One of this years biggest releases from Jakks Pacific is their Bowser’s Castle Playset in their Super Mario line-up inspired from classic Nintendo games. Bowser’s Castle is one of those playsets that are long overdue not just in this line, but in general considering its popularity in the Super Mario franchise and all of the video game appearances it’s made since its debut in 1985. If you had the pleasure to play some of those classic Super Mario games in your childhood (or now as vintage games are just as, or even more popular than back in the day), you would recall that the level’s where Mario went into Bowser’s Castle were some of the most iconic moments in these games, as defeating Bowser meant saving Princess Peach and winning the game.
Bowser’s Castle is just one of the playsets currently on the market thanks to Jakks Pacific and their very skilled team bringing these to live. If you’ve been following this line, you would have seen or hopefully bought the Mushroom Kingdom Castle Playset, and some of the smaller sets such as Dungeon Deluxe Playset, Acorn Plains Playset, Lava Castle Diorama Playset, and others just like these. It’s truly a great line and some of the best offerings ever done for the brand.
Thank you to Jakks Pacific for sending along their Nintendo Bowser Castle Playset, as well as an assortment of the 2″ figures shown in the gallery for review.
Availability: August 2019
Bowser’s Castle is packaged in a box with nicely done artwork, and images of the Castle on the front, back and sides. The set comes unassembled and has instructions and a sticker sheet, so obviously some patience would be required and at least basic knowledge of how to put something like this together. The instructions are pretty specific and you need to follow certain steps before connecting certain pieces together, so make sure to pay extra close attention to them before snapping anything in place. The sticker sheet is for the windows, as well as the spikes on top of the Castle. This too is time consuming and needs to be followed closely.
Bowser’s Castle measures approximately 15″ wide, 13″ height and 6″ deep. The Castle features sounds from the game, as well as several play features inside. The outside of the Castle looks incredible with sculpted stone walls, pillars with roofs, and Bowser’s head sculpted at the center. The doorway is open and unfortunately does not have a door, and the windows are stickers that need to be applied. The roof top truly looks just as incredible with the shell of Bowser’s at the center with spikes, pillars with roofs, and spikes with stickers in-between them (it’s one long sticker sheet with holes that goes around each spike). Other than the design, the rooftop doesn’t have much play value, but it’s also not meant too. A few figures can be placed on top, but that’s all.
Inside the Castle is where a lot of the play features are offered, and obviously in the game as well. The first floor is a lava pit with the floor mostly covered, and fireball lava attached to a stone wall, which can also swivel around. There is also a working elevator that needs to be manually moved up or down. The sides of the walls on this level, and the second level are made of cardboard and the artwork is most impressive.
The second floor also has a few features, including a trap door that works by pressing the yellow button on the stone wall in the image below. This allows Mario or one of his allies to fall into the lava below. The second floor also has plenty of room to place figures around for display.
Behind Bowser’s shell on the roof is a hanging prison that is meant for the Princess and includes a white ribbon that is attached to it, and the bottom of it opens up to allow the character to escape. Since we don’t have the Princess, Cappy had to do in this photoshoot.
For a playset, Bowser’s Castle has some great features and works well with the 2″ figure line. This Castle brings back some great memories of those earlier Super Mario video games of the 80’s and 90’s, and this is one you sure don’t want to miss.
Overall, Bowser’s Castle is an excellent playset that fits in well with the rest of the line, and brings back so many happy memories playing the games decades ago. If you’re a fan of Super Mario and the Nintendo game system, make sure to pick this up as well as many of these 2″ figures that you can find. It’s a great line so make sure you’re doing your part and support it!
Purchase:
