Is Super Mario Land Still Good?
Super Mario Land was a launch title for Nintendo’s Game Boy handheld back in 1989.
It was the first in a trilogy of sorts, with Super Mario Land 2: Six Golden Coins, and
Wario Land: Super Mario Land 3 following in the ensuing years.
But back to the game at hand.
Super Mario Land was produced by the creator of the Game Boy himself, Gunpei Yokoi, whose
other achievements include the Game & Watch handhelds as well as producing the original
Metroid for the NES.
Needless to say, the man left behind quite the legacy, one far larger than can fit into
a review about a Game Boy title.
The reason I even bring him up, is because Super Mario Land had no involvement from Shigeru
Miyamoto.
The result is a Mario game with quite a few distinct elements in terms of gameplay and
overall thematic design, when compared to other titles in the series.
And even with these changes, the game was well received by the press.
Electronic Gaming Monthly gave the game a 7.8 out of 10 stating: "Even though its B&W
and on a 2 inch screen, Super Mario Land is a fantastic game that is, above all, very
fun to play.
There are loads of things to discover and all new worlds to chart.
It's a bit short… but there's enough challenge here to highly recommend this one."
Mean Machines magazine score the game a 9 out of 10 noting, "Playability to the nth
degree!
This game is guaranteed a semi-permanent place in my Game Boy, along with Tetris of course.
They don’t come much better than this, with great graphics and a tough challenge."
Finally, Computer and Video Games magazine gave the game a 9.3 out of 10 proclaiming,
"A small yet perfectly formed Mario whizzes past equally impressive sprites and backdrops.
An arcade machine in your pocket."
So, is Super Mario Land still this good after 27 years?
Let's dive in.
Super Mario Land begins with some familiarity, if you're comfortable with the original NES
title.
It's clear this game was inspired by the original Super Mario Bros., despite the third Mario
Bros. title having already been released in Japan during development.
Mario himself features his classic moves, including running and jumping, along with
a speed boost when holding the action button.
Mario turns into Super Mario after ingesting the magic mushroom, growing in size, allowing
you to break through blocks, as well as take a hit of damage.
It's all pretty standard stuff and should feel immediately familiar to Mario veterans.
With that said, there are some differences.
The flower power-up does not give Super Mario fireballs, and instead a superball.
This projectile can only be fired one at a time, and the superball bounces around the
screen, instead of skipping across the floor.
Additionally, the superball can be used to nab coins, which is kind of cool.
Something else you'll notice right away is the koopas react quite unexpectedly, exploding
after jumping on them, instead of sliding across the ground.
Of all the changes made in Super Mario Land, the superball and enemy behavior are the most
drastic.
So, on with the game.
Unlike the early Mario titles, Super Mario Land takes place in Sarasaland instead of
the Mushroom Kingdom.
The princess being rescued is Princess Daisy, instead of Peach.
Still, the first two levels of the first world resemble those found in the NES classic.
The opening stage of the Birabuto Kingdom features rolling hills in the background or
maybe they’re pyramids, you can duck through pipes to secret areas containing bonus coins,
and there are plenty of Goombas, called Goombos, you can jump on.
The second level too feels similar, with mushroom styled platforms you have to jump across,
while bottomless pits await any mistimed jump.
However, the third level is where Super Mario Land frees itself from the Mushroom Kingdom
shackles, and starts to feel like its very own beast.
This underground level feels like an Egyptian tomb, complete with the appropriate music
and enemies.
The departure from the Mario norm feels refreshing, and this trend is continued to the very first
boss.
This lion looking creature looks cool for sure, but does share a similar firing patterns
and jumping behavior as Bowser from the NES game.
These three levels conclude the first world, so it's off to World 2, Muda Kingdom.
The first level opens with what appears to be a spaceship, which is odd.
New enemies are also introduced, including seahorses and fish skeletons.
The second level follows a similar motif, and a reliance on moving platforms really
starts to become a prevalent feature of the level design.
The final level of this second world changes things up completely, with Mario taking to
the seas in a submarine called the Marine Pop.
This basically plays like a horizontal shooter, with Mario being able to freely move around
while waves of enemies enter the screen.
Bricks are even breakable with Mario's ship, adding a bit of depth to the gameplay.
While this is an odd inclusion in a platformer, it works well and offers a nice diversion
to the core gameplay.
It would even be copied a year later in Sunsoft's Batman: The Video Game, which speaks to the
quality of the experience offered.
Anyway, after defeating the end boss, which should offer little challenge to all but the
most novice fans of shooters, we move onto World 3.
Here, Mario arrives at the Easton Kingdom, resembling Easter Island.
The difficulty is again ramped up with flying enemies featuring erratic behavior along with
quick moving enemies requiring faster reflexes than what has been offered thus far.
There is even a section where you have to ride along rolling boulders, again helping
this third world play differently than those preceding it.
The second and third levels follow a similar formula, with even more enemies such as spiders
and tarantulas, and more challenging platforming, such as collapsing blocks over bottomless
pits.
The final boss of this world is again quite different than the first two, requiring you
to take the boulder jumping mechanics learned earlier, and use those skills to get behind
the boss and clear the stage.
Again, this isn't the most challenging thing in the world, but it is admittedly nicer than
clearing the same boss for 8 straight worlds.
Just saying.
Our journey ends at World 4.
Chai Kingdom is a Far East theme featuring plenty of bamboo along with some ninjas.
If I'm honest, these stages feel a bit easier than the Easton Kingdom levels.
The ninja enemies are tricky for sure, with tough patterns, but you can usually jump right
over them.
The moving platform sections feel easier as well, with fewer enemies impeding progress,
and easier landings, preventing death.
It kind of feels backwards in a way, but it probably doesn’t matter in the grand scheme
of the game.
The final level of Chai Kingdom is another shooting stage and it works exactly like the
first.
The screen scrolls horizontally and you need take down waves of enemies while shooting
down the bricks blocking your path.
Also like the first time around, this is an entertaining romp with accurate controls and
enough variety in the enemies to keep you engaged.
There is even a section reminding me of the old arcade title Scramble, which is a charming
nod the genre's roots.
The end of the level features Super Mario Land's final boss.
This is the only boss in Super Mario Land featuring more than one part.
At first there is a cloud, and after hitting it enough times, the true boss is revealed,
Tatanga.
His attack is a missile that breaks into three parts.
I found either diving just above, or just below the middle projectile to be the most
efficient strategy, allowing you to easily dodge the incoming fire while also landing
hits on the baddy himself.
Upon defeat, Mario finally rescues Princess Daisy, and our journey comes to an end.
Then of course, the credits roll.
As you can no doubt hear, the soundtrack in Super Mario Land is actually quite good.
The end credit tune is one of my favorites on the handheld, and for the majority of the
game, the quality is quite high.
The compositions are of a decent length and some of the melodies are the ultimate ear
worms.
Graphically however, Super Mario Land is definitely starting to show it's age.
Now I get this is a launch title on what was extremely unfamiliar hardware at the time.
2-bit color on a tiny low-res screen hadn't exactly been done before, and Super Mario
Land certainly pioneered how the genre would be tackled for years to come.
Still, I can't help but feel underwhelmed by the entire visual presentation.
For starters, the backgrounds are extremely primitive, featuring very few details on a
vast plane of white.
You would think this would allow more resources for the actual level detail and sprite work,
but this isn't really the case either.
Super Mario Land is a fairly bland game.
There just isn't a lot going on in many of the stages.
Sure there is a waterfall here and there, but little touches like this are simply few
and far between.
To make things worse, things are very oddly proportioned.
Question blocks, mushrooms, goombos, and bombshell koopas are all tiny, especially compared to
Mario, creating a very odd sense of scale.
It all adds up to a game that very much feels like it was made in 1989, and doesn't held
up nearly as well as some of the best efforts on the Game Boy.
On the flip side, there are some things I rather enjoy, besides the awesome music of
course.
There are plenty of hidden nooks and crannies to explore and plenty of pipes littered through
each and every world offering opportunities to grab extra coins.
After all, you do receive an extra life for each 100 you collect.
The end of each level also offers two different exits.
If you take them time to reach the top one, which is often easier said than done, you
are rewarded with a mini game giving a chance at extra lives.
I enjoy little touches like this, as it offers incentive to actually explore the barren landscapes.
This of course brings us back to the question asked at the beginning of the video, is Super
Mario Land still good?
For me, a good platformer should have contain two key elements.
First and foremost, it needs to have tight controls.
Second, it needs fun levels to platform through.
And I'm not so sure Super Mario Land does either of these things all that good.
In fact, the controls are kind of lousy.
I've spent a lot of time over the past couple of years playing Super Mario Land, trying
to pinpoint what exactly feels so off for me.
Is there something wrong with the controls, or is it more of a subjective thing?
But I think it's safe to say Super Mario Land just doesn't feature the tight, pixel perfect
controls of the other 8-bit Marios.
The momentum is extremely unreliable, making mid-air adjustments or landing, a frustrating
proposition.
Worse yet, the momentum seems to change from slow to fast, or fast to slow, with little
warning.
After landing on an enemy, Mario might speed up unexpectedly, shattering my confidence.
Landing on the edge of platforms yields a similar result, with Mario seemingly hitting
the ground running, resulting in you running straight off a cliff when you were expecting
a slight adjustment.
Now, I'm not sure if I'm explaining it correctly, but if you haven't played this in a while,
I challenge you to give it a shot.
I think you'll find the game simply lacks the precision found in better 8-bit platformers.
This sloppy feeling is also carried over into the graphics.
At times it feels like the background is in front of foreground objects, causing items
like the mushroom to seem transparent.
This phenomenon didn't appear it later entries in the trilogy.
The leads into the second item, gameplay design.
First, I don't mind the lack of vertical movement in the environments.
Being a strictly left to right affair certainly has its charms, and there is still plenty
of exploration to be had, especially when you are regular Mario.
My main issue with Super Mario Land has to do with the superball.
The levels are rarely designed with your primary projectile in mind.
Occasionally you can ricochet the ball off the wall and ceiling, like when taking down
the first boss.
You can even use it to collect coins in a designated sections.
But for the most part, it just flies into the air and disappears off the top of the
screen.
And because you can only fire one at a time, you sort of just sit there helpless.
There are a few flying enemies which seemed designed for the superball, but these are
few and far between.
Generally speaking, the enemies walk along the ground, and Mario would have been better
served with a weapon designed around a majority of the enemies.
To be fair, you'll rarely die because of enemies though.
Instead you'll die from bottomless pits.
The second half of Super Mario Land features a ton of tricky platforming, sometimes on
platforms just a single block wide.
Oftentimes you have to carefully navigate an array of moving platforms.
And other times, you need to jump from collapsing blocks.
And quite frankly, the controls in Super Mario Land just aren't up to the task.
Despite beating this game numerous times over the past few years, I still received a game
over on my first recording session.
This is something I don't experience with the other 8-bit Mario games, and it's because
the controls just don't offer any sort of consistency to make you feel confident in
your platforming.
I can't help but feel some of the luster and polish went missing without Miyamoto at the
helm.
Don't get me wrong though, Super Mario Land is far from a bad game.
The short length of just 12 levels and a 30 to 35 minute length do mitigate many of the
issues and prevents the game from ever getting tedious or boring.
The length is just about right, especially for an old handheld experience.
There is also a second loop featuring more enemies, if you’re into that sort of thing.
And while the controls leave room for improvement, a majority of the time, they are adequate
for the task at hand.
It's just annoying when the game asks too much of the player.
Some tighter controls, or some tweaks to the level design taking into account Mario's quirks,
would have gone a long way.
Super Mario Land is certainly better than some of the awful platformers that would follow
during the 16-bit era like the Bubsy series, and my personal nemesis Zool 2.
It's always important to keep things in perspective.
At the end of the day, Super Mario Land is a quirky outlier in the Mario universe and
well worth a look for fans of the series.
But after 27 years, some of the new car smell is beginning to wear off.