Lego Mario Kart swoops in like a blue shell with Gamescom reveal

Lego Mario Kart is officially over the finishing line with a full reveal spinning out of Gamescom 2024. Due to drift onto shelves in January 2025, the range includes six sets to begin with.

The Lego Mario Kart lineup includes Baby Mario, Baby Luigi, Baby Peach, Yoshi, Toad, Donkey Kong, and my personal go-to, Lemmy. Because this is part of the full Super Mario range - which already includes a few of the best Lego sets, namely The Mighty Bowser and Piranha Plant - you'll also be able to add the interactive and full-grown Mario, Peach, and Luigi figures to your karts for audio and visual effects taken from the video game series. 

Naturally, these kits include plenty of accessories pulled straight from the games and  a course to go with them. Baby Mario and Luigi come with the balloons from the Balloon Battle mode, and I swear they have violence in their eyes. Anyway. I imagine you can create some pretty wild tracks if you combine all that with the existing Super Mario kits.

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Design director of the Lego group, Simon Kent, says in a press release that "we are beyond excited to turbo-charge our Lego Super Mario universe with the reveal of these latest Mario Kart sets, that we know fans have been eagerly waiting for. We can't wait for builders of all ages to put their pedal to the metal and bring Mario Kart races to brick-built reality at home with friends and family. The brand-new Lego Super Mario: Mario Kart sets provide an immersive building experience and capture the heart-pounding action of the beloved video game series – showing fans that the world is your track like never before!"

All of the Lego Mario Kart sets will arrive on January 1, 2025, and they range from cheaper $14.99 / £12.99 kits to the full Grand Prix box at $79.99 / $69.99. I've broken them down for you below.

Lego Mario Kart - Baby Peach & Grand Prix Set

This seems to be the tentpole release for the Mario Kart range, and as such it features three racers, Lakitu to set you all off, a starting line, accessories, and bumpers to keep you on the straight and narrow. In other words, it's a good base on which to build regardless of whether you're looking for a collectible to go on your shelf or a kids' playset.

Those three racers include, as the name would suggest, Baby Peach. She's racing in a Wiggler kart and is joined by Toad on a bike and Lemmy in a car based on Bowser's flying galleons.  

Lego Mario Kart - Baby Mario vs. Baby Luigi

This duo recreates the iconic (and utterly chaotic, let's be honest) Balloon Battle mode from the video game franchise. This is where you go if you want a break from racing, and instead tootle around an arena trying to hit your targets with items and remove their balloons. And judging by the look of them, both Baby Mario and Luigi are ready to settle their differences with the business end of a red and green shells. Though I feel as if Mario may have the advantage here, seeing as he has a homing red shell...

Naturally, you don't need to keep them with the balloons if you'd rather just have them racing around the track - it looks like they're separate rather than being attached. 

Lego Mario Kart - Yoshi Bike

This is the cheapest and simplest of the Lego Mario Kart range, so it's perfect either as a cheap-and-cheerful gift for gamers or an easy addition to the toy box for your little ones. It has Yoshi racing around obstacles like banana skins on a bike... based on another Yoshi? I mean, look, that's always going to be weird. It'd be like a horse riding a bicycle made to look like a horse. But he's happy, so good for him I guess?

Lego Mario Kart - Donkey Kong & DK Jumbo

We recently got a full Lego Donkey Kong range, so it's only right that the Kong himself makes the transition over to Mario Kart too. He comes in a hefty kart based on the famous barrels from the Donkey Kong Country series, and he comes with a target that'll fling a banana skin at other racers when hit with a shell (or anything else, I imagine). A fun bit of interactivity for you, there.

Lego Mario Kart - Standard Kart

This kit may just be a kart, some accessories, and a pitstop Toad to keep everything in working order, but it's clearly made to fit the bigger, interactive Mario figure. It's decked out in his livery, after all, and is the 'classic' Mario Kart car complete with a glider for soaring through the air.

Lego Mario Kart - Toad's Garage

Much like the Standard Kart, this set is very obviously made to go with other figures in your Lego Super Mario collection. However, this one's a bit more advanced with a full pitstop, spare wheels, and various doodads to make sure your car's in perfect working order. There are two pitstop Toads to keep everything ticking over, too.

As with all the other sets listed here, it'll arrive on January 1, 2025.

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