Nintendo has always been overly protective of its franchises, but in a year where they made more than a billion dollars with a film that attempts little more than a barrage of "hey, recognize this from that game?"-moments for ninety minutes straight, they seem to be more occupied than ever with the recognizability of their most lucrative brand. Playing Super Mario Land against this backdrop in 2023, it feels refreshing to discover how little regard a Mario game could have had for aesthetic continuity with the rest of the series more than thirty years ago. The adventure takes place in a different kingdom after all, and that is all the justification the game needs to throw some of the weirdest combinations of settings and characters at you. In only twelve levels, Mario faces a roster of enemies that includes skeleton fish, robots, aliens, hopping tarantulas, running moai heads and zombies from Chinese folklore. What’s more, the few returning enemies like Goombas and Koopas have been considerably shrunk down in size, as if to demonstrate their diminished relevance. The fact that Koopas turn into time bombs when jumped upon could almost be seen as an act of anarchic rebellion against the conformity that most other Mario games have unfortunately succumbed to over the decades. Tellingly, the only element from Super Mario Land that stuck with the franchise is princess Daisy, but only years later in her revised form as Peach in a different flavor. Apart from that, the entirety of Sarasaland has been banned to the realm of lore that is merely mentioned in future games to give an extra talking point to the "did you know?"-gamers.
However, I would be cautious not to overestimate the audiovisual idiosyncrasy on display here. One of the core strengths of the Mario series has always been how little sense its world made. There is almost nothing tying together its different components, they simply have been shown in the same combination so frequently that it has become the most natural thing to see an Italian plumber jump against floating blocks to pick up flowers that let him shoot fire balls at walking mushrooms. And while most spin-off titles content themselves with repeating the same formular over and over again, the main series has never shied away from introducing the most outlandish new elements into the mix without ever jumping the shark. Remember the initial outcry provoked by the reveal that regular sized human beings were to be a part of Super Mario Odyssey? Somehow this appeared to be the most jarring decision in a game that later advertised itself with a literal T-Rex out of nowhere. Yet upon release, the human world New Donk City quickly became one of the most beloved levels in the whole series. Nintendo has simply gotten extraordinarily good at integrating the most disparate pieces into a coherent experience. In comparison, Super Mario Land seems less like an act of aesthetic defiance than a mixture of lack of experience with the new hardware and poor game design.
I never thought I would finish a 2D-Mario game without ever using the run button. You never need it and the change in speed is so devoid of any sense of momentum that if feels more like you accidentally pressed the speed-up button instead. The game’s version of the Fire Flower also manages to always shoot its projectile at the least useful angle. It still technically works as a platformer, but there is nothing to get excited about. Levels tend to loop the same sequence of obstacles multiple times in a row before moving on, with only minimal variation between iterations. The only "original" ideas are two of the blandest Shoot 'em up levels I have ever played. In the end, Super Mario Land neither succeeds at adapting the elements it tries to carry over from previous games, nor does it establish an interesting identity of its own.
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More Super Mario reviews
Super Mario Bros.
Super Mario Bros. Deluxe
Super Mario Bros. 3
However, I would be cautious not to overestimate the audiovisual idiosyncrasy on display here. One of the core strengths of the Mario series has always been how little sense its world made. There is almost nothing tying together its different components, they simply have been shown in the same combination so frequently that it has become the most natural thing to see an Italian plumber jump against floating blocks to pick up flowers that let him shoot fire balls at walking mushrooms. And while most spin-off titles content themselves with repeating the same formular over and over again, the main series has never shied away from introducing the most outlandish new elements into the mix without ever jumping the shark. Remember the initial outcry provoked by the reveal that regular sized human beings were to be a part of Super Mario Odyssey? Somehow this appeared to be the most jarring decision in a game that later advertised itself with a literal T-Rex out of nowhere. Yet upon release, the human world New Donk City quickly became one of the most beloved levels in the whole series. Nintendo has simply gotten extraordinarily good at integrating the most disparate pieces into a coherent experience. In comparison, Super Mario Land seems less like an act of aesthetic defiance than a mixture of lack of experience with the new hardware and poor game design.
I never thought I would finish a 2D-Mario game without ever using the run button. You never need it and the change in speed is so devoid of any sense of momentum that if feels more like you accidentally pressed the speed-up button instead. The game’s version of the Fire Flower also manages to always shoot its projectile at the least useful angle. It still technically works as a platformer, but there is nothing to get excited about. Levels tend to loop the same sequence of obstacles multiple times in a row before moving on, with only minimal variation between iterations. The only "original" ideas are two of the blandest Shoot 'em up levels I have ever played. In the end, Super Mario Land neither succeeds at adapting the elements it tries to carry over from previous games, nor does it establish an interesting identity of its own.
__________________
More Super Mario reviews
Super Mario Bros.
Super Mario Bros. Deluxe
Super Mario Bros. 3