Bowser's Castle Boss Battle Expansion Set
The grand finale of the Super Mario range, and the one built for your shelf.
Brick Rated Score
Set 71369 · 2020
Affiliate link. We may earn a commission at no extra cost to you.As an Amazon Associate we earn from qualifying purchases.
This is the biggest, boldest set in the first wave of LEGO Super Mario, and it's the one that actually looks like something when it's done.
The stone Bowser rearing up over that classic bridge got me instantly, and the towers are cleverer than they have any right to be. Just know going in that it's an expansion, so you need the Starter Course and Mario himself to make any of it work, and the boss battle finale is more polite than thrilling.
Best for: Super Mario fans who already own the Starter Course and want the showpiece castle
What it is
The first time you see this one finished, it clicks why LEGO saved it for the top of the Super Mario lineup. Everything else in that 2020 launch was flat course pieces and little platforms, and then here comes a proper castle. You get the long stone bridge from the classic game, a tower on each side, and a big brick-built Bowser rearing up at the back like he's about to breathe fire. At 1,010 pieces this LEGO® set was the largest and most expensive of the range when it landed, and honestly it earns that spot on presence alone. If you love a set that actually looks like something when it's sitting on a shelf, this is the one in the theme worth clearing space for.
The catch
There are a couple of things worth being straight with you about, though. This is an expansion set, which means it does almost nothing on its own. You need the Starter Course (71360) and the electronic Mario figure to read the enemies and trigger the gameplay, so if you don't already own that, factor in the extra cost before you fall in love. The boss battle itself is the weak spot. You defeat Bowser by twisting Mario on a central platform, which sends an arm up under some hinged tiles to wobble him over, and to launch the power-up platforms you genuinely have to smack them. Not tap, smack. It feels wrong to be banging LEGO together that hard, and the finale never quite delivers the drama the build promises. For the biggest, priciest box in the range, it also ships with surprisingly few Action Bricks, which is the sort of thing you notice once you've got the other sets.
Who it's for
The buying decision comes down to what you already own. If you're already into LEGO Super Mario and you own the Starter Course, this is an easy yes, because it's the display centrepiece the whole theme was building toward and the construction is a real step up from the little platform sets. If you're brand new to the theme, don't start here, because without Mario it's an expensive statue you can't play with. And if you're the kind of builder who lives for a satisfying play feature at the end, temper your expectations, because the castle is the star and the battle is just okay. Buy it for the build and the look, not the boss fight, and you'll be very happy with it. One more thing worth knowing: it retired at the end of 2021, so prices on the secondary market have crept up above its original tag.
The parts story
What the build is actually like, and the pieces worth knowing about.
The build is a proper step up from the rest of the range, and it's the reason to own this set. You start with the long stone bridge, then work outward to the two towers, and the mechanical sections are where it gets fun. One tower has a small Boo circling it, and the construction is smarter than you'd guess: Mario stands on a platform tile, and as it turns, the top of the tower and the Boo spin along with it, faster than the platform itself. The other tower is essentially a lever, with two platforms either side and Dry Bones perched on top ready to be tipped. Careful step-following matters here, especially through the bridge and the central twisting mechanism, so it's a build you'll want to give proper attention rather than rush.
On the parts front, temper the excitement a little. Bowser himself is brick-built and mostly assembled from parts you'll already recognise, with a handful of recolours and a few printed pieces doing the heavy lifting, and the only genuinely new element in the whole box is the shell plate on his back. That's a thin haul of new moulds for a set this size. Where the value actually sits is the piece count and the figures: four brick-built characters (Bowser, Dry Bones, Boo, and a Lava Bubble), three of them unique to this set, plus a big pile of 1,010 pieces including plenty of useful bridge and tower elements. It's a decent parts pack wrapped around one great big display model, just don't come to it hunting for a bag of exciting new molds, because there's really only the one.
Fun facts
- 01The whole set is a love letter to the classic Super Mario Bros bridge showdown, where you beat Bowser by crossing the bridge and dropping him into the lava below.
- 02At 1,010 pieces it was the largest and most expensive set in the entire first wave of LEGO Super Mario when it launched in August 2020.
- 03There isn't a single traditional minifigure in the box, every character is brick-built, and none of them do anything until you add the electronic Mario from the separately sold Starter Course.
- 04It retired at the end of 2021, and sealed copies now regularly sell on the secondary market for well above the original 99.99 price.
What other builders say
This write-up is grounded in real reviews and builder discussion, not just one opinion. A few worth reading:
More reviews
All reviews
World Map
The biggest LEGO set ever made, and yes, it's really one enormous mosaic.
Eiffel Tower
The tallest LEGO set ever, and it makes you earn every centimetre.
Titanic
The longest LEGO set ever made, and one of the most rewarding builds I've done.