Wahoo! After several years of being able to buy Mario-themed Lego sets, the Lego company is finally bringing us something even better — Lego Mario Kart. While there’s no sign of a Lego-themed Mario Kart game, Lego is giving you the opportunity to build and race your own Mario Kart circuits with a handful of characters from the game.
Lego announced six Mario Kart sets at Gamescom, and confirmed that they will be racing onto store shelves on January 1 2025. Prices range from $15 to $80, and each set comes with at least one character and vehicle from the Mario Kart series.
Sadly adult versions of Mario and Luigi won’t be coming along with these sets, but the existing Lego versions of the duo (and Princess Peach) will be compatible with the new karts. On top of that Baby Mario, Baby Luigi and Baby Peach will be joining them. Though this may be a trigger for those of you that spent a little too long playing Yoshi’s Island. Thankfully these plastic versions can’t cry incessantly.
While the Lego Mario and crew figures are pretty blocky, Lego promises this will allow you to add audio and visual effects to the race. Hopefully that means classic sound effects from the games will be available. Because it’s not really Mario Kart if there isn’t the classic starting countdown or the waves of anxiety when you realize a Blue Shell is heading straight for you.
Like the Super Mario sets, the idea is that you are able to customize your own karts and tracks. In a way that you just can’t do with a Mario Kart video game, and likely never will until Nintendo gets round to releasing a Mario Kart-centric version of Mario Maker.
The cheapest set on offer is the $15 Yoshi Bike, which features a Blue Yoshi figure on a motorbike and various track accessories like the red shell. The standard Kart set is $20 and comes bundled with Toad the mechanic. It looks like Toad isn’t allowed to drive, and the size suggests this kart is meant for the likes of Adult Mario.
Donkey Kong and the DK Jumbo comes in at $35, while Baby Mario vs Baby Luigi is $30. Toad’s Garage is $40, and gives you a spot to officially build and customize your karts like you were a real mechanic. Two more Toads are included in this set, but are again not supposed to be driving. At this point you have to wonder what the Toads have done to be relegated to the sidelines like this.
Finally there’s the $80 Baby Peach & Grand prix set, which includes the official starting line for Lego Mario Kart adventures. This also features two more karts, a motorbike, plus Lemmy the Koopa, Baby Peach and another Toad. Apparently this is the one Mushroom Kingdom resident that’s still got a valid driver’s license.
It’s unfortunate that Lego Mario Kart won’t be arriving in time for the holidays, but at least this means you can start off the New Year with a bang. Specifically the bang of a green shell knocking your little brother’s kart off the track and into the endless void below.
