Yoshi is a fan favorite character, and the LEGO Super Mario game has changed the way in which the character his handled since Green Yoshi debuted in 2020’s 71367 Mario’s House and Yoshi. Like that set, this set provides plenty of opportunity for play and experimentation, not necessarily in the setting of the timed game. Let’s take a look at this set, which builds further on the Fruit and gifts mechanic first revealed in the Peach Starter Set. We will take a close look at that mechanic, and see how you can use it to maximise your score.

The set is based around Yoshi’s house and brings us Green Yoshi, Monty Mole, Green and Red Fruit, a present and a…fruit upgrade carousel? That said, I have come through this set with a better knowledge of the fruit powers and gift giving.

Lets take a quick look at the elements:

We have lots of green – both dark and bright, as well as bright yellowish green: the We also have plenty of tan elements. Finally, a few ‘splat’ gears, which I am sure we will gain a better understanding of later. Among the more interesting elements are the green ‘Mech Knee plates – 134º plates, which will ensure this set does not just reach in a straight line.

The Landscape

Let’s work our way around Yoshi’s House.

Yoshi’s house is based on its appearance as a collection of trees, with berries in the branches, and there has been some effort to preseve this appearance here.

We start off with a tree containing a piece of the red fruit – sitting on a shelf like protruberence. A lot of the shape of the trees is owed to the form of the 2×2 curved arch/corner element.

On the ‘internal’ surface of the tree is a bed, complete with a pillow for Yoshi to sleep on.

Moving along, we have an archway, with a labelled ‘Yoshi’ – as with all decorated ewlements in LEGO Super Mario, it is printed, this time on a 2×4 tan tile. We also have the letter box, comp[lete with a printed 1×2 tile with an address written on it.

At the front of the doorway, there is a 2×2 tile with a barcode and ‘Egg’ Icon on: Scanning this allows Mario or any ofther digital brick character (Luigi and Peach) to engage with Yoshi.There is a small blue bird on top of the tree.

Moving across is the chimney, with a small fire burning. On the inside is a simple mechanism to make a piece of Green Fruit fall. thiss allows Mario to access the code beneath it. Is the Green Fruit any different to the red fruit? Time shall tell.

Finally we come to the Powerup Carousel. More on this shortly.

Enemies

Monty Mole has appeared in several sets previously, and appears unchanged here. A single scan yields a single coin, and this can be repeated in game play.

Friends: Green Yoshi

Green Yoshi is almost identical in construction to the version seen in 71367. He features the new 1×2 semicircular tile, rather than two quarter circles on his torso. He also comes with a different tag to scan compared to Yoshi in that set – where Mario could only speak greetings to Yoshi (much as he would talking to one of the Toads.

When the new tag is scanned, several things can happen:

If Mario has picked up a piece of Fruit, and scans Yoshi’s tag, Yoshi accepts the fruit as a gift, and eats up the fruit, and the player gains 5 coins. The score is the same, even if Mario has taken one or two bites of the fruit.

If Mario has no fruit, he ‘rides on Yoshi’s back’: this mechanism is the same as previously seen for Pink and Yellow Yoshi: essentially equivalent to super Mushroom power – Mario can fall over, and rather than enter a ‘no coin state’, he dismounts Yoshi and continues on.

If Mario is riding on Yoshi, and then scans a piece of fruit, Yoshi will eat it up quickly, scoring you a coin.

Fruit

One of the most innovative game mechanics of this year’s major update is the ability to pick up a piece of fruit, and either eat it or put it in the gift box, to share with another character.

Eating Fruit

In this set we have Red fruit and green fruit. In 71407 Cat Peach Suit and Frozen Tower Expansion Set We find a yellow fruit, while in 71408 Peach’s Castle Expansion Set we get a purple one. Behaviours for these fruit seems to be similar, but a little different.

You eat a fruit by tilting your playable character forward three times, resulting in the fruit vanishing piece by piece. During this time, the character makes comments about the fruit being “Yummy…nomnomnomnom!”

On completing eating the fruit, the character gains 5 coins, and the screen display changes:

Once the screen sparkles, if you land on a biome plate of the same colour as the fruit, we hear soothing chimes, and you gain another 5 coins.

If you have eaten red fruit, and walk on the lava (red) plate, then the character does not suffer fire damage, while the stars appear on screen.

Upgrading Fruit

Also included in this set is a Fruit Upgrade Carousel: If your character has a piece of fruit on the screen, then rotating on machine will see the fruit image on the character’s chest gradually change in three bands to become a golden fruit. I have one slight gripe with this device – the handle/crank readily disengages from the green gear from time to time. its not too much of a problem, but does slow down your ability to ‘speed-run’ the segment.

When you eat the golden fruit, the screen changes in the same way as for other fruit, but you get the 5 coin bonus with any terrain (you also have temporary invulnerability from any damaging terrain i.e.lava – red; soda swamp – purple).

Gifting Fruit

Fruit can be gifted to another character (toad or yoshi) or placed in a gift box – to be collected out by any player character.

If you go to talk to Toad or Yoshi, while carrying fruit, they will eat it, and you will get 5 coins. This can be repeated, but it takes a little time.

If you scan the gift box, then an animation appears on the screen, and the fruit is placed in the box.

If you remove fruit from the box, you gain 3 coins. You can put the fruit back in the box, and remove it for another 3 coins or eat it for 5, and touch on the terrain for another 5. you can keep putting the fruit in and out of the box, gaining 3 coins each time you take fruit out, but it is not a time efficient way to earn a high score, if that is your goal.

Eagle eyed readers will have noticed that this present is slightly different from that included with the Princess Peach Starter set – which has a white lid. By having differenty boxes, we avoid the potential problem of teleporting the fruit across the course.

Some additional notes with regard to gifting fruit:

• remove colored fruit from the box: 3 coins; remove upgraded (golden) fruit – 5 coins
• it can be removed by the player who put it in the box, or another connected player (wearing yellow scarfs).
• If the character has taken a bite or two of the fruit (but not 3) they receive no coins. The fruit can be placed in the box, and on removal, still appears to have been partially eaten. the player then earns 3 coins. The final bite earns another 5.
• you can repeatedly gift and receive a fruit, gaining full points each time.

Here is a summary of the ‘eating fruit’ score activity ( using single player gifting)

Activity:	Coins
Pick up fruit	0
Place fruit in gift box	0
Remove (colored fruit)from gift box	3
Eat (colored)fruit	5
Pick up fruit, upgrade to gold on carousel	0
Collect a gold fruit from gift box	5
eat a gold fruit	10
Scan corresponding terrain after eating fruit (colored or golden)	5
Pick up fruit, upgrade to gold; gift it; pick it up;eat it, scan terrain	20
pick up fruit, gift- receive, upgrade to gold eat, scan terrain	18

Here is a playthrough video

I have used 2 player mode here, but it is quite optional, and a single player is adequate to drop off and pick up presents.

I think this is a lovely addition to the Super Mario ecosystem. The set allows and encourages sharing behaviour, which is a lot of fun, both in game and out of game. It might be just what your kids need to understand how to get along. I am yet to open up the sets with the purple and yellow fruit, but I expect to see their behaviours to be consistent with that seen so far.

To have a more interactive version of Yoshi, compared to the version seen 2 years ago is exciting, expecially with his increased activity within the game.

What do you think of this set? Are you looking forward to playing through with this level?

Leave you comments below, and until next Time…

Play Well

This set was provided by the LEGO Goup’s AFOL Engagement team for review purposes. All opinions however, are my own.

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