Super Mario Land

The Good
For being one of the very first Game Boy games, the music in this game is fantastic. Every track (maybe aside from the boss music) is really good and I have fond memories of the first stage music. The music that plays in the third level of each world (incorrectly referred to as Easton Kingdom in the soundtrack) is my favorite. The whole game is very derivative but honestly I kinda like it. Most of the classic Mario powerups and enemies are gone and replaced with unique enemies not found in any other Mario game (don't confuse the Goomba-looking things for Goombas, because they aren't!) and the Super Ball is actually quite a fun powerup that I'm surprised didn't see any sort of reference to until Mario Maker 2, to my knowledge. Also, this game's version of Koopas explode, so that's fun. My favorite part of the game was the shmup sections, which are genuinely quite good and add a bit of a nice break from the platforming.

The Bad
This is where it goes downhill. The platforming is absolutely horrendous. I don't know if it's just me that sucks at it or if it's just bad but it feels very stiff, almost as if you have to stick to your jump (although you don't have to). The enemies can be rather brutal, too, so having a mushroom is key to getting anywhere. I posted this review under 3DS as I played the game through the 3DS's Virtual Console. I'm so glad that I did because goodness gracious, I had to CONSTANTLY use restore points. I got tons of cheap deaths because of the stiff platforming. The bosses are also rather hard, ESPECIALLY the final boss who's constantly firing bullets at you. This is a Mario game, not a bullet hell! The game is also rather short, but in my case I couldn't be happier that it's short because it felt like an eternity to beat.

The Bottom Line
If you're a Mario die-hard, check this game out. It's a unique game in the franchise that broke many of the rules set in place by previous Mario games (being even more deviant than the American Mario 2 in some cases). However if you're new to the franchise and are looking for somewhere to start, avoid this. The brutal platforming and difficulty is infuriating at times.

The Good
This was one of the first games I ever bought for the Gameboy, my first video game system. I've probably beaten the game half a dozen times, and even attempted to beat the challenging secondary mode.

Mario was a little different in this game than in any of his others. Alot of his enemies were based on real life characters, such as monks and statues. Another first for Mario was that he got to pilot two different vehicles: a submarine and a spaceship.

And hands down it has the best Mario boss: a fire breathing lion.

The Bad
Being one of the first games designed on this system, the platforming mechanic is very unforgiving. Mario is really small, and the blocks he needs to jump on do not have any extra room. Pinpoint jumping ability is needed in this game, and much frustration can come out of it.

The Bottom Line
While Mario's first foray in handhelds is not perfect, it is however a classic game. Not as good as it's followup, it nonetheless provides an excellent beginner game on Gameboy, as well as giving you a prime example of just how far video games have come in recent years.

The Good
Being one of the first games released on the 'Brick' as I like to call it, Super Mario Land isn't a bad shot by Nintendo to re-create Super Mario Bros. At least here they've added a new story line and some updated characters to the mix.

The game plays fairly neat, although compared to nearly every modern platform game it doesn't fair well, so I won't start with that. Controlling Mario is a breeze, and some of the later levels include a few things the rest of the Mario series has never really gone into since, vehicles. Underwater or in space, it's all here, which is a nice diversion from the same old platform environment.

The Bad
The graphics are the real down side here. Everything seems so small, which can at times make it difficult to see what's going on. The only character that seems well done is Bowser, who you only see every once in a while.

And, as is usually the case with a majority of the original Game Boy titles, the music doesn't hold much either. There are a few harkbacks to the original Mario Bros score, but it's all just beeps and a little noise here and there, nothing much to shout home about.

The Bottom Line
Even to this day, I get this out for a quick game or two. It's a nice, simple and addictive little platformer, and although the graphics and sound are far from brilliant, it doesn't really matter.

The Good
I have to admit I'm not a fan of platformers, and this is one of the few that I've played until completion when I got it new. Just the sheer mind-numbing series of timed jumps and such just drives me to distraction with no real feeling of completion when it's over.

Mario Land does the what it does well though, and is a solid piece of classic platformer action, complete with annoying tune. The game is obviously very linear, and flows smoothly across as you try and complete the game in one sitting, attempting to gain the graceful arc of jumping in the correct sequence to avoid bumping into the wrong things. It's really something for kids to enjoy, not that that's a negative thing.

The graphics are simple and do the job admirably, you can tell all the characters apart easily and what will happen well enough.

The Bad
Of course the game is repetitive and very long as you have to play in one session, meaning a good few hours of thumb mashing to get it done, the only break you got would be to press pause and walk away without switching the Game Boy off.

The Bottom Line
Not really a game that anyone will play any more, unless you're obsessed by playing every Mario game. This does provide a good example of a solid game from the era when the platformer was the king genre, but nowadays it's an empty enjoyment. Of course when I played it as a child I was amazed that I actually completed a computer game.

The Good
This is the brain-child of Legendary Nintendo Innovator Gunpei Yokoi, so you can expect it to be a bit different, such as the SuperBall power, newer and stranger enemies, and the cool shmup-like vehicle stages!

The Bad
Pretty short but that is fine with high replayabilty.

The Bottom Line
Must play for those who want to play one of the very best 2D mario games along with its sequel.

The Good
As you probably noticed by now, I'm extremely biased towards the kind of games that keep you nailed to your seat for hours at a time. Super Mario Land is one of them, and being one of the first games to ever come out for the Game Boy (not to mention a mandatory game in any Game Boy fan's collection), it does so with extreme perfection.

While the graphics in Super Mario Land aren't stunning, they're at the least pleasing to the eye, and more importantly, they're faithful to the original NES classic. The music is nothing short of wonderful, a testament to true Game Boy programming prowess (limited FM sound hardware producing excellent sound tracks), as it is in every Mario game in history.

Level design is excellent, with the typical Super Mario plethora of tunnels, bizarre secret areas and hidden blocks; still it improves on the old NES classic with some underwater levels and an Egyptian level. Bosses are not overly difficult, which provides for smooth, non-frustrating gameplay. Controls are excellent as usual (though only on the Game Boy itself - they're horrible on an emulator).

In short, Super Mario Land is a good, fun game!

The Bad
No save option (unlike in 6 Golden Coins, it's sequel), so unless you intend to spend a few hours on it, don't even bother to start a game.

The Bottom Line
Extremely well-made platform game. Heartily recommended!

The Good
The levels in this game are pretty well designed. There are memorable moments like the submarine level (think Mario meets R-Type) and the boulder jumping in kingdom 3. The music is pretty memorable albeit a bit repetitive. Another nice thing about Super Mario Land is since it takes place outside the mushroom kingdom, the enemies are a bit different than your normal fare. The Koopa Trooper-esque enemies turn into time bombs after you squash them. There are also some interesting bosses here such as a seahorse and a sphinx.

The Bad
The controls are NOT like the console Mario games of the same era. It will take players a while to get used to the controls. Jumps need to be very precise and, often times, you'll wonder why you couldn't make it to a platform that seemed relatively easy to reach.

Also, the length of the game is unacceptable. Coming in at a mere 12 levels, this game will not last long once it is mastered. Granted this is a first generation title for Nintendo's first cartridge-based handheld, but it just seems like the game could've had a few more levels.

The Bottom Line
A nice start for the Mario Land franchise, but it has not aged well whereas the console titles have. Try it for the historical significance more than the game itself.

The Good
The all time favorite NES classic comes to the gameboy with even more wonderful surprises. The sound is platform game traditional. Like most Super Mario games the gameplay comes to us in the best form. You can't exactly say that the graphics are good, but for some reason I like them very much. The game provides endless hours of entertainment ( that is if you can survive that long :-) ), everything about this game is classical, I think that this kind of platform is way better than apogee style platformers (I have nothing against apogee.)

The Bad
You can't save the game.

The Bottom Line
Mario, our favorite superhero/plumber has again delivered the best of action, and platform gaming with an adventurous storyline. 5 out of 5 and 3 cheers for Nintendo.

The Good
Since the general idea has been used, and probably reviewed at MobyGames, many times, I will not comment to much on that. The graphics were very good with no lack in details. The same can be said for the environments. I spent half the time looking at the background instead of looking at Mario. At times the game could get difficult, but the very good controls help you get out of the tricky situations. The levels varied much from each other, extending the durability of the game.

The Bad
As before the story was to rescue Daisy from the bad guys. It would have been great to have a different story. But enough about that... The sound effects was one of the few things that could have been better. Whenever an explosion happened it sounded like someone scraped to cookies against each other.

The Bottom Line
If you have played other games with Mario, then this game will probably not interest you much. But true Mario-lovers will love this game.