Super Mario Land (1989) for Gameboy

Back when the Nintendo Entertainment System was at it's most popular, Mario was the must play game, being bundled with the system and seeing three instalments by 1989. But what if you didn't have an NES, or had one and didn't have time to play it? If only you could take Mario on the go, outside, in a car on the bus, a portable Mario platformer game.

Well Nintendo obviously thought about this too, when they created the Nintendo Gameboy, a portable handheld system featuring a whole new Mario adventure, Super Mario Land.

Cover art for Super Mario Land

History

Following the success of the Nintendo Entertainment System (NES) it was clear that Nintendo were slowly taking over the gaming industry.

The only real competition Nintendo had at this point in time were Sega, who had their Sega Master System console as well as their newest piece of hardware the Sega Genesis, released in 1989.

The Genesis was more powerful than the NES was, being a 16-bit console whereas the NES was 8-bit. But Nintendo were still leading the way with their games, and were about to throw a curveball into the industry with their next console. The Gameboy.

The original Gameboy model

The Gameboy was a real hit. Having the ability to play video games on the go was really cool for the time, and at an affordable price it did the job. Looking back on it now however is pretty rough. As you can see from the picture above that screen isn't pretty to look at and the picture quality depended heavily on the lighting around you. If you're playing an original Gameboy in anything but a brightly lit room you're hardly going to see a thing.

However at the time it was fine, it did exactly what it was supposed to and it only got better with future versions, most notably being the Gameboy Colour, which featured (can you guess?) colour, and also the Gameboy Advance which had better screen quality and a lit up screen on the Advance SP model.

Games were pretty great on the Gameboy, you of course had Mario Land and then also Tetris, a sequel to Metroid, the first appearance of Kirby, and of course, the birth of the Pokémon franchise.

But we're here to talk about Super Mario Land, what it was like, was it fun and is it still fun to go back to. So without anymore delay let's take a look.

The start up screen

Story

The plot to Super Mario Land isn't anything new or interesting. Mario is rescuing a princess but instead of Princess Peach, Mario is saving Princess Daisy instead. Why he's off saving another woman isn't really explained, maybe he's just a nice guy like that, who knows.

That's pretty much it, you beat the bad guy, a spaceman called Tatanga and save Daisy.

The setting is also different to previous games. Prior to this game, Mario saved the day in the Mushroom Kingdom, whereas in this game he's in a new location called Sarasaland, which is distinct from the previous environments as it features four level themes reminiscent of real life locations. These are Egyptian themed, featuring pyramids and the Sphinx, an ocean theme, an Easter Island theme complete with the head statues and finally an Asian theme, with a bamboo aesthetic.

The worlds are pretty charming and a refreshing change compared to the more outlandish themes of previous games, and in terms of story, you don't need a complex tale for a Mario game, especially a handheld adaption. Overall it brings some interesting stuff to the series, including Daisy herself who went on to be an official part of the cast.

Gameplay

Gameplay in Super Mario Land is weird, but in a good day. It feels like a remixed take on previous instalments, taking recognisable features from them and putting a new spin on it.

For example, in previous entries, the Fireflower power up throws fireballs in front of Mario whereas in this game they arc and bounce off the walls and floors, which comes in handy in a few levels.

Enemies feel fresh too, there are some new foes to face as well as returning and the variation of how they move and attack keeps levels interested, as some are tied directly to the level their from, such as the Sphinx from the Egypt theme level and the projectile shooting seahorses from the ocean themed one.

No enemy is too tricky to figure out which is good and at the same time they're not too easy to blast through, so they strike a good balance in the way they're designed.

But what about the levels themselves? Obviously, since it's a Mario game, it's a platformer, and levels are all designed around jumping from section to section while taking out or avoiding obstacles.

This is where the game starts to get difficult, as the physics for Mario's movement are questionable at points.

In preceding games it was easy to get some momentum going in levels and in my opinion there was more room for mistakes. In Super Mario Land, there are these weird shifts in weight, as walking off a platform makes you fall like a tonne of bricks, whereas jumping gives you a slower descent as you fall. Combine this with small platforms and enemies attacking and there's a lot of room for error.

Run out of lives and you go all the way back to the beginning too so dying late in the game after screwing up a jump can be painful to say the least.

With a bit of practise though and some trial and error you can get through it in under an hour easily and to say it's Mario's first portable game from 1989, it holds up pretty well. I played mine on a Gameboy Color which was enjoyable if not for the hard to see screen, but overall it's fun and it's exactly what a portable Mario should be.

My personal Gameboy Color

Audio

Super Mario Land lacks a bit in the audio department but for good reason. It's on a handheld and you couldn't fit much onto the Gameboy cartridges so it's understandable.

The music is very much Mario music, happy, go-lucky tunes that fit the theme of the worlds their for, especially the fourth world which has Asian themed music which I found to be most recognisable.

Sound effects are exactly what you'd expect, triumphant noise when getting a power up, satisfying sound when jumping on an enemy and the invincibility theme when you pick up a Star is based on French Can-can music which I found funny.

Conclusion

Overall there really isn't much to say about Super Mario Land. It's quirky and different to the normal Mario titles which is great and I'd recommended giving it a go if you get chance.

It has a lot of its own character and you can tell that it's trying to make itself distinct from what players would have seen up to that point from the series.

Also it's Mario's first adventure on a handheld system, something that would continue all the way up to the 3DS albeit under different names.

I'll definitely be trying out other instalments as they made three altogether that all change the formula in their own way.

Currently Super Mario Land is available on the 3DS/2DS as a virtual console title but getting a physical version is cheap and easy. It's a short game but definitely replayable and great to pass some time with.

And with that thank you for reading and stay tuned for future posts! Take care.

The ending victory screen