and co-operative play was added to the app.
This year, another well-known figure from the Mushroom Kingdom joins the lineup, with 71403 Adventures with Peach! The previous two starter courses were designed to provide everything you need to get going with the range, even if you don't have the previous sets, and Peach is no different, and is in fact the largest of the three.
Summary
71403 Adventures with Peach, 354 pieces.
£54.99 / $59.99 / €59.99 | 15.5p/16.9c/16.9c per piece.
Buy at LEGO.com »
A great addition to the Super Mario starting lineup.
- Princess Peach!
- New iconic baddies
- Fun game mechanics
- As always, relatively expensive
The set was provided for review by LEGO. All opinions expressed are those of the author.
Princess Peach
Mario set the standard for the design of the over-sized electronic figures back in 2020, and Luigi and Princess Peach followed suit. As is the case in the in-game world, Luigi is slightly taller than Mario, and Peach is taller still. She has the same barcode and colour scanner between her legs, articulated arms in the style of traditional minifigures, and fully moulded head and hair.
Blue earrings attach to either side of her head, and a new 2x2 crown piece sits atop her hair. The screens that form her eyes are a different shape—more feminine with printed eyelashes—but the screen on her chest is the same. When not showing anything in particular, it depicts the jewel that hangs on her necklace.
Both Mario and Luigi's overalls are a separate piece, sliding up to cover the battery compartment door, and provide a way to change them into different outfits. Peach doesn't wear overalls, however, so the detachable piece forms the skirt of her pink dress.
Adventures with Peach
With only five pieces making up Peach herself, the remainder of the 350+ parts build the starter course, complete with the same warp pipe and finish flag that are included in the two previous sets. Unlike with Luigi, the start tile is not unique and triggers the same in-game music during play as Mario.
The course includes a question mark block, much like the other two starter sets, but this time it has wings. Jumping on top of it will yield a random gift, such as coins or a power-up.
The instructions walk you through each small build, followed by a short instructional video detailing how Peach is intended to interact this section of the course. This small table with a chequered table cloth, a pair of teacups, and a vase seems to serve as purely decoration, although lying nearby Peach can find a large red fruit.
Scanning the fruit pops up a picture of an apple on Peach's display, which she can eat by leaning forward to munch on it a few times. Or she can hang on to it, to do something with it later.
Continuing round the course, Peach comes across a large brick-built present, with a suspicious lever protruding out the bottom…
… which will knock the top off the present and expel a smaller gift box, if jumped on hard enough. The lever is not long, and the present quite tall, so it did take considerable force and multiple tries to get the gift box out. This is actually a bit of a strange mechanic - scanning the box by itself does nothing but show an empty box on Peach's display. She has to get something first, such as the apple from earlier, and put it in the box (which earns her a coin). Then either she can take it out, or another playing in multiplayer mode can, earning themselves another coin. This wasn't obvious from the build instructions, but I found a new section of the app called "Gifts and Fruits" which had a series of instructional videos.
After her brief picnic, it's time for a play in the park. A brick-built swing hangs between two tree trunks, watched over by a little red bird. The seat looks comically oversized, but it has to hold Peach (or Mario or Luigi), who is also comically oversized!
Sitting her on the swing, where she scans the tile on the seat, and she'll collect coins as you use the handle on the left to swing her back and forth. Swinging up and over the top will earn her even more!
No Super Mario course would be complete without a friendly face to meet along the way, and here we have the first appearance of a Yellow Toad. I think they've done a fantastic job of converting the iconic Mario characters into the LEGO style, and Toad certainly looks happy with it too! Peach can interact with him to get a heart or some coins, or give him the apple she picked up earlier.
The course was looking a bit too easy so far, I think - no peril at all. That all changes with the introduction of red lava plates, and a small Lava Bubble sitting on a platform. This makes great use of transparent bright orange 1x1 parts to look suitably firey. Peach is unable to walk on the red plates unless she has previously consumed an apple.
If Peach jumps on the once again conveniently-located lever, the platform flips up and launches the Lava Bubble off, hopefully revealing the tile on its back which Peach can scan to defeat the creature and earn more coins.
Finally, the big baddie of the starter course is Lemmy Koopa, sitting atop a small white castle tower and holding the wand which he uses to shoot fireballs at our heroes. The simply way in which the handful of parts have captured his colourful spiky hair is brilliant; he is easily my favourite part of the set.
If the course is set up in the right way, Peach should be able to launch the Lava Bubble off the platform and into the tower, causing Lemmy to fall to the ground exposing the barcode on his back, allowing Peach to repeatedly scan it until he is beaten.
Conclusion
It's great to see LEGO expanding the range of characters that you can play as beyond the two traditional plumbers - it would have been very easy for them to stop after Mario and Luigi and only produce expansion sets from now on. Peach is a nice change, and opens up the possibility for a wider variety of courses as shown by 71407 Cat Peach Suit and Frozen Tower and 71408 Princess Peach's Castle.
This starter course contains all the elements you need to get started, but is also different enough from the previous two so as not to be too repetitive if you already own them. The electronic character definitely drives the price of the starter set up, but is not uncommon to see Mario or Luigi discounted, so I suspect Peach will soon be available for less than RRP somewhere.
As always, my children helped with the build, and I handed it over to them to play with as they wanted. They spent considerable time bouncing Peach through the course, and doing the two-player version with Luigi too; when two characters are connected to the app, their screens change to show a tie around their necks, which I believe is a callback to some early Mario multiplayer games.
The Super Mario sets are expensive, there's no getting around that - the combination of the licence and the electronic elements do not make for a cheap set. However, Peach is a great addition to the lineup as both an expansion to an existing collection or as a way into the game. I'm glad to see LEGO continuing to develop the theme!
71403 Adventures with Peach will be available from LEGO.com from the 1st of August for £54.99 / $59.99 / 59.99€.
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23 comments on this article
All we need now is a Toad character figure and we'll have the full playable cast of Super Mario 3D World.
No Lemmy’s Balls?
As someone who grew up watching The Super Mario Bros. Super Show!, I prefer the redhead version of Princess Toadstool. But looks like a fun set, regardless of her majesty's hair color!
@MeisterDad said:
"No Lemmy’s Balls?"
Tsk tsk, not in a 6+ set!
One question I hoped to see answered but didn't - are the suits designed for Mario and Luigi compatible with Peach (and vice versa)? Or is there something on either the costume or Peach figure which prevents that?
@MeisterDad said:
"No Lemmy’s Balls?"
That would be Overkill.
Oh, not that Lemmy...
Good review! This might be the nicest looking starter course yet—instead of just disconnected platforms and biomes, this one has a nice sort of garden theme that should go well with the Peach's Castle set.
I'm also glad that we're getting more Koopalings—before this wave we only had Larry Koopa, but between this and two of the other sets coming out in August, four out of seven of them will be available! Lemmy looks great and I'm impressed with how well they've adapted the smallest of the Koopalings to Lego, especially considering the challenge posed by his large, multicolored hair!
This seems great but I would adore if minifigure sets come as well.
This set is missing lots of spaghetti.
@SuperSlacker said:
"One question I hoped to see answered but didn't - are the suits designed for Mario and Luigi compatible with Peach (and vice versa)? Or is there something on either the costume or Peach figure which prevents that? "
I have a review of Cat Peach due soon, and I touch on this there. Yes they can share costumes, and they understand each other's.
Scary stuff.....Peach Time!
https://www.youtube.com/shorts/FjXpXOIUO8k
Great review! My kids want all of the Koopalings so we will probably get this at some point. I’m glad to see them continue to make new interesting sets. Our ultimate wish is the Odyssey ship, so fingers crossed for the future.
The Odyssey would be cool--but not sure how well it'd work as a Lego Mario set. I could see them doing it for Icons, though.
How many of the Koopa kids have we seen so far? Would be fun to have them all.
It is 11:59 PM. I am closing my local Lego Store for the night.
As I turn off all of the lights and proceed to lock the door, my eyes drift towards the display case with 71403 Adventures With Peach. The deactivated Peach figure stares at me with her abyss-like eyes, the eldritch powers contained within her mere ABS plastic shell eager to unleash upon this mortal realm.
Sadly, as the Brickset review for this set made no mention of the hollow deathly voids that comprise deactivated Peach's eyes, my soul is quickly and uexpectedly ripped away from my body forever. Yellow Toad helplessly watches and Lemmy Koopa silently mocks my foolishness. The next Lego Store employee to open in the morning walks past the fine layer of dust on the floor, wondering when I'll come into work.
14/10 set.
I love that crown piece. I doubt that it will ever show up in a cheaper set (except maybe in a suit for Peach), but it would be nice if it did.
I didn't put much stock in the Mario sets when they were released besides having some interesting new parts but my 5 year old is mad about the Super Mario universe and can't get enough of these sets.
The digital instructions make it pretty easy for him to construct them himself and then he spends hours playing with the characters. I'll be grabbing Peach and her castle later this year for sure.
@sjr60 said:
" @MeisterDad said:
"No Lemmy’s Balls?"
That would be Overkill.
Oh, not that Lemmy..."
but named after him :)
‘ She has the same barcode and colour scanner between her legs, ’ - Too much info, too much info! Ugh, we don’t want to know these things!
@benbacardi said:
" @SuperSlacker said:
"One question I hoped to see answered but didn't - are the suits designed for Mario and Luigi compatible with Peach (and vice versa)? Or is there something on either the costume or Peach figure which prevents that? "
I have a review of Cat Peach due soon, and I touch on this there. Yes they can share costumes, and they understand each other's.
"
So what happens when Mario wears Peach’s dress. Asking for a friend…
@Jackthenipper said:
" @benbacardi said:
" @SuperSlacker said:
"One question I hoped to see answered but didn't - are the suits designed for Mario and Luigi compatible with Peach (and vice versa)? Or is there something on either the costume or Peach figure which prevents that? "
I have a review of Cat Peach due soon, and I touch on this there. Yes they can share costumes, and they understand each other's.
"
So what happens when Mario wears Peach’s dress. Asking for a friend…"
Nothing at all - they don't detect the standard overalls or dress as being anything unique, they just play the usual sound for when clothes are put on / taken off.
"Unlike with Luigi, the start tile is not unique and triggers the same in-game music during play as Mario."
I don't understand this. Luigi's Starter Course has the same start tile and the same standard in-game music as Mario (and Peach). Are you referring to the Luigi's Mansion expansions, which are expansions and not his Starter Course?
The way the Lava Bubble is lit unintentionally reminds me of the newly discontinued trans-neon orange.
@Ridgeheart said:
" @TheOtherMike said:
"I love that crown piece. I doubt that it will ever show up in a cheaper set (except maybe in a suit for Peach), but it would be nice if it did."
Who knows, maybe we'll get a special edition of Bowser, featuring that exact same crown."
With a color change (all red gems instead of red and blue) it'd be a great fit for King Bob-Omb! For that matter, even in its current colors it'd be a good match for the crown worn by King Kaliente from Super Mario Galaxy or King Lakitu from Super Mario Galaxy 2.
@ra226 said:
"The Odyssey would be cool--but not sure how well it'd work as a Lego Mario set. I could see them doing it for Icons, though.
How many of the Koopa kids have we seen so far? Would be fun to have them all.
"
Four out of the seven: Larry, Lemmy, Ludwig, and Iggy. Still waiting on Wendy, Roy, and Morton.
Wonder when/if Daisy will join the lineup.