Super Mario Land
October 29th, 2009
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When I was younger my brother bought a gameboy at a carboot sale along with this game, I thought it was really ace, I would spend hours trying to complete the missions. I recently bought a gameboy advance sp and found mario in the loft. I was suprised to see that I still found it a really amusing game and thought it looked even better in colour. The amazing thing bout gameboy games is how long they last. This game is definately worth buying!!
Rating: 5 / 5
If you’re considering this game, then you probably already know you like this kind of thing. I don’t. It was a way of passing the time back in the days before I discovered more complex forms of gaming. But I can’t say I really ever got much out of it. You’d need the patience of a saint, lightning fast reflexes, and the attention span of a chess grand master to get anywhere. And you’d have to pray that the batteries didn’t run out first. I know I sound like I’m whining because it’s too hard. And I am! I’m sure I could have completed this game if I’d put in the hours to memorise every jump and enemy position, and the learn the Zen-like calm to judge every distance correctly. But there was always so many more interesting and enjoyable things I could be doing.
Look, we all know the formula. This is classic Mario, a side-scrolling platformer. Run along, jump on animals, onto platforms, collect coins, slide down tubes, gain power-ups, fight end of level bosses in an arcade-like style, in the usual attempt to rescue Princess Peach. You can collect and earn lives through grabbing enough coins, and every time you die you regenerate at the start or half-way point of the level, so you can gayly skip into the same misjudged jump again and plunge screaming into the void. There are just not enough lives to make it something the casual gamer can accomplish. Unless you’ve got the skill or the will, the Game Over screen will taunt you over and over again.
If you’ve got the perfectionist touch, the reflexes, the will to stick with it, then you might get somewhere. I just found myself frustrated as time and again I mistimed the unforgiving jumps, or got stuck under blocks, or ran into enemies. I can’t imagine wanting to put so much time and effort into such a basic game, when there are so many more rewarding, exhilarating, story driven games out there, that don’t demand such accuracy throughout. Its old-school, and if you like that type of thing then go for it. But I don’t. There are games on the old Game Boy that I would still say are worth a play (Link’s Awakening isn’t bad), even in light of technological development. This isn’t one of them. For side-scrolling platform/old-school Mario enthusiasts only.
Rating: 2 / 5
It brings back memories, doesn’t it? The original GameBoy, with it’s yucky yellow tinted screen, finds no justice with this game. It doesn’t push the boundaries of its 8 bit graphics, nor does it offer music that isn’t shrill and piercing like a bad front door bell. Yet such annoyances have often provided much fun over the years with this game.
The graphics are that basic that it’s hard to tell whether Mario is touching an enemy when you land/jump, and if he does, you’ll keep asking yourself the same thing… “How was I supposed to see that?”.
Spread across a series of ‘Lands’ (not ‘Worlds’, though theirs absolutely no difference), it looks much like the crazy universe of Super Mario 2 for the NES, but without the sophisticated features of magic potions and power-ups. Indeed – most of this game is simply Jump. Jump. Jump. You might say “Duh, aren’t all Mario games like this?”. They are, but the latter work better on a large TV – just not on a tiny monochrome screen.
It’s certainly addictive, and with similar shortcuts and cross-over points as the original Super Mario Bros, you’ll no doubt keep putting the GameBoy down, then picking it up 5 minutes later…
Rating: 3 / 5
this is the best ever mario game in the series. It has 4 levels but they’re all fascinating with funky tunes and the enemies you see here an there.This in an incredible game of its time and deserves the hours played . It’s awesome! The only frustrating thing is that you can’t save. overall it is a game worthy of it’s place and the first ever game to begin the gameboy era! I can also say that it is still growing and a true hit!!
Rating: 4 / 5
At this moment in time http://www.amazon.co.uk do not have a page where you can review Super Mario Land 2: 6 Gold Coins separately, so I’m going to do reviews for both games Super Mario Land 1 & Super Mario Land 2: 6 Gold Coins!
Super Mario Land 1
Super Mario Land 1 is the first Mario game to be released for the Nintendo Game Boy Handheld console! It is also the first game not to be made by Mario director Shigeru Miyamoto. It is actually directed by Gunpei Yokoi (Whom sadly passed away in October 1997!)
Even though this game is not created by Shiggy himself, today, Super Mario Land is known to be one of the most successful Mario games released ever as it has sold 18.4 Million Copies worldwide!
In Super Mario Land the evil Tatanga kidnaps Princess Daisy and orders her for marriage. Our hero Mario hears the terrible news and abandons the Mushroom Kingdom and jumps into Sarasa Land. It’s up to Mario to save Princess Daisy before the ceremony begins!
Unlike the other Mario games. This game is based in a different world known as The Sarasa Land. There are four worlds in the game, each containing three levels.
The game play is more or less the same as Super Mario Bros 1 and there are a couple of enemies which are familiar as well such as Goombas and Koopa Troopas. There are also some new enemies as well including Egyptian Lions, Spiders, Squids, Birds and Kung-Fu Fighting People which can be squashed for a short time. Mario’s Power-Ups are also available for purchase as well including Mushrooms and the Fire Flowers!
I’ve also discovered that there is also a hard difficulty game mode to complete once all the four worlds are complete, so using a hour or more I’ve managed to complete all 8 Worlds on the Game Boy Player for the Nintendo Gamecube!
My Personal Gaming Score: 9.8/10: Descent, Extreme, Not Far Off For That 10/10 Score
My Wish: It’s a shame that this game didn’t have a save unit so that you can save you’re progress instead of going through all the 8 Worlds in a day! This is the same problem we had with Super Mario Bros 1. But alas, that doesn’t stop ourselves from exploring the game!
Final Comments: Overall I found this game entering and a change towards Super Mario Bros 1. If there’s anybody whose interested about my status, my ending score of the game is 275670 for Normal Mode and 282930 on Hard Mode!
Super Mario Land 2: 6 Gold Coins
Super Mario Land 2: 6 Gold Coins is the sequel game towards Super Mario Land 1 for the Game Boy! Unlike Super Mario Land 1, Super Mario Land 2 takes things a few stages further. In Super Mario Land 2, a new villain named Wario takes control of Mario’s Castle and turns Mario’s Land into disaster whilst Mario was rescuing Princess Daisy in Sarasa Land! In order to stop Wario, Mario must recover the 6 Golden Coins throughout Mario Land to gain access to Wario’s Castle and boot Wario out of the castle and restore it to Mario’s Original State!
The game mostly takes it’s graphics from Super Mario Bros 1 for the NES and Super Mario World for the SNES! Like Super Mario Land 1, Super Mario Land 2 was not created by Shigeru Miyamoto, but was directed by Gunpei Yokoi again.
Most of the enemies are easily recognisable from the old Mario games as well, for instance the Goombas and Koopa Troops’s debut again and new enemies appear as well such as the Space Pig, Boneless Fishes, Witches, Worms, and much more!
Mario will also witness some classical Power-Ups such as Mushrooms, Fire-Flowers and Stars and plus a new power-up as well, The Carrot, which gives Mario two bunny rabbit ears and allows Mario to glide across by tapping the A Button repeatidly!
A advantage in Super Mario Land 2: 6 Gold Coins is that the game contains a backup Memory Unit which allows you to save you’re game progress. Up to 3 People can save data on one cartridge! Which is just what you need as 30 Levels await you!
My Personal Game Score: 9.9/10 – Too Good, Too Brilliant, Too Close For A Fantastic 10/10 Score!
My Wish: I would like to see a Mario game which re-makes this classic adventure game. For example putting Mario in 3D Graphics, 3D Backgrounds, Enemies and much more!
Final Comments: Overall Super Mario Land 2: 6 Gold Coins is a excellent game, and I can even remember having my first Black And White Game Boy Console for Christmas when I was about 6-7 Years Old and kept on playing this game endlessly for hours! That was until the batteries expired!
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Rating: 5 / 5