Super Mario Land is almost but not quite as good as the earlier Super Mario Games.
Genre: Adventure
Developer: Nintendo
System: GameBoy (GB)
Total Score: 63/100
Value Score: 6.3/10
• Story: 5/10
o Storyline is somewhat different from the usual Super Mario game, however it is in the same league as Super Mario Bros. 2 (USA). For one there is absolutely no explanation on how Mario ended up where he was, nor who the other princess who was introduced to the game: Daisy, is from and how she ended up being in contact with Mario instead of Peach. Other than that, Mario has to go through four miniature kingdoms to find Daisy and rescue her ultimately from a random group of enemies led by a alien who wants to marry her.
• Characters: 6/10
o Whoever the character designer is in this game is probably the same person who did Super Mario Bros. 2. You will see a army of new enemies never before seen in the game and most of them seem out of place in the Mario universe (and are never seen again in the series universe). However there are some appearances from enemies from the original Super Mario Bros. game, but you probably wouldnt even look at it once and be in nostalgia as the character designs are horrendous for the older characters. Mario and a few of the bosses are probably the best looking sprites in the game along with Daisy.
• GamePlay: 7/10
o Gameplay has to be the best aspect to the game however even it has major flaws, now most people would argue that the game is one of the early games for the Game Boy, but if other companies could do games like a Double Dragon port or the Castlevania Port in the same year for the same system and look and play as closely as their other installations, makes you wonder why Nintendo could not. This game is like a mesh up between the original Super Mario Bros on NES and Super Mario Bros 2 on NES, but combined with the Game Boy's limited processor and video card. Although the controls of the game seem similar to the original SMB1, however it is easy to tell the controls are not in tip top as they feel a bit slippery due to the animation. The animation lag is so bad that even the enemies have skipped frame rates which are obvious to see and of course can affect your gameplay for an example an enemy on one side of the screen could be literally right next to you in matter of 1-2 seconds. To make things worse the fire power from the first Mario game is pretty much next to useless. When you shoot the fire ball, you won't be able to spam it or cast another as long as that one fire ball sprite is on the screen, what makes that worse is the sprite will bounce back and forth multiple times against walls, however this is intentional as you can use the same fire balls to collect coins but can be annoying especially if you are trying to cast fire balls to defeat enemies. Despite its initial flaws, the game does include a "Easy" way to get 1ups at the end of the stage with minor difficulty and at the end of each 3rd level of a kingdom, you fight a boss however some of the boss fights are similar to Bowser from the first game while others are side scroll shooter style boss fights which is nice.
• Graphics: 5/10
o Possibly the second worst aspect in the game next to its length, however this is mostly due to the lacking of the power of the Processor and video card, however along with that, this argument could be cast aside due to other games that were released alongside by third parties that offered a better visual appearance and later released games. Anyways, the sprites themselves are horribly designed, as if they were rushed into production as soon as SMB3 was made and released. None of the old enemies have their original sprites which were made famous during the NES era but include a unnoticeable appearance, along with that some of the sprites of the environment like the ? blocks will make you think what the hell they were doing when they were making this game. Despite that some of the character sprites remain intact such as Mario and Daisy who is pretty much a clone of the Princess Toadstool/Peach from the original Mario games. The new enemies look better than the old enemies however not much of an improvement. The bosses however look classier and well designed and similar to a Kirby game which is a plus. The environments feel like they were thrown and seem out of place for a Mario game, even the pipes look awkward in this installation.
• Sound: 5/10
o Although the GB did not have a good sound card, it's been widely felt that this game's sound is just not as inspiring (nostalgia wise) compared to the older Mario games, for one most of the sound effects have been replaced with new sound effects, the famous invincibility tune is now replaced with a midi 8 bit version of a well known orchestral track yet that is not saying much for praise worthy. Some aspects of the game such as the boulder falling should of added sound or some of the enemies being knocked out, however those effects seem to be absent and likely skipped due to time constraints.
• Music: 7/10
o Super Mario Land's music seems vaguely familiar to Super Mario Bros. 2. Although not exactly, its OST is very similar in tune to the other game. The music of course is out of place for a usual mario game but is still appealing to those who wanted something different and unique to the portable Mario series which again is emphasized in its sequel.
• Length: 4/10
o Super Mario Land's length is probably the worst length in the entire Super Mario series as the game can literally be done with a matter of minutes if you have had no problems or serious deaths in the game. There are about 4 kingdoms with at least 3 levels in each so in total that is about 12 levels along with 4 (or 5 if you include the last two as separate) bosses.
• Replay Value: 6/10
o Super Mario Land offers a "Hard mode" replay of the entire game, but other than that, not much else to offer, regardless if you are a true Mario fan, you will love to play the game again (whether it's the Super Mario Appeal or the Nostalgia) despite the flaws it has.
• Player Value: 8/10
o Overall, if you are a fan of the Mario series for a long time, you are in for a nostalgic experience, if you are moderate or new to the series, its best to stay away from this game for the mean time and enjoy the much more appealing classics. This game brings a whole new difficulty especially during boss battles and a new unique experience not seen in any other Mario game.