God, am I old now...

This is not, by any means, my first run through the game—I remember playing it on the console itself a few years after its release, and once again on a PC emulator—but after seeing the title available on Nintendo Switch Online, I decided to wear the nostalgia glasses once again and invest an hour into this little, rusty, clunky title.

Let's make it clear that, besides out of curiosity or nostalgia, "Super Mario Land" (SML) should not be played just for fun—you'd be better off playing its sequel, "Super Mario Land 2: 6 Golden Coins," which is superior in almost every aspect. However, if you're curious about how video games were 35 years ago and how the launch titles for the Game Boy looked, SML offers a glimpse into the early days of handheld gaming. It will take about an hour and a few minutes, and you might even have some fun.

Don't get me wrong, SML is not a bad game—it features a decent variety of enemies, worlds, and situations. It was a solid title in its time, used to showcase the raw power of the Game Boy. However, after numerous polished Mario games that followed, this one feels a bit clunky and dated. The controls are not terrible, but by modern standards, they are not okay either. Sometimes, you feel cheated by them, as they tend to throw you off cliffs or onto enemies unexpectedly. Nintendo and the video game industry have significantly improved controls since then.

The game's visuals are simplistic but charming, with a unique aesthetic that sets it apart from its NES counterparts. The music is catchy despite the hardware limitations.

SML is a piece of gaming history and it should be treated like that. For a more enjoyable experience, go play "Super Mario Land 2: 6 Golden Coins".

Favorite songs from this game:
- https://youtu.be/Tj7-st1KOW4?si=RRvFkVpDkpBpKGKu
- https://youtu.be/Ki0LGuZAelw?si=FIQl5hEb0yFLN205

Beat this game for the first time today, so that feels pretty good. Honestly, the only thing that really stands out is that it's a Mario game and it doesn't really look, sound, or feel like a Mario game. I like the music and the devs did a good job avoiding a problem I have with other handheld platformers where you don't see enough of the screen. It doesn't really do anything wrong per se, but I find I didn't really enjoy it enough to recommend this game to other people in 2024, outside of Mario fans that are curious.

This very much feels like a compressed version of a Mario platform. The controls are very unresponsive and unpredictable, and frankly it just doesn't feel 'good' to jump in this. The levels are short and repetitive, and death results more often from unexpected failures to control Mario rather than from intentional challenges built into the levels.

That being said, the minimalism of Mario Land combined with some truly weird world themes (Egypt, Easter Island, UFOs) create a strangely mysterious tone that leaves you wanting more from this strange world.

Super Mario Land has "Yokoi-team game" written all over it. Creative landscapes, a lot of playfulness in toying with how its character interacts with that world, and fun, but ultimately clumsy and imprecise controls without a lot of forethought. What separates Mario Land from titles like Kid Icarus and Metroid, though, is that it's an incredibly easy game. Twelve levels, bonus areas that throw WAY more coins at you than any other Mario game, a bonus game at the end of every stage that you can't lose that almost guarantees a net swing in lives or power-up when you start the next stage, and at worst you either go neutral in power-up state or gain one life? Fireballs that bounce and shoot UP? Two of the easiest shooter segments you'll find in a game? Mario Land is a game that wants you to complete it, to enjoy it in a little bite sized chunk of about 12 levels, to get as high of a score as possible with your one run as you discover all of its little secrets while still providing just enough of a challenge to get you over that hump. It's the most arcade-like Mario has been since Mario Bros; plus this in an actual cabinet, and I think it translates a lot better than Super Mario Bros itself did as an arcade cab!

As a portable, simplified, wacky version of Super Mario Bros... it certainly feels like another team trying to put their own spin on SMB. Mario's jump is outright off, his momentum dying when he reaches the peak of his arc and letting him pitifully drift to the ground. While running through stages at the high speeds Super Mario Bros allowed for is possible, it's different-feeling, and not quite as good. Mario Land is a game that invites you to take it at a slower pace, and due to that and its general low difficulty, lacks the thrill that mainline Mario platformers and even its sequel can provide. It is probably the dullest, lowest-octane platformer in the entire Mario series, and a clumsy one at that; the moments where it does try to emulate Mario's momentum makes it feel slippery, and can lead to Mario easily tripping off cliffs.

And yet, I begrudge Mario Land less for its failure to be Super Mario Bros than its sequel's failure to be Super Mario World. Mario Land is more of a high-score beginner's game than any other title in the Mario franchise; it keeps everything locked comfortably on screen so players can casually stroll through it in around half an hour at most, and playing it at this more subdued pace, trying to maximize score, I think it's pretty swell! It's got probably the most fun 'end of level goalpost' system of any Mario Land game, and it's fun seeing it translate concepts like Dry Bones to a different location as funny lil' Jiangshi, or riding over pits of spikes on boulders that are revealed to be tossed by a very upset Moai-head king, or the cloud boss that shoots chickens because he's shy and doesn't want to show his face so his projectiles are a representation of himself. Mario Land isn't a great game, but it is nicely representative of the Game Boy's early years as a tiny little time killer to perfect, and that endears me to it more than it reasonably should!

War 1991 mein erstes Game Boy Spiel und liebe auch nach über 30 Jahren nach wie vor die vielen kleinen Unterschiede zu den klassischen Marios. Die Welten, Bosse, Flug oder Unterwasserwelten, alles hat einen ganz individuellen und einzigartigen Stil. Das verwundert allerdings nicht, wenn man sieht, dass das legendäre Research & Development 1 Team rund um Gunpei Yokoi mit der Entwicklung beauftragt war. Spielerisch leider auch etwas kürzer als die damaligen Vorgänger, aber es bietet einen schönen Wiederspielwert. Auch heute noch ein kleiner und feiner Titel, auch wenn ich persönlich nostalgisch viel mit ihm verbinde und vielleicht etwas verklärt zurückblicke.

Playing this game feels like choking on sprite. I love it.

Also on a serious note I think a game with nothing but Mario in a submarine/plane/etc levels would actually be kinda sick? Like I'd play that for sure those levels are the best part of this game.

played on NSO Gameboy (I own the physical game but playing on switch is just easier boohoo)

I suppose there has to be a Mario game which is considered the worst, and by default that is Super Mario Land (I forgot about The Lost Levels when writing this, which speaks for itself about that game). I've come around on this game just because I've got more experience in older games now than when I first played this and really don't think it's a bad game anymore, but the physics and controls do hold it back to the point where there's no other Mario game which could be considered worse. This game does actually have some really good ideas in it such as the theme being a desert, the vehicle sections which are the best way to incorporate auto-scrollers, the music is very lively and even though it was outdated only 3 years later by Mario Land 2 it's still worth trying mostly due to how short it is, and now that it's on the switch it's more convenient to play too.