Nintendo's My Mario toy line has officially made its way to Western markets, and it's exactly as charming as you'd expect from the company that built one of gaming's most beloved characters. The question isn't whether these toys are cute. They absolutely are. The question is whether they're worth the money.
According to Nintendo's official announcement, the My Mario line is designed to bring the Mushroom Kingdom to the youngest Nintendo fans, with a range that spans wooden blocks, soft rattles, plush toys, and a comforter. It's a smart play for brand loyalty, honestly. Get kids attached to Mario, Luigi, and Princess Peach before they're old enough to hold a controller.
The Wooden Blocks: Beautiful, But Hard to Justify
The headline product is the Mario & Friends Wood Block Set, a 30-piece collection featuring wooden figures of Mario, Luigi, Peach, Yoshi, and various Mushroom Kingdom items. In the UK, that'll cost you £113.99, exclusive to the My Nintendo Store and Nintendo's retail locations in San Francisco and New York.
Here's the thing: the blocks themselves are genuinely lovely. The wood is smooth, the edges are well-finished with no splinter risk, and the character printing is clean and detailed. They even have that satisfying woody scent that quality wooden toys carry. As a physical product, there's nothing cheap about them.
But at roughly £4 per block, the value proposition gets shaky fast. This isn't a hand-crafted artisan set from a boutique toy shop. It's a mass-produced product, and the box labeling suggests the blocks are manufactured in and imported from Japan, which likely explains a good chunk of that price.
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The 30-piece wooden block set is currently exclusive to My Nintendo Store in the UK and Nintendo's physical retail stores in the US, so availability is limited compared to the rest of the range.
Parents who regularly shop at boutique baby stores won't find the price completely shocking, context matters here. Quality wooden toy sets routinely hit these numbers. But compared to what else is on the market at this price point, the My Mario blocks are a tough sell unless the Nintendo branding is the specific draw.
The Mini Set Makes Things Worse, Not Better
There's also a smaller 3-piece set featuring Mario, a Power Mushroom, and a Question Block, priced at £20.99. On paper, it sounds like a more accessible entry point. In practice, the value is even thinner.
Three blocks is a very small sandbox for a child to play in. Very young toddlers might not notice, but any kid old enough to want to build something is going to run out of pieces fast. It works better as a complement to other toys than as a standalone purchase.
One genuinely interesting note: the character blocks function as amiibo, which is a nice bonus for parents who are also Nintendo fans. For the child actually playing with the blocks? Probably meaningless. That feature is squarely aimed at the adults buying the gift.
My Mario plush and soft toys
Where the Line Actually Delivers
The rest of the My Mario range tells a different story. The soft toys, rattles, Mario plush, and comforter are manufactured by German company Simba, and they land at a much more reasonable price point. They feel like standard quality for the category, nothing extraordinary, but solidly made and appropriately priced for what they are.
If you're shopping for a young child and want something Mario-themed that won't hurt your wallet, the softer items in the line are the smarter pick. They're the kind of thing that actually ends up getting used, dragged around, and genuinely loved by a kid rather than carefully preserved on a shelf.
Who This Line Is Really For
That's the tension running through the whole My Mario product line. The wooden blocks are beautiful enough that an adult collector would happily display them. A toddler, on the other hand, is going to chew on them, lose pieces behind the sofa, and generally treat them the way toddlers treat everything.
For parents who want to introduce their little ones to the Mushroom Kingdom, the official My Mario product page has the full range details. The soft toys are the practical choice. The wooden blocks are a premium item that makes more sense as a collector's piece or a very deliberate gift, not an everyday toy. Make sure to check out more:
