(Originally posted on November, 2016)
The experience that is Super Mario Land may seem tiny today, but during the launch of the Game Boy, it was a pretty big deal. In '89 Mario was popular as ever, but only had a few platformers to his name. After liberating the Mushroom Kingdom and Sub-Con, Mario made his one and only trip to Sarasaland. This mysterious place contained worlds resembling Easter Island, Egypt, China; all full of interesting baddies never to be seen again. Wonderfully confusing when played for the first time...koopas explode, fireballs ricochet and you even have to contend with the awkward feeling of rescuing a different Princess. While far from my favorite, I always respected the game for not trying too hard to emulate the NES Marios. Instead, the (new) development team fully embraced the limited hardware, making up for the small, fuzzy display with some appreciable new ideas and a vibe that still feels completely unique to this day...
The first thing that hits you is the style of the game's graphics: so unapologetically small that you can't help but love them. The tiny button mushrooms, cookie-like brick blocks, squat pipes and goombos (not goombas!) both give off a unique charm and allow the stages a surprising amount of real estate in their wonderful tininess. With submarine/plane shooting stages, mini-games and a greater variety of enemies and bosses, Super Mario Land seems like it would at least be a step above the original Super Mario Brothers. In actually playing it, you'll soon realize why the game continually falls further into obscurity. The physics, while competent, are by far the least engaging of any Mario game I've played. You don't get 3's precision, 2/USA's attribute variances, or even the tough but satisfying momentum of the original Super Mario Brothers, already many years it's junior. It's hard to put a finger on precisely what's wrong, but controlling Mario is just a means to an end, not fun in itself like virtually all his other games. The jiangshi, maoi heads and aliens provide an initial shock, but can't fool the player into believing the game is interesting at a deeper level. The game is worth the $4 not for what's found in the core, but all the weirdness and great little ideas introduced, such as always changing up the crumbling path to the bonus stage door at the end of each stage.
The level design is quite decent for a pre-Super Mario Brothers 3 game, but held back by the Game Boy's display. Just as easy to remember as the childhood amazement of holding an entire machine in your hands was squinting at the blurry green screen, trying to follow the trajectory of the fireballs or spot the spears chucked by the dragonflies. Even if you play the game on an emulator or 3DS, the lack of color and undefined backgrounds make the stages feel particularly claustrophobic, as if most of them take place underground or in a castle. There's still a few areas that are a lot of fun and make the game worth a try, such as the agreeable boldness of the opening stage, all the pleasing little islands to hop on in 2-1, or the underwater shooter stage that conceals some interesting scenery...possibly a reference to the Japanese legend of the "Utsuro-Bune"....
The one part of the game that will never worsen is the music. Birabuto Kingdom, perhaps the best known track of early Nintendo composer Hirokazu "Hip" Tanaka, is so immediately catchy and clever you won't even miss the classic Super Mario Bros theme. Easton Kingdom and Chai Kingdom aren't quite as engaging, but notable for convincingly delivering ancient-Egypt and Chinese style music through the Game Boy's audio. The startlingly basic underground theme works great in complementing the gameplay, as it's slow and plodding mood provides room for the sounds of your fireballs bouncing all around and snagging up coins. Easily forgotten but certainly worth mentioning is an ending theme that sounds rather Megaman-esque, with it's somber opening lulling you down from the recent victory before blasting you back even higher into space.
Like the original Super Mario Brothers, the game can feel rather daunting for the wrong reasons. Completion may take skilled players several days due to the sudden difficulty spikes and lack of a native save system. If you carefully use the save/restore feature of the 3DS, the game can be enjoyed in 30 minutes to an hour and it won't really feel like cheating. Probably spending more time in my imagination or read about in Nintendo Power than actually held in my hands, Super Mario Land played a fun part of my childhood, even just for it's elusiveness. I never owned the original Game Boy and had to rely on friends/relatives occasionally giving me some time with it, heightening the allure and mystery felt towards this strange Mario game. Now actually owning a copy, it's plain to see Super Mario Land is not as great as once believed, but I still appreciate it's existence as the confident and eccentric attempt to help launch the Game Boy.
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