A quick look at three new Super Mario sets

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The LEGO Super Mario theme is now in its fourth year and shows no sign of disappearing any time soon.

Five new expansion sets have just been released and in this article I will take a quick look at the three smallest ones to find out if any of them add anything worthwhile to gameplay.


In common with all sets in the theme paper instructions are not provided. Instead, you need to follow them on the app, which I actually found to be perfectly acceptable.

Also, remember that they do not contain an interactive figure such as Mario, you'll need to acquire one separately in a starter set.

71414 Conkdor's Noggin Bopper

130 pieces, $14.99, £12.99, €14.99

Conkdor is a long-necked bird with the head of a condor that 'conks' its beak on the ground when players get close. This is replicated in the LEGO version.

When Mario stamps on the plate by its feet its head falls to the ground thus allowing the plumber to scan the barcode on the back of its head.

This yields a few coins. Slamming *very* hard on the end of the tile that his beak then rests on will cause him to flip back to the original position.

Although the bird-thing itself is a great representation of the in-game creature, this set very adds little in the way of gameplay and zero skill is needed to play with it.


71415 Ice Mario Suit and Frozen World

130 pieces, $24.99, £19.99, €24.99

Along with a couple of foes this set also comes with an ice suit for Mario to wear while defeating them. It's a lighter blue than his usual overalls and when he has it on he can skate on ice gaining a few coins in the process, and shoot bolts of ice.

The objective of the gameplay is to propel the penguin-like creature called a Cooligan at the ice-encased Gooma by stamping on the platform behind it.

Doing so causes the ice panels around it to fall allowing the barcode on both creatures to be scanned to yield a few coins.

The suit seems superfluous as it's not needed to achieve the objective and time is wasted putting it on. Once again no skill is needed to play, and it adds little to the overall game experience.


71416 Lava Wave Ride

218 pieces, $34.99, £29.99, €34.99

This lava biome based set is far more interesting than the other two and actually requires a bit of skill to play.

It introduces a new character, Fire Bro, who launches fireballs in the digital games. This LEGO version is very similar to the Koopas that can be found in many other Super Mario sets but with the addition of a hat.

It can be defeated easily enough with a few scans of the barcode on its back.

Gameplay takes place on a see-saw constructed using roller-coaster track. Once Mario or one of his companions is positioned on the platform a large number of coins are gained while it is rocked from side-to-side. Mario is only held in loosely so care must be taken not to cause him to go flying off the ends.

Two lava bubbles are positioned at the ends and can be dislodged with practice.

This one is quite fun to play and does actually require a modicum of skill to do so. You can gain dozens of coins by rocking back and forth, and it's a very efficient way of doing so.


Of the three, the Lava Wave Ride is the only one that I would recommend buying, unless you're a hard-code aficionado of the theme. It contains a new creature to add to your Mario menagerie and there's plenty of fun to be had trying to beat your best score on the ride. The scenery around its base looks pretty good too.

Thanks to LEGO for providing the sets for this article.

36 comments on this article

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By in United Kingdom,

I have seen some of these on sale in my local Sainsbury's, but even with a sale price, you dont seem to get much bang for your buck.

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By in United States,

I don’t like the Mario theme very much but I think it’s a cool idea and apparently has proved successful more so than Ultra Agents or Vidiyo.

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By in United States,

You know, I used to love these sets. Now I'm planning on selling the ones I have.

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By in Denmark,

I try to understand how it works. But I don't - I just don't :D

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By in United Kingdom,

Those little lava bubbles are adorable!
Also, the set dressing for 71416 is great with the castle elements and lava pouring forth from them.
Won't be getting it mind ...

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By in United Kingdom,

Every mario set seems to getbig discounts on amazon. Usually a sign of poor sales. But someone must be buying them for them to keep making them.

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By in United States,

"This set adds very little in the way of gameplay and zero skill is needed to play with it."

I feel like Lego should print this disclaimer on every one of these Mario sets. A truly baffling theme. But hey, they're four years into it, so they're either selling them, or stubbornly refusing to admit a mistake.

I just can't help but imagine how cool some minifig-scale Mario sets would be. Not to mention some other Nintendo properties!

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By in United States,

When I first saw these I thought it was a fun idea to have mario lego but wasn't too impressed by the play. But after watching my kids play with them, I see the target market loves them.

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By in United States,

I liked when the power up packs were sold individually. I want the Ice Mario Suit, but the piece count isn't even close to justifying the price.

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By in United States,

The Conkdor looks very good as a regular Lego model tbh, very accurate and detailed

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By in United States,

I have to say, I think Conkdor's Noggin Bopper is one of the strangest if not one of the greatest set names of recent times.

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By in United States,

I like the Conkdor set. There's been relatively few "desert biome" sets, but between this one and the Desert Pokey one from the first year, there's been a couple great large enemy type expansions for it.

With the Ice Mario expansion, I'd assume that swapping out Mario's hat and overalls before starting the level would be a more efficient way to use it. That said, while the power-ups can be cute they're still one of the aspects of the theme I enjoy less—especially now that characters like Luigi exist and the power-ups rarely correspond to how they would look on him in-game. I do like the cracked ice tile, the launching Cooligan function and the new small BURP piece used for the frozen Goomba. I'd been waiting for snowy levels for a while now and in terms of aesthetics at least these ones don't disappoint.

The Lava Wave Ride I could take or leave... I'm generally a bit less fond of those sorts of time and skill-intensive expansions, especially when they revolve around common enemies like Lava Bubbles. I do like the Fire Bro, though, and kind of hope he shows up elsewhere.

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By in United States,

@durazno33 said:
"When I first saw these I thought it was a fun idea to have mario lego but wasn't too impressed by the play. But after watching my kids play with them, I see the target market loves them."

My daughter has been asking for Mario/Peach and other peripherals, but I don't understand how she'd play with any of them and it seems a big investment (she's building Friends stuff now). How do your kids actually play? Is it just the build or do they actually maintain scores, etc.? I guess I also don't understand what this line is all about.

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By in Canada,

""This set adds very little in the way of gameplay and zero skill is needed to play with it.""

Well, that's technically true for all Lego sets now, isn't it. I mean I wish I had known my 8yo could play with my Castle set without any prior knowledge of the Crusades and barely any hand-eye coordination. It's perplexing. Preposterous, I say.

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By in United States,

@oukexergon said:
"...I guess I also don't understand what this line is all about."

I see that as a common theme regarding Lego Mario. I was the same way--but my son is super into it and now I (mostly) get it. There's of course the collector aspect, but it's the interactivity, the different reactions Mario gives to the different situations he's in, that's the draw. My son's play pattern is often just lining up all the bar code tiles and zapping them all as fast as he can. More recently he's been rebuilding the sets and figuring out the intended patterns (often motion based, like the lave ride here).

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By in United States,

@oukexergon said:
" @durazno33 said:
"When I first saw these I thought it was a fun idea to have mario lego but wasn't too impressed by the play. But after watching my kids play with them, I see the target market loves them."

My daughter has been asking for Mario/Peach and other peripherals, but I don't understand how she'd play with any of them and it seems a big investment (she's building Friends stuff now). How do your kids actually play? Is it just the build or do they actually maintain scores, etc.? I guess I also don't understand what this line is all about."


You build a course and just go through and get coins, it tells you your total at the end. If you pair the figure with the app via bluetooth it will save your scores. I got bored of the gameplay loop after a while, but a younger audience make enjoy it.

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By in Netherlands,

I really love this theme. I like the builds and their little tricks. The biomes are great although they are rather weird to use as display material. The brick build figures are great. The gameplay is cool, but i don’t really like to ruff my lego up, so i always play with care x-D
I even think it’s dope that it is not a minifig theme, but a brick built theme. Now i only need a good way to display them and play with it at the same time

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By in Poland,

I LOVE new small rock pieces and that broken ice "tile"

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By in New Zealand,

Hmm... Doesn't add much to the gameplay. Isn't that the same for pretty much all city sets. Ooh yay! another police car! Now that I have 20 I can finally do something new with them!

Is it fun? That is the real question. Is it fun and satisfying to make the Conkdor fall and spring back up? Is it fun to make the Cooligan break open the Ice around the Goomba?

For the Cooligan, I would say yes, as they have used a similar function in 71398 and 71399 and they were both very fun.

Not too happy with the quality of these reviews.

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By in Australia,

@Captainfives1514 said: "I don’t like the Mario theme very much but I think it’s a cool idea and apparently has proved successful more so than Ultra Agents or Vidiyo."

That really surprises me, because -- once again -- over the Christmas period in all the shops local to me, when the Lego aisles had been picked clean, the only things left were a couple of superhero sets, and piles and piles of the Mario sets, sitting there gathering dust. It's like they're radioactive here, people just aren't touching them.

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By in Australia,

@ItisNoe said:
"You know, I used to love these sets. Now I'm planning on selling the ones I have. "

I already have and ended up getting 10255 with the money.

It took me a while to notice in these images that Mario is actually turned on, but it could have been brighter.

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By in United States,

71416 giving me massive NSMBW 8-7 vibes

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By in Australia,

@ozbrickcreator said: "It took me a while to notice in these images that Mario is actually turned on..."

... oh?

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By in Canada,

I like this theme, creative builds and mechanisms and very colourful. Easy to work around the price as they ALWAYS get at least 30% off and are all over marketplace. Just get the previous wave. I recently got 71408 for $43

I do wish they would release the suits without the extra bricks. The small "power-up" add-ons from 2-3 years ago were much better.

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By in United States,

You can't have the Fire Bro shoot fireballs during gameplay since you'd have to set Mario down and than manually pull back the launcher part of the piece. They prioritize interactivity with the Mario figure over everything else yet they include a play feature that can't be used without heavily complicating the play process.

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By in New Zealand,

@Trigger_ said:
"You can't have the Fire Bro shoot fireballs during gameplay since you'd have to set Mario down and than manually pull back the launcher part of the piece. They prioritize interactivity with the Mario figure over everything else yet they include a play feature that can't be used without heavily complicating the play process."

Use two hands? One on Mario, and one on the Fire Bro. They are activated by squeezing, so it shouldn't be a problem except for very small hands. (I'll test this with my kids (7, 6, 2.5) later today)

The other option is get two people involved in play. One controls Mario, the other the creatures.

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By in United States,

@oukexergon said:
" @durazno33 said:
"When I first saw these I thought it was a fun idea to have mario lego but wasn't too impressed by the play. But after watching my kids play with them, I see the target market loves them."

My daughter has been asking for Mario/Peach and other peripherals, but I don't understand how she'd play with any of them and it seems a big investment (she's building Friends stuff now). How do your kids actually play? Is it just the build or do they actually maintain scores, etc.? I guess I also don't understand what this line is all about."


Think of it as playing with Lego (as kids do) with some extra cool interactive features. My kids have a lot of fun with them. I think some people here (I’m not directing this at you) have looked for some sort of full gameplay experience, which will of course lead to disappointment.

I’m in the opposite camp of a lot of people as I have no interest in a Mario minfig and think the Lego version of Mario is fun, quirky and 100% Nintendo. And in the parameters of the brick system they’ve been nailing character designs.

My main issue with the theme is the amount released per year. I’m simply not going to buy that many sets at that pace.

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By in United States,

I don't like them but my kid loves them.

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By in Austria,

these are going to end up in the bargain bin just like the previous ones. And if they're a good deal by then I'm snagging them up as parts packs

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By in United States,

@Trigger_ said:
"You can't have the Fire Bro shoot fireballs during gameplay since you'd have to set Mario down and than manually pull back the launcher part of the piece. They prioritize interactivity with the Mario figure over everything else yet they include a play feature that can't be used without heavily complicating the play process."

I feel like the fireball is mostly just meant as an accessory, rather than being involved with the rest of the gameplay. Yes, it can fire, but it can also just be held in the hand and be interacted with like any other enemy. I don't see that bonus functionality as a drawback.

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By in Singapore,

Next thing you know, lego releases a press release announcing the cancellation of super Mario

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By in United States,

@oukexergon said:
" @durazno33 said:
"When I first saw these I thought it was a fun idea to have mario lego but wasn't too impressed by the play. But after watching my kids play with them, I see the target market loves them."

My daughter has been asking for Mario/Peach and other peripherals, but I don't understand how she'd play with any of them and it seems a big investment (she's building Friends stuff now). How do your kids actually play? Is it just the build or do they actually maintain scores, etc.? I guess I also don't understand what this line is all about."


My son and daughter both love these and play very differently with them. My son is all about getting high scores, which means linking 2 of the characters and stomping on high value enemies and doing high value activities as quickly as possible. He is less interested in game play and more interested in scoring.

My daughter is the opposite, and she had to have a Peach because she wanted a girl so I got her one. But she likes interacting with everything. She especially loves giving fruit as presents. She has a slight interest in scores, but won’t let it get in the way of her doing low scoring and slow activities that appeal to her.

One thing we don’t use is the app (aside from when we need instructions). There is really no need to use it and I’d rather my kids play than have more screen time.

However, my kids are obsessed with Mario sets, and my daughter who never had an interest in Lego now wants more sets for her birthday. I understand that many adults don’t see the value in these sets, but if you saw how kids play with them you’d question why others themes like Star Wars haven’t moved in this direction. It is an absolutely brilliant theme and I hope it has the longevity as Star Wars.

By the way, my kids are 6 and 9 in case that helps.

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By in Austria,

"and zero skill is needed to play with it."

That's true for the whole range.

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By in Netherlands,

@Spike730 said:
""and zero skill is needed to play with it."

That's true for the whole range."


No, it’s not. Some of the tricks are pretty difficult to do. Balancing, aiming, vacuuming ghosts, timing, creating a parcours et cetera, et cetera.

Seems like people who react like the above, don’t know what they are talking about, and just are unhappy that that theme isn’t attractive for them.
Except for the parts, the sets are just good fun to build and play with.

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By in United States,

@alfred_the_buttler said:
" @oukexergon said:
" @durazno33 said:
"When I first saw these I thought it was a fun idea to have mario lego but wasn't too impressed by the play. But after watching my kids play with them, I see the target market loves them."

My daughter has been asking for Mario/Peach and other peripherals, but I don't understand how she'd play with any of them and it seems a big investment (she's building Friends stuff now). How do your kids actually play? Is it just the build or do they actually maintain scores, etc.? I guess I also don't understand what this line is all about."


My son and daughter both love these and play very differently with them. My son is all about getting high scores, which means linking 2 of the characters and stomping on high value enemies and doing high value activities as quickly as possible. He is less interested in game play and more interested in scoring.

My daughter is the opposite, and she had to have a Peach because she wanted a girl so I got her one. But she likes interacting with everything. She especially loves giving fruit as presents. She has a slight interest in scores, but won’t let it get in the way of her doing low scoring and slow activities that appeal to her.

One thing we don’t use is the app (aside from when we need instructions). There is really no need to use it and I’d rather my kids play than have more screen time.

However, my kids are obsessed with Mario sets, and my daughter who never had an interest in Lego now wants more sets for her birthday. I understand that many adults don’t see the value in these sets, but if you saw how kids play with them you’d question why others themes like Star Wars haven’t moved in this direction. It is an absolutely brilliant theme and I hope it has the longevity as Star Wars.

By the way, my kids are 6 and 9 in case that helps. "


This and other responses were very helpful. Maybe I'll get her Peach and see how it goes :-).

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By in Australia,

Will eventually get Conkdor because he is in Super Nintendo World.

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