Super Mario Land

"Mindless Mario fun."

There is an unwritten rule somewhere that says that any Nintendo system has to have a Mario game at its launch(Even the Virtual Boy had one). The Game Boy was no exception and this was one on its first titles. Since the Game Boy had limited hardware the first Mario game for the system was more old schoolish and it played and looked like the original Super Mario Bros on the NES. Instead of Bowser Mario has to face this alien whose name escapes my mind and he has to rescue Princess Daisy(Let's hope Peach does not get word of this). They also include some shooter aspects with either a submarine or an airplane and to this day it has not been done in any other Mario game. Well anyway some of this stuff may seem a little off to Mario players but it was still fun(If short lived). Some of the regular enemies return here including the Goombas and the Pirhana Plants and instead of shooting Fire when he gets a flower Mario shoots out Superballs that bouce off of walls and could collect coins in high areas. Well shall we get on.

Graphics
They look like the ones from Super Mario Bros on the NES. The graphics were just okay though and I could understand that since this was a very early Game Boy game. Most of the animation is only two frames which is also understandble and I will give it the same excuse that I gave above.

Gameplay
Mario starts up in an Egypt type level,then to an ocean port(with a submarine shooter at the end),then to what seems like Easter Island,then it is off to an oriental themed level(At the end you jump into the airplane to fight the alien who kidnapped Daisy). At the end of each level there are two exits one at the top and one at the bottom. Once you get to the end of the third stage in that level you will face a boss and you can either jump on a switch to destroy him at the other side or you can kill him with superballs(Like how you could defeat Bowser in the first SMB). When you beat the game you could play on hard mode and as you can tell it is harder. The game is a little short though since there are only 4 level with 3 stages in each one but it is fun.

Sound
Well the music is okay and the sound effects are the same thing. When you hit one of the bosses with a superball they make this annoying scream which they should have taken out. By the way does the sound of when you pause the game sound familar because it should because it is the same sound used when you paused the game in Tetris(Pretty weird).

Control
Do you have a problem with moving Mario around with the control pad or with his jumping because you shouldn't. In fact there is only a two button scheme so there is no excuse that you should not know the control.

Replay
The hard mode adds some spice and if you beat the hard mode you will get a level select option. There is no save feature so you have to beat the game in one setting. They should have made it a little longer though and it is easy to beat the game somewhat so the replay value is moderate.

Final Word
Go ahead this is a good Mario game that does provide some entertainment. If you want something a little longer then that is a different story though but it is a good game to kill some time off. Go ahead and try it.

Reviewer's Score: 7/10, Originally Posted: 04/25/01, Updated 04/25/01