Peach’s Castle Expansion – LEGO Super Mario

One of the things that has disappointed me the most about LEGO Super Mario is that most of the sets don’t really display all that well. These are LEGO sets meant for playing with, not just displaying. Sure, the various characters do look great on the shelf, but in general, entire sets do not. I do believe that the Bowsers Air Ship set probably would display well, but not many others. Peach’s Castle, however, displays beautifully (not on a 12-inch shelf mind you), and is fun to build too! Let’s dive in.

The Build

This is one of the bigger Super Mario LEGO sets, so it did take a little while to put together. That being said, it wasn’t an overly difficult build, and if you’ve built a ton of these LEGO Super Mario sets in the past, a lot of the build mechanics feel very familiar (especially constructing the characters).

It still took my son a good few hours to put together himself – he is 8 years old – but I could tell form his reactions that he was enjoying ever minute of it. There are a few mechanical sections that need to be put together, and for younger builders, that could pose a challenge. Building the throne piece that spins to reveal Bowser actually required my help, as my son was having some difficulty getting all the pieces securely in place to make the mechanisms work flawlessly.

Play Features

I did lead this review by noting this was an excellent set to display, and we will get into the aesthetics of the set in a little while. But this is still meant for play first and foremost, and there is a lot to uncover here.

The yellow warp pipe has a brand new starting tile in it which plays the lobby music from Peach’s Castle (from Super Mario 64). This is an incredibly cool feature, and while it had a minimal impact on my 8 year old, it was a nostalgic trip for me.

More on nostalgia later. After you interact with Toadette outside the castle and defeat Ludwig, you can enter the main lobby. There might be some disappointment that the sun tile on the floor isn’t interactive, but what did they expect? Peach / Mario / Luigi to fly off into the sky to collect some read coins? If you know that reference, you know. If not, well let’s just move on…

If you need it, there is a time block located in the castle lobby, but it’s right up the stairs to tackle a Bowser boss fight. Everything looks calm in the castle when you enter, save for some enemies about, but a quick pull near the front of the throne reveals Bowser hiding behind a wall.

Previous sets that have featured Bowser have had some pretty interesting boss battles where you actually need to complete a few things during play to “win.” Here, all you need to do is hit the arm of Bowsers chair to fling him face forward, and stomp on his back a few times to take him out. Not a lot too it, but my kids still had fun.

The Aesthetics

I love LEGO Super Mario for the nostalgic moments it provides me. My kids, mostly, could care less. This set is full of great pieces that bring back so many great memories. And as with all LEGO Super Mario sets, everything is printed, not stickers.

I’m most enamoured by three things – the printed sun block on the floor of the castle, the printed Bomb Bomb Battlefield Block on the castle wall, and the atrium music that plays when stepping in the yellow warp pipe. Those three things put so many smiles on my face as I saw and heard them again and again as my kids played. I loved it.

Conclusion

Ultimately, hardcore LEGO fans want a better Peach’s Castle than this. That being said, I think this is a great edition to any LEGO Super Mario setup. It adds a nice bit of flare to what can otherwise be very linear experiences, and easily fits into the multitude of other sets that have been released over the past few years. My kids are having a blast with this one, and I don’t see it stopping anytime soon.