There has been a new extra spooky, haunted game variation added to LEGO Super Mario, just in time for Halloween. I was prompted to give it a go after seeing these pictures on the LEGO® Twitter Account.

So, I went home, and fired up the App to my phone,and connected Mario, via bluetooth. The App then prompted me to update the firmware.

I scanned King Boo (but Boo or Peepa work equally as well: It needs to be a ghost character!), and then the Warp Pipe at the start of the course. I then saw Mario with an exclaimation mark on his chest!

During the game play, Boo is on the lookout for you. If you are running the App, you see Boo patrolling the screen, in front of a dynamic psychadelic spiral. If he looks at you, Mario stops playing his regular music, and changes to displaying an exclamation mark on his chest, as well as playing a ‘Lub-dub’ heart beat like sound. If you are not using the app, you only hae the indication of the sound that Mario makes, as well as the appearance of the exclaimation point on his chest screen. We also see Instructions appear on the screen in the App – Don’t move.

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No moving will be rewarded, by receiving additional coins at the end of the level.

If you move during this period, you enter a ‘stunned’ no coin state. You cannot collect any points at this time. This ‘no coin state’ can be prevented if you super mushroom power (which can be obtained once from a ‘?’ box, and once from a super mushroom in any game).

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If you avoid moving during this time, you get a coin bonus – typically 4-8 coins. I earned a total of 21 coins on a couple of games through remembering to stay still.

At the end of your game, your score breakdown is available through the App.

I enjoyed the additional functionality being added to the game, as well as the ability to select the additional game mode (or not).

I remain frustrated that each major update of the App results on losing all previously saved photos, as well as sets that have been built., However, I enjoyed the new variation on gameplay, which certainly reduces your ability to rely on ‘speed scanning’ to get a good score.

So… Here is a quick Summary: on how to make this work:

• Update your LEGO Super Mario App.
• Connect Super Mario, and Update his Firmware
• Scan a Ghost Character (Boo, King Boo or Peeps) before immediately scannning the Ward Pipe start tile.
• Look out for a change in the sound, or look at the App, and keep an eye out for when the Boo is watching you.
• During these ‘Boo is watching you’ phases, keep LEGO Super Maro absolutely still,
• Play on to the end of the course. You might need to ‘freeze’ on several more occaisions befor ethe end.

It is important to remember: THE APP IS NOT NEEDED TO PLAY THE GAME. But it is needed to update Mario’s firmware. The App does provide additional information, such as a score breakdown at the end of the match.

I love that there are now new ways to play the game, by scanning characters before the game starts. Hopefully we might see other game variants arrive over the next few months.

Have you given this new game mode a try yet? How did you go? Why don’t you leave a comment below, and until next time,

Play Well.