LEGO Super Mario World: Mario & Yoshi Review: A Must-Have for SNES Fans

Super Mario World is arguably one of the greatest video games of all-time. Launching alongside the Super Nintendo in 1991, the game offered an impressive improvement on the NES era. It also introduced players to Yoshi, who would become one of the video game industry’s most iconic characters. The latest collaboration between LEGO and Nintendo faithfully pays tribute to this SNES classic with a pixelated take on Mario riding his dinosaur pal. While the vast majority of LEGO Mario sets have been aimed at fans of all ages, this one is targeted largely at older fans that might have grown up with the original game. 

Going into the Super Mario World: Mario & Yoshi LEGO set, I found myself concerned about whether the build itself would be an enjoyable experience. I had just recently completed The Great Deku Tree, and I found that the Zelda set had lots of fun highlights throughout, including characters, enemies, and weapons spanning multiple games. While the actual design of Mario & Yoshi appealed to me right from the announcement, I wondered if the building process would be tedious. Thankfully, those fears were assuaged pretty quickly. The various bags that make up the Mario & Yoshi might not have Deku Babas, or Hookshots, but there’s an impressive bit of engineering you get to watch unfold. 

The Mario & Yoshi set not only replicates the pixel designs of both characters as they appeared in Super Mario World, it also replicates the way they travel with a crank that moves Yoshi’s arm, feet, and head, as well as Mario’s cape. There’s also a separate knob that allows Yoshi’s mouth to open and his tongue to stick out, as if he were attempting to eat fruits or enemies. On one hand, it was slightly intimidating making sure that every part moved the way it was supposed to, but seeing the process play out was really enjoyable. The same can also be said for the character designs. Even though I’ve spent countless hours with Super Mario World over the last three decades, I often wouldn’t recognize each part until it neared completion, and there was a real sense of satisfaction upon realizing I was building Mario’s cape, or arm. 

In total, the 1,215 piece Mario & Yoshi set should take most builders about five hours to complete. My grand total came in around five hours and seven minutes, but this was broken up across multiple days, and some advanced builders might be able to finish it up a bit quicker if they do it all in one day. The process is helped by one of the nicer looking instruction manuals I’ve seen from LEGO, which outlines everything in a clear and concise way. That said, the set uses a lot of similar color shades, with Mario’s overalls alone using three different shades of blue. The instructions do an excellent job outlining what to use and when, but those with vision difficulties should be aware that they might face some potential issues. In dim lighting, even I was forced to squint at times to make sure I was using the dark browns versus black, and it’s easy to see other people facing similar issues. 

Fans that have purchased other LEGO Mario sets will be happy to know that the Mario & Yoshi set has what LEGO describes as a “bonus feature” compatible with existing LEGO Mario, Luigi, and Peach figures. By placing the figure on a retractible base with an action tag, the figure will play sounds and music from Super Mario World, alongside animation of Mario hatching Yoshi out of an egg. Collectors will have to decide for themselves if that bonus feature is worth buying a second set, but for those that already have one of these figures, it’s a great extra. The instructions do not mention this, but readers should keep in mind that an update for the LEGO figures will have to be downloaded over Bluetooth; the figures will not be able to scan the action tag without doing so first. 

For fans of Super Mario World, the Mario & Yoshi LEGO set is an easy recommendation. LEGO’s engineers have done an incredible job, from the pixel perfect recreation, to the way they were able to incorporate movement. The addition of sound through existing LEGO Mario sets isn’t necessary, but it serves as a great cherry on top. At $129.99, it’s still a bit steeper than many of the other LEGO Nintendo sets on the market, but it’s well worth the price for collectors, and makes for a fantastic display piece. I would love to see other SNES classics given a similar treatment, like Super Metroid or A Link to the Past. Hopefully this is the start of a trend! 

The LEGO Super Mario World: Mario & Yoshi was released on October 1st and you can pick it up now through the LEGO shop priced at $129.99. This set was provided by LEGO for the purpose of this review. You can check out all of the new LEGO releases for October 2024 right here.