Super Mario Land
Game by Nintendo
Reviewed by gremmlin
gremmlin@mindless.com
Size: 512 Kilobits
Save: None.
Released: 1989
Works with: All Game Boy systems.

Opening Snide Remarks: Mario Land was the first GameBoy game I got. When I
first got it, I remember sucking at it. I mean, I played through the first
level and got frustrated when I kept getting killed. But I was persistent
because I loved it so much.

Gameplay: Classic Mario Brothers fare. You go through 2D platforming levels
jumping on guys. The boss of the game is Tatanga, who holds Princess Daisy
captive. There are twelve levels in the game, with three per world. Every
world has a boss at the end, and they're usually pretty easy. One flaw is
that you usually don't even have to play the boss because you can avoid them
by running to the switch at the end of the level. There is no energy meter,
but when you eat a Super Mushroom and become Super Mario, you will change
back to normal Mario (instead of dying) when hit. There are two auto
scrolling levels. In one, you navigate a little submarine and the other has
you flying a plane.

Graphics: How good can it look? Everything is pretty small (the size of
everything in the Mario/Wario series has gotten noticeably bigger every game)
and the sprites are strictly to get the point across. Absolutely no frills
here, but not bad by any means.

Sound: It's really average and forgettable. It sounds like some of them were
taken straight from Mario 3 for NES.

Music: The music of The first few levels is pretty kewl. Even better than
that, the later one's have some excellent music. I especially like the third
world music.

Play Control: Of course, Mario controls as good as a game can. It's not too
loose, but not overly tight, and works perfectly.

Final Analysis: If you don't already have it, get Super Mario Land now. I'm
amazed by how many people don't have this game. I still play it today, trying
to beat my previous high score (the elimination of scoring is one of the
biggest travesties of modern gaming). I think that it's a better game than
any of the other Mario/Wario games, in all but game length. Buy or die.

Score
Gameplay: * * * * *
Graphics: * * * *
Sound: * * *
Music: * * * * *
Play Control: * * * * *
Total: 22 x 4 = 88

Final Score: 88%