Thanks to Hamada for helping with edits.
Few franchises enjoy the longevity or prestige of Super Mario. Shigeru Miyamoto’s “fortune character” is a trendsetting icon, one who laid the groundwork for the platformer genre in 1981 via Donkey Kong. In 1985, he rose the bar with Super Mario Bros., setting a new standard for platformers—a practice plenty of his subsequent outings upheld. This isn’t to say the plumber’s record is perfect, of course. Super Mario Sunshine has its critics (I’m one of them), and though opinion of Super Mario 3D World today is favorable, reaction to its announcement wasn’t. Many fans have also criticized the relatively sterile New Super Mario Bros. sub-series, whose aesthetics helped define the broader franchise for over a decade. Nevertheless, Super Mario is synonymous with quality: you can be confident a game bearing that title will be fun. Having played all of them, I wouldn’t say any are outright bad.
Image: Source Gaming. Where Nintendo EAD (now EPD) helmed most mainline Mario games under Miyamoto, Nintendo R&D1 is behind this one. That explains a lot about it.
Today, that standard leaves 1989’s Super Mario Land, the hero’s first “traditional” handheld adventure, in an unflattering position. To be blunt, the Game Boy launch title ranks among Mario’s weakest mainline outings mechanically. Virtually everything that’s succeeded Land surpasses it, as does Super Mario Bros. 3 of one year prior. Even the original Super Mario Bros., which Land draws from and compares to most easily, is easier to pick up and play.
The controls in Super Mario Bros. employ a clear logic: Mario can walk, run, and jump, and the longer you hold the jump button, the higher he leaps. It doubles as Mario’s primary attack; one hop kills the fragile Goombas and causes Koopa Troopas to recede into their shells, which you can then kick into oncoming enemies (later threats are spiky, so attempting to stomp them hurts you). Stages also contain bottomless pits; larger ones require you to run for a spell beforehand to give Mario enough momentum to safely hop over them. Mario’s horizontal inertia doesn’t completely dissipate if you try adjusting his trajectory while midair, though you can tweak it by holding the D-pad in the opposite direction. Scoring the Fire Flower power-up allows Mario to throw fireballs, a projectile attack that pierces through tougher terrors. And, of course, Mario 2 and 3 tightened the plumber’s physics and added more depth through new movement abilities.
Image: Source Gaming. The now-iconic Super Mushroom returns, which doubles Mario’s size and lets him tank one hit. A Super Star briefly makes him invincible—handy, as they’re often placed before hazard-heavy sprints. Collecting one hundred coins yields an extra life, too.
Super Mario Land does inherit its big brother’s control scheme. You use a D-pad to move. Pressing the A button lets Mario jump, and he’ll leap higher if you hold it (jump height is fixed after leaping off enemies, however). Holding the B button lets Mario run; pressing it chucks a projectile when applicable. However, Mario’s physics are less precise. On land, the merry mascot accelerates surprisingly fast. Stepping off a platform causes him to plummet like a rock. Midair control in Mario Land, meanwhile, is oddly flexible: by pressing or holding the D-pad in the opposite direction after jumping, you can respectively drop straight down or change directions with little resistance. Altogether, Mario feels unsatisfying, weightless. Almost like a cheap knockoff of his Super Mario Bros. self, to say nothing of how its refined him.
That off-kilter mood is complemented by the many concessions R&D1 had to make. Foregoing his usual Fire Flowers, Mario instead grabs Superball Flowers. He can only throw one “superball” at a time, whereas Mario could chuck two fireballs in quick succession, and they’re much bouncier; hitting enemies requires carefully ricocheting the projectiles off surfaces or waiting until they’re right in your face (in a kind amelioration, any coins hit by a superball are automatically collected). Most baddies are brand new and designed around the Game Boy’s harsh hardware limitations. After stomping on a Bombshell Koopa, the first and most overt example, their shell becomes stationary for a few seconds before exploding—Mario can’t kick ‘em. 1-Up Mushrooms are replaced by functionally identical hearts, presumably because rendering two distinct mushrooms wasn’t feasible on the monochromatic handheld. Even familiar iconography looks off-model, enhancing the sense that we’re exploring foreign lands.
Image: Source Gaming. Some baddies—Bombshell Koopas, Goombos, Bullet Biffs—are off-brand versions of typical Mario baddies, adding to the surreality. Even the returning Piranha Plants are nigh unrecognizable.
Make no mistake, though—this is a bona fide Super Mario side-scroller. Sarasaland is the setting this time. Although it’s far removed from the Mushroom Kingdom, it still follows Super Mario Bros.’ example and whisks the hero through a bevy of fantastical, short stages. Most of its levels hit familiar notes: you’ll dash across platforms, bop blocks to score goodies, and jump atop or evade enemies. Warp Pipes return; some can be entered by pressing down and lead to safe rooms full of coins. Gradually, Mario Land grows more difficult: chasms grow wider, platforms less reliable (many plummet straight down a mere second after you land on them), hazards more plentiful and durable. However, Land is shorter than its console counterparts, only hosting four worlds with three levels apiece. A few levels contain alternate paths, brief splits that require Mario to be small or large to access. It’s a nice idea but does little to further replayability.
Most levels end when you reach a tall tower. They have two exits, one on the ground and an elevated one that demands performing tricky platforming to reach. A simple minigame rewards those who succeed: there are four levels, Mario and a ladder move along them quickly, and pressing a button causes them to stop. Then Mario heads towards his prize, a Superball Flower or one to three extra lives. The final levels in Worlds 1 through 3 automatically let you play, letting you recoup potential losses after beating their bosses (more on those later).
Image: Source Gaming. Once you master Mario’s wonky midair momentum, you can drop straight onto platforms, even moving ones, with relative ease. Iffy controls and frame rate (Land chugs when three enemies are on screen) notwithstanding, this is a breezy, easy affair.
Mario 3 introduced the concept of themed worlds, one Land follows: its exotic locale consists of four kingdoms that are, in order, based on Egypt, Bermuda, Easter Island, and China. Although villain Tatanga has common mooks that appear across the game, many of his grunts are tailored around their homes: sphinxes spit fire, mobile Moai try tackling you, and jumping alone won’t kill the undead Jiangshi. And Super Mario Land breaks new ground by plopping Mario in two vehicles, a submarine and airplane. The last levels in Worlds 2 and 4 are horizontal shooters where you can freely move in any direction. Where the previous Super Mario romps maintained greater aesthetic and mechanical cohesion, this one frequently, excitedly presents new ideas.
Which, naturally, informs its bosses. Unlike Super Mario Bros., each world here closes with a unique boss. Giant sphinx King Totomesu of World 1 moves vertically and shoots fireballs. Retaliate with superballs or dash to and press the switch near the menace to instantly KO him à la Bowser. World 2’s seahorse Dragonzamasu fights similarly; the fact you fight him while manning a missile-shooting submarine doesn’t alter the ordeal too much. Stationary Moai Hiyoihoi of World 3 tosses boulders Mario can jump atop to reach his switch, an actual test of one’s platforming prowess. Superballs are also effective, of course. World 4 iterates on 2 and initially pits you against a cloud-covered creep who can move across the whole screen. Then, a twist: Tatanga emerges after he’s defeated! Although the alien interloper is less mobile, his firepower is considerably more dangerous—and neither of these threats have switches, meaning you must fight them. Overall, Tatanga and his generals are on par with the Koopa King in complexity, but they’re visually refreshing and mechanically more diverse.
Image: Source Gaming. Super Mario Bros.’ iconic ground theme is alluded to, but Land’s score is otherwise wholly new; not even the usual Super Star leitmotif carries over. Nintendo maestro Hirokazu “Hip” Tanaka got to cut loose!
More ties Super Mario Land to its predecessors. The wonderfully pesky Flies evoke the Fighter Flies of the 1983 Mario Bros. The first underground coin room is an homage to its equivalent from Super Mario Bros. Your quest ends after you save another hapless princess, Daisy, and the first three worlds even end with you learning she’s being held captive elsewhere. Once you finally rescue her, another run through Land begins that’s rife with more enemies; it’s reminiscent of Super Mario Bros.’ second quest (clearing it unlocks a level select, a welcome bonus).
And Super Mario Land enriched the greater franchise. Tatanga returns in its direct sequel, Super Mario Land 2: 6 Golden Coins (which also introduced Wario, one of Nintendo’s richest characters). Daisy later became a mainstay in the endless glutton of Mario spin-offs, always eager to compete for the gold. And though its iconography doesn’t reemerge as often as that of other, more influential entries, stuff from Land still crops up. Super Smash Bros. Brawl and various Mario games remix its music. The Super Mario Maker titles draw from it; the second kindly reintroduces the Superball Flower. A few WarioWares include “Microgames” based on Land. The Mario attraction at Super Nintendo World borrows its name, as does the Mario Land of Mario Party 2. Even the brand new Mario Kart World lovingly honors Land! And the list goes on. Plus, Mario Land can be seen as the harbinger for later “Land” titles and some indie outings. Super Mario Land occupies a proud place in the medium’s history.
Image: Source Gaming. Series stalwarts Bowser and Peach are entirely absent here. Land released after Super Mario’s style had largely calcified, and it’s fascinating examining what elements R&D1 kept and tossed aside.
When I think of Super Mario Land, its bright box art always springs to mind first. It’s vibrant, showing a handful of fresh faces and ideas. The blurb about this being his “best adventure yet” is mere marketing copy… but even that still has a kernel of truth to it. See, it’s easy to forget this today when console-quality games are readily available on the go, but handheld gaming before 1989 was characterized by simple Game & Watch LCD titles. Eclipsing them in complexity and scope was all Mario Land needed to do to impress, and though its problems are glaring now, it successfully did its job.
Yes, Super Mario Land is quite hard to recommend today. If you stumble upon a cheap copy or have a Nintendo Switch Online membership, then by all means give it a shot. It deserves that much. Still, I love this strange side-scroller. When it hit the Nintendo 3DS eShop, I instantly downloaded it and had a blast! Land was a breath of fresh air after the artistically underwhelming New games, a charming reminder of how wonderful it is when Mario traverses bizarre, outlandish realms. Super Mario Odyssey and Wonder embrace that ideal wholeheartedly. Even Sunshine and, to a lesser extent, 3D World did as well. And that lesson will undoubtedly continue to serve him well.
Image: Source Gaming. Strange that it took over seven years for me to cover a Mario game in this series. Regardless, I’m glad Super Mario Land broke new ground.
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