Super Mario

Diddy Kong's Mine Cart Ride Expansion Set

A rowdy Donkey Kong mine cart romp that needs a starter course to really sing.

Brick Rated Score

3.7/5

Set 71425 · 2023

Pieces1,157

Minifigs4

Year2023

Set number71425

Check price on Amazon

Affiliate link. We may earn a commission at no extra cost to you.As an Amazon Associate we earn from qualifying purchases.

The verdict

This one is pure Donkey Kong nostalgia, and if that theme tune already lives in your head you'll grin the whole way through.

Diddy Kong himself is the star here with a brand new mould, and the mine cart that carries him is genuinely clever. Just know going in that it's an expansion, so it leans on a Mario or Peach starter course to open up all the interactive noises, and the track building gets a touch repetitive. Value is fair rather than remarkable, but Donkey Kong fans will forgive it a lot.

Best for: Donkey Kong fans who already own a Super Mario starter course

The full review

What it is

There's a specific kind of joy in the Donkey Kong corner of LEGO® Super Mario, and this set leans right into it. Diddy Kong's Mine Cart Ride is a 1,157 piece expansion built around one great idea: a mine cart that actually rolls, carrying Diddy Kong and one of your hero figures along a winding track through a jungle mountainside. If you grew up hammering the mine cart levels on the SNES, the whole thing taps a nerve. You get Diddy as a proper new figure, a brick-built Funky Kong running his airplane workshop, and two enemies to cause trouble, the crocodile Snaggles and a Mole Miner. Roll the cart and the tech reads it, so you hear wheels rattling and the characters yelping as they go. Scan the cart's code and you even get the DK Island Swing theme, which is a lovely little wink for anyone who knows it.

The catch

Here's where I'll be straight with you. This is an expansion, not a standalone playset, so on its own it won't do much. You need a Mario, Luigi, or Peach starter course figure to actually trigger the reactions and the Action Tags on Funky Kong's plane, and LEGO doesn't include one. At around $109.99 at launch for a set that leans on gear you buy separately, that's worth knowing before you commit. The build itself is fun in bursts, but the nine track sections ask you to repeat the same steps a few times, and the energy dips a bit in that middle stretch. And the one thing that genuinely bugged reviewers, myself included, is that Diddy shows up without his famous barrel to hide in and pop out of. It feels like an obvious miss for the character.

Who it's for

So who ends up happy here? If you already own a starter course and you love the Kong side of this theme, grab it, because Diddy plus the rolling cart plus all those tricks make for great play and a fun display piece you can rebuild into something bigger. Kids in the 8 to 10 range are the sweet spot, and the connection points invite you to keep expanding. If you're brand new to Super Mario LEGO with nothing to plug this into, start elsewhere and come back to this once you've got a course running. It landed a fair 3.7 out of 5 from the Brickset community, and that feels about right to me: a warm, characterful set with a couple of honest catches. Now retired since mid 2024, so if it calls to you, don't dawdle.

The parts story

What the build is actually like, and the pieces worth knowing about.

The build breaks into a few distinct chunks, which keeps it from feeling like a slog even with the repetition. You start with Funky Kong's airplane and shop, a brick-built figure and a chunky little structure that holds two Action Tags. Then comes the mountainside, which is the most satisfying section, layering up sloped terrain around a hidden TNT plunger mechanism. Press it and the whole rock face pops off to reveal a bananas element tucked inside, a proper gasp moment for younger builders. The nine track sections are where things get repetitive, since you're essentially assembling the same rail unit over and over, but the payoff is a course you can route however you like thanks to connection points on all sides.

For parts, the headline is Diddy Kong himself. He's a new mould from the ground up, with fresh legs, arms, and hands, his iconic red cap, and a tail that appears in reddish brown here for the very first time, so he's a genuine draw for collectors. The mine cart skip is the other standout, a new element that clips together securely and rolls on real wheels. You also get the printed and specialty pieces that give this wave its personality, plus that bananas piece and the TNT box mechanism. At 1,157 pieces for the launch price, the part-count value is solid without being a steal, and much of what you're paying for is the play tech and the exclusive figures rather than raw brick volume.

Fun facts

01The mine cart plays the DK Island Swing theme when you scan its code, the same jaunty tune that opens Donkey Kong Country on the SNES back in 1994.
02Diddy Kong's tail appears in reddish brown for the first time ever in this set, making it a small but real collector's piece.
03This set was part of LEGO's 2023 push to bring the full Donkey Kong family into Super Mario, expanding the line well beyond the Mushroom Kingdom.
04The whole thing is an expansion by design, echoing how the Donkey Kong Country mine cart stages were never the start of the game but a wild detour partway through.