Trying to top Super Mario Bros. 3 or Super Mario World on inferior hardware was never going to be an option. Mario had been refined to such a high degree with these two that Nintendo didn't even bother making new traditional Mario games until 2005. That is, of course, with the exception of this particular game in 1992. Super Mario Land 2 is somewhat challenging to talk about since it's merely an above-average platformer released after two megalithic titles sharing the same DNA shook the world. Super Mario Land 2 does, however, have it's younger brother, Super Mario Land, to compare itself to. While the first Super Mario Land felt like a solid effort to work on new hardware, Super Mario Land 2 feels like the end result of everything the team had learned. Super Mario Land 2 is extremely clean and creative and responsive enough to warrant the status of being one of the best games on the Gameboy. That comment is, unfortunately, more of a remark towards the lack of quality in the Gameboy library than it is a positive remark towards the game itself. Which sucks, because it's a great game! The game itself is a bit hampered by limitations of the hardware. You only get four upgrades, the mushroom, power star, fire flower, and the carrot, with the carrot being the only brand new power. Unfortunately, the carrot is pretty boring to use, functioning almost identically to the tanooki suit while removing the ability to do your spin jump. The game also implemented a way to spend coins to gamble on bonuses, but it mostly resulted in gaining more lives. Given this is one of the easiest Mario games, you don't really need all too many lives. Yeah, it's clear they were struggling to make these variables work together in a unique way. They'd move the brand around a bit, with Super Mario Land 3 being a Wario Land game, while Super Mario World 2 was actually the start of a new Yoshi franchise. Nintendo would completely skip releasing anything beyond ports throughout the entirety of the GBC and GBA lifespans. Kind of a waste too, since I lied earlier, and we've seen the formulas for SMB3 and SMW expanded upon quite significantly from various hacking communities. I dunno about Mario on Gameboy though, I think never having him return for a 2D adventure here would've resulted in the same damn game. 4/6