If you have been following Rambling Brick for a while, you will know that I was quite taken by LEGO Super Mario when it was first released. The timed gameplay provided interesting challenges, maximizing the capabilities of the Smart Brick/Mario figure. Each subsequent year saw new environments and new capabilities. I drifted away over the last year or so, with too many other shiny things providing a distraction, but the Mario Kart wave has piqued my interest again.

Mario Kart on the Wii was the game my family first bonded over on the Nintendo Wii, years ago. Fifteen years later, we still play on the Nintendo Switch from time to time. I was keen to try the LEGO version, so I dropped into my store and (delighted to see the set on the shelves on New Years Eve), picked up the 72032 Standard Kart. With 174 pieces, and priced at $AUD29.99/$USD19.99/€19.99/£17.99, it felt like a reasonable price of entry to the theme. But is it enough on its own?

Let’s take a closer look…

The set came in 2 paper bags in a medium sized cardboard box. The set features a Mario Kart stripe down the right hand side, as well as picture of the hero model on the front. We see a pit crew Toad, with a small base. Inside the box, we find printed instructions- certainly one of the best advances in the LEGO Super Mario from the past 12 months.

Here are the parts. Most are pretty standards, but there are a couple of standouts. The wheels are new, and feature pre attached, slick tyres. There is a printed foil, to use as the hang glider, and finally two new shell elements. There are tubes underneath to accomodate a plate. A small protrusion on one side allows the element to be inserted into a stud shooter, firing the shell ahead of the Kart. We get one red, and one green.

Construction is relatively simple.

Here we have Toad a his work station. There is a pivoting target on the pit stop perfect for firing shells at. He also has a spanner to deal with any mechanical mishaps

We then build up the Kart

Toad can ride in the kart, but it lacks something.

We can also add a hanglider to allow the Kart to soar above chasms.

This is all Well and Good: Toad can sit in the car and tinker with it, even take it out around the block, but it is a bit dull compared with other Super Mario sets.

Make it interactive

So, I brought out my Super Mario Brick (previously provided by the LEGO Group for review purposes). I connected it to my app and applied the necessary software update.

Let’s take a look at how it interacts with the set:

Toad

Mario can scan the tile on the pit stop. Toad says hello, and generates a cloud of dust. This gives you 5 coins on the first scan, and one on subsequent scans.

The Car

The Start tile forms the seat of the Kart. When you put Mario in the kart, the engine starts and he says “Let’s a go.” If you wobble the car from side to side, the Starting gate, with Lakitu appears on Mario’s chest. A countdown follows, complete with iconic nostalgic sounds, and the music. If you maintain the engine revs at the launch, you get a bonus (6 coins) – akin to the speed boost in the game.

The brick recognises several movements: Drifting, steering/braking, Honking (lift the front wheels up) and braking (lift the rear wheels up) and flying.

If you crash, and Mario falls out, he enters the ‘no coin’ state.

I have not yet tested Mario’s interaction with existing enemies and bonus Tiles.

Race mode ends after 60 seconds, or when Mario scans a finishing flag from the starter set.

The App

The App has several roles in the LEGO Super Mario Universe. The most important is to ensure that the Interactive brick can interact with the new action tiles. In this set, that’s the ‘Start tile’ for the driver, and the ‘Conversation tile’ with toad. The front page has received an update for the Mario Kart…

The App can provide you with building instructions, and suggest layouts based on your saved collection, but these are optional, particularly since sets from January 2024 onwards come with complete paper instructions

The can provide you with useful information regarding the playability of the system. In this case, it provided videos demonstrating drifting, steering, honking and braking, to say nothing of connecting to other drivers and starting a race.

In Conclusion

The Standard Kart is an iconic vehicle in the Mario Kart Universe. On its own, it is fun enough, but it will work better if I can race with friends or family, not just non-player drivers. I am curious about using it with the interactive bricks designed for Mario Kart.

I was frustrated from time to time with the steering wheel and the front panel coming off with extreme play. It was sometimes hard to get the brick to recognise all my point scoring moves. I give this set 3 out of 5 Arbitrary Priase Units.

I see great potential here, but this set is not enough to fully take advantage of the platform.

There is a specific ‘?’ Brick coloured frosted blue available in some other new sets: One in $AUD19.99 72031 Yoshi Cycle while others might prefer the fully fledged 72036 Baby Peach and Grand Prix with Baby Peach, Lemmy and Toad, three vehicles and a starting gate

Sigh… It’s back to the store: My Plan: pick up the Yoshi Cycle. This will give me a second vehicle, a ‘?’ brick and scope to have interactive bricks race each other. This could be fun…

when we come back, we will look at scanning the ‘?’ in race mode, scanning existing powerups in race mode, and the race play with two linked interactive bricks.

The 72032 Super Mario Standard Kart has 174 pieces, and is priced at $AUD29.99/$USD19.99/€19.99/£17.99

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Until Next Time,

Play Well!