Super Mario Land
Description official descriptions
Super Mario Land, the plumber's first outing on the Game Boy, is a side-scrolling platformer much in the vein of the previous Super Mario Bros. This time, Mario must save Princess Daisy, rather than Princess Toadstool, from her kidnapper, Tatanga, a mysterious spaceman.
The game follows largely the same formula of its aforementioned predecessor, with Mario defeating enemies by jumping on them and collecting coins and power ups by hitting floating blocks, with each world leading up to a boss fight which is defeated using by collapsing the floor. A unique feature of this instalment is two scrolling shoot-'em-up levels, the first of which Mario pilots a submarine, and the second an aeroplane.
Spellings
- スーパーマリオランド - Japanese spelling
Groups +
Screenshots
Promos
Videos
Add Trailer or Gameplay Video +1 point
See any errors or missing info for this game?
You can submit a correction, contribute trivia, add to a game group, add a related site or alternate title.
Credits (Game Boy version)
13 People (8 developers, 5 thanks)
Producer | |
Director | |
Programmer | |
Design |
|
Sound | |
Amida | |
Special Thanks To |
|
Reviews
Critics
Average score: 79% (based on 36 ratings)
Players
Average score: 3.8 out of 5 (based on 143 ratings with 9 reviews)
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.
Nintendo 3DS · by a32bitmint (61) · 2022
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.
Game Boy · by Christ is White (15) · 2023
Nintendo's average superhero/plumber strikes again!
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.
Game Boy · by Jim Fun (207) · 2001
Trivia
Ambassadors of Funk
The main music to World 1 was used in a single called Supermarioland and was released by Ambassadors of Funk Featuring MC Mario in 1992, which reached #8 in the UK Singles Chart.
Locations
This is the only Mario game to include real world locations and enemies. Examples include fire breathing sphinxes, Chinese vampires, and the stone heads that appear in island nations. It is also the only Mario game that lets you pilot a submarine and airplane.
Manual
The manual for the U.S. version still lists all the enemies with their original Japanese names.
Information also contributed by STU2
Analytics
Upgrade to MobyPro to view research rankings!
Identifiers +
Contribute
Are you familiar with this game? Help document and preserve this entry in video game history! If your contribution is approved, you will earn points and be credited as a contributor.
Contributors to this Entry
Game added by Tomer Gabel.
Nintendo 3DS added by ResidentHazard.
Additional contributors: Satoshi Kunsai, Alaka, gamewarrior, FatherJack.
Game added June 13, 2001. Last modified March 4, 2024.