Super Mario Land 1 & 2 (GB)

[THATinkjar]

Yesterday - just before hitting the hay and calling it a day - I had a sudden craving to bust out Super Mario Land on the GameBoy, and reaquaint myself with this platforming classic. And I couldn't believe how great this game still is after all these years, and how - oddly enough - it doesn't much feel like a Mario title at all!

I breezed through the game in under twenty minutes, much to my surprise (and dismay, I suppose). I didn't remember Super Mario Land to be so short and easy. But the game was still a heap of fun to play - and that is the main thing.

Has anyone else played this recently? If so... how do you feel it holds up today, considering it was released almost seventeen years ago?

[MuppetMaster]

heh heh I been playing it for the last few days, your right about it not feeling like a Mario game. I think thats because it has a little darker feel to it; its seems to be missing that light hearted cartoon vibe.

Still a great game though :)

[Ed Oscuro]

heh heh I been playing it for the last few days, your right about it not feeling like a Mario game. I think thats because it has a little darker feel to it;
Fault of the GB screen? Heck, you're launched out of a UFO, and later bounce across a bed of spikes on giant beach balls!

Fun game certainly, I like how it mixes the standard Mario formula up a bit.

[jajaja]

I played it alittle some days ago actually. My sister had some techno remix of the main tune and i pulled out the game hehe :) I like the music in this game.

[p_b]

I might be completely wrong here, but I remember hearing something hinting at Super Mario Land not being made by Miyamoto? Could there be any truth to this? It certainly would explain why the game feels so different...

[c0ldb33r]

I might be completely wrong here, but I remember hearing something hinting at Super Mario Land not being made by Miyamoto? Could there be any truth to this? It certainly would explain why the game feels so different...

I was about to ask the same question.

Taken from wikipedia:


Unlike all previous "Mario" games, Super Mario Land was not created by Shigeru Miyamoto, but rather by Gunpei Yokoi. As a result, very few elements from this game reappeared in subsequent entries in the Mario series.

That explains why it feels so different :)

[Jibbajaba]

I believe that the game is "short and easy" because you are supposed to keep playing it. Once you beat it, you start a new game and it will be harder the second time.

I got this game right when it came out and I really liked it. I still love it, and it is the standard ROM I use to test out GB emulators. When I first got a GBA, it was one of the first carts that I went out and re-bought.

Chris

[PentiumMMX]

Yeah, SML is fun.

I think it had held up well, except it's glitchier then I remember (It will crash without warning at times, and I cleaned the connectors on both the cart. and the system!). Otherwise, it's still a blast, though I can beat it in 30 minutes.

[opitekk]

i agree, i love this game~ very cool.

[Pantechnicon]

This was my 1st Mario game period. Original Game Boy was only the 2nd system I ever owned and after getting curious what else there was for it besides Tetris I decided to break down and try a Mario game. As an old Atari player this was really my 1st step onto the alien shore of Nintendo and I resisted it for a long time. Well, I loved it, and realized that maybe Nintendo might not be so bad after all.

Probably still a great game but I haven't played it in ages.

[B - Mark]

I like Super Mario Land.

His graphics ressembles a Game & Watch game.
But it´s a fun game.

A friend played this game ask me a question?

Super Mario Land had a reference to Alex Kidd in Miracle World for Master System?

Because for the elements:
- Use of veichles.
Alex Kidd uses a motorcycle, a helicopter and a speed boat.
Mario in SML uses a submarine ( 2nd stage ) and a airplane ( 4th stage ).

- In the second stage had a horseas and octopus as stage´s enemies.
And the boss of 2nd stage is a giant horsea.
In Alex Kidd in Miracle World had a horseas and octopus in aquatic stages.

[intelli78]

Super Mario Land was the first Gameboy game I ever got. When the GB dropped to $49.99 and became available in the Play-it-Loud series, I bought a red GB and Super Mario Land at Sears.

By all standards, it's a horrible game, but there is something fun about it. I have always liked the music - Maybe that's it. :P

[dbiersdorf]

It's fun, but certainly no Super Mario Land 2.

[playgeneration]

I prefer Mario Land 1 to the second game, i think its the massive scale of the first game i like better. Mario is tiny and the levels are huge. In the second game mario takes up half the screen and the levels are much more claustrophobic.

I agree to an extent with the alex kidd in miracle world link, but in that game you had the option of either using a vehicle to get through the level, or you could run/swim your way instead.

[InsaneDavid]

I believe that the game is "short and easy" because you are supposed to keep playing it. Once you beat it, you start a new game and it will be harder the second time.

Correct. Also that Super Mario Land was designed by Gunpei Yokoi, as was Super Mario Land 2: Six Golden Coins which is my second favorite of all Super Mario titles. Looks like someone did a better job with the franchise than Shigeru Miyamoto. ;) ..I know I'm going to get killed by the Miyamoto fanboys over that one. Then again, remember that Gunpei Yokoi's engineering genius was the reason that Donkey Kong was able to be designed to begin with. A game designer is but a sketch artist without a good engineer.

[RetroYoungen]

Super Mario Land... I thoroughly enjoyed it. I liked the sequel better, it was longer and had more stuff in it... but the original was a lot of fun.

[rbudrick]

I'll never forget playing and beating this game when it came out. It was so cool to play such a good game on a portable! The music was done by H. Tanaka of Metroid fame. Love that second level's music!

-Rob

[mills]

I love this game, has a VERY good soundtrack! Just picked up a MIB original copy from our very own grandamchandler!

[MrRoboto19XX]

What I always liked about this game (and it seems Im not alone) was the music.

For that matter, all the classic gb games had great music, especially when you used those nice included headphones.

Nothing like that stereo can-can!

[MegaDrive20XX]

Super Mario Land...phew I still remember that summer of 1990 when I got my first gameboy...amazing how that game still holds up after all these years...

[ryborg]

For that matter, all the classic gb games had great music, especially when you used those nice included headphones.

Amazingly, I *still* use those original GB headphones as my prime backup pair for my MP3 player. I've actually been using them daily because I recently destroyed my main pair while at work. The sound is pretty good for earbuds almost 20 years old.

I haven't touched the actual GB system in forever (no need with the SNES adaptor, and I never have a chance to play games on the road), but I've used the earbuds for thousands of combined hours since.
________
CHILDREN ZOLOFT (http://www.classactionsettlements.org/lawsuit/zoloft/)

[poloplayr]

Funny, I always used to use my GB earphones with my walkman back in the day too.

[THATinkjar]

It is awesome to see so much love for this classic! And I agree with all of you: the music is stellar!

I'm thinking of digging out Super Mario Land 2 this evening, and giving that the once over. Does anyone remember roughly how long that game was?

[CosmicMonkey]

MSL 2 had hidden levels, didn't it. I remember my save screen showing 31 levels. I'm sure there was 32 though, but I could never find that last one, if it exists.

[DigitalSpace]

Super Mario Land is one of my favorite original GB games. It's been a while since I last played through it. Looks like it's time for me to play through it again!

[aaronpetrosky]

Anyone remember the commercial? It was cool, with the footage of the people and I think I remember people running from things like a UFO. I used to have it on my comp.

[cmstar]

I hadn't played SML in ages, so I downloaded the Rom for 1 an 2. I think SML feels like a Mario game...but a beta, not refined (thought I still love it).

But SML2 feels like some alien foreign thing with Mario graphics....

Still good games... but they just feel soooo wrong and out of place.

Then again, I've been playing New Super Mario Bros. for weeks now. It's a big step back to go to Super Mario Land.

[THATinkjar]

So, Super Mario Land 2 is much longer than Super Mario Land, which is great, but just as easy, which isn't so good. But Wario's Castle... blimey, that was fookin' tough! The game just doesn't prepare you at all. And you have to fight Mr. Wario himself three times!

That one level alone took me ten minutes. I am a disgrace!

But regardless, I am really pleased that I revisted these games. It had been an awfully long time since I last played them. It does feel, though, as if I've trampled all over the memories I had. Don't get me wrong - I adore Super Mario Land 1 and 2 - but they're just so very different to how I'd thought they be after all these years.

[jajaja]

It would be cool if they remade SML 1 and 2 for GBA :)

[The Manimal]

SML2 reminded me of SMW..

[Push Upstairs]

Well SML2 did take alot of inspiration from SMW. Spin jump and such.

SML2 contains the single greatest level music out of any Mario game i have ever played. Space Zone 2.

I hold that level music up there with anything from the SOR games.

[bangtango]

SML2 reminded me of SMW..

It also reminded me of Mario 3 and Duck Tales (NES version by Capcom).

For that reason, I like the original one better. At least it contained original ideas and design. The thing I never understood about some of the early Gameboy games, even ones I liked, is that the most important thing to the designers was to attempt to mimic the graphics and gameplay of Super NES titles from that time (i.e. Link's Awakening and the Donkey Kong Land titles). SML 2 was still a fun game, though.

[Xexyz]

Well SML2 did take alot of inspiration from SMW. Spin jump and such.

SML2 contains the single greatest level music out of any Mario game i have ever played. Space Zone 2.

I hold that level music up there with anything from the SOR games.

Word, I used to just sit back and listen to this track for many minutes through the earbuds once I got to the end of the stage where the pipe that leads to the boss is.

[DigitalSpace]

Since we're discussing SML 2 now, I'll throw this in:

SML 2 is also another favorite GB game of mine, and imo, it's even better than the first.

[scooby105]

I was just talking about these two games tonight while getting drunk. I just finished playing New Super Mario Bros for the DS, which I think is the best system since the SNES, and these two games came to mind. A friend and I talked about them both for quite a while. Super Mario Land 1 and 2 for the original Gameboy were two of my favorite games. Mario 1 was a chunk different from the Mario games on the NES, which is what made it fun in my opinion. I remember really liking the second one too, although I can't remember what it's like right now, so I'll have to play it tomorrow.

[jajaja]

I played through SML 1 before i slept last nite. But damn, the controllers kinda sux actually. I lost a few lifes missing some jumps.

[cmstar]

I was playing the Roms on my Mac (don't own the carts.....yet). I found something interesting. I have two roms for Super Mario Land, one is labeled (v1.0) and seems to be the normal game. The second is labeled (v1.1) and is the normal game, but has some subtle added color to Mario, goombas, and blocks.

It doesn't look unusual or like it hack, it looks like Super Gameboy compatibility. Does anyone know if they did in fact release two versions of the cart (perhaps a Super Gameboy compatible Player's Choice?) or if this is just a hack someone made? It's subtle but makes a world of difference.

And I second the notion they should re-release these for GBA. Put 1&2 on one cart and update the graphics a little, call it Super Mario Land All Stars :)

[DDCecil]

Someone brought in SML the other day, and I've been playing it non-stop (Beat both quests during my other job yesterday!)

I decided to see how fast I could make it through the first 3 levels, and here are my finish times:

1-1: 361
1-2: 356
1-3: 357

[Rook_Jones]

Man, I really need to find SML 2 again. I used to play it all the time, then it just...disappeared. Along with my Kirby's Adventure. Aaaargh.

Someone back there mentioned "Play it Loud," there's something I haven't heard in forever. I remember when they were advertising the different colored gameboys, they had them next to I think hot dogs and condiments. The red one was ketchup, etc.

So now everytime I see a colored gameboy, I feel like eating a hot dog.

Thanks, Nintendo.

[calthaer]

SML2 is one of my favorite GB games, too.

I think I liked SML3 (Wario Land) even better - that was just great fun. But then they ruined it for Wario Land 2 + 3 and all that - they just made it completely dumb, with all those stupid getting squished and no more bullhorn suits or dragon suits and other sorts of crap. It wasn't any fun at all.

[B - Mark]

I´d likes Super Mario Land 2 because for his graphics are better than Super Mario Land 1, and the same graphics remeber me Super Mario Bros. 3 for NES.

Other Super Mario Land 2 atracctions are:
- Wario´s debut. The Mario´s evil version.
Later, Wario stars his own game called Wario Land - Super Mario Land 3 and begins his carrer as Nintendo´s Bad Boy.

- New clothes. The rabbit and astronaut clothes.

[boatofcar]

I played through SML 1 before i slept last nite. But damn, the controllers kinda sux actually. I lost a few lifes missing some jumps.

Or maybe it's just harder?


SML 1 has always felt different to me...very interesting to find out that SM was not behind it. SML 2 is probably my favorite original GB game. The hidden levels are very reminiscent of SMW.

[MrRoboto19XX]

Id just like to say that since stumbling upon this topic, Ive gone out and bought Super Mario Land for the first time, and will buy 2 as soon as I find it.

[Sosage]

Anyone remember the commercial? It was cool, with the footage of the people and I think I remember people running from things like a UFO. I used to have it on my comp.

This one?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C5KuMop65F0

Damn...I remember receiving this game along with the original Gameboy for Christmas. I can't comment on the gameplay...it has just been so damn long since I last played it (plus I lost most of my GB carts...so I can't just bust it out and play).

[Bloodreign]

Played some SML awhile back (must get the cart soon, already own SML 2 for years now), didn't know it wasn't made by Miyamoto, learn something new everyday.

Favorite song on the soundtrack of SML, the Chinese theme song.

[delafro]

SML was fun and all, but the real masterpiece is SML 2. I really liked how they tried to put Mario in semi-real environments (ex. a sub, shrinking inside of the house, etc.) In fact, the environments as a whole had a lot of imagination behind them- who can forget the wind-up Mario doll level? The secret levels were a nice bonus and well-implemented. Add on top of that great graphics, tight control, and catchy music, and you've got a winner.

[THATinkjar]

SML 1 has always felt different to me...very interesting to find out that SM was not behind it. SML 2 is probably my favorite original GB game. The hidden levels are very reminiscent of SMW.

I am starting to think that Super Mario Land felt so very different to the Mario offerings on the NES and SNES because of the technical limitations of the GameBoy. Gunpei Yokoi was again at the helm for Super Mario Land 2, which was a lot closer in feel and look to the Mario games we all know and love - as they were pushing the hardware a little bit more.

But damn, Super Mario Land 2 is one heck of a glitchy game. And the slowdown really drove me nuts, and the music - in my opinion - isn't a patch on Super Mario Land!

[Jorpho]

I wouldn't be surprised if the first Super Mario Land originally wasn't supposed to be a Mario game at all, and if the Mario bits were tacked on sometime near the end of development when Nintendo decided they needed a launch title... Pure speculation, of course.

Without the Mario name, though, this game probably would be just as lost and forgotten as some many other Game Boy launch titles. (The Game Boy Batman game comes to mind right now for some reason.)


MSL 2 had hidden levels, didn't it. I remember my save screen showing 31 levels. I'm sure there was 32 though, but I could never find that last one, if it exists.

The completion of the final castle level does not increment the save file, so technically there are indeed 32 levels.

It's fairly easy to increment the number on the save screen arbitrarily, though - just reset your Game Boy (that is, A+B+Select+Start) when the screen fades out just after completing a level, and the save file number will increase but you'll still have to complete the level again.

The game had some great concepts and nifty graphics, but I agree that it really was much, much too easy most of the time.

Anyone else play that beta version where only some levels of the Tree Zone were available, and the Koopas were replaced by snails? I saw that at Ontario Place way, way back in the day.


I think I liked SML3 (Wario Land) even better - that was just great fun. But then they ruined it for Wario Land 2 + 3 and all that - they just made it completely dumb, with all those stupid getting squished and no more bullhorn suits or dragon suits and other sorts of crap. It wasn't any fun at all.

SML3 was a little bit rough around the edges, but was indeed an excellent game. And I also enjoyed its sequels (Wario Land 3 is probably the closest we'll ever come to a 2D version of Super Mario 64), though I can easily see how they might not be everybody's cup of tea. Much like Kirby's Dream Land 3, they're more like elaborate action-puzzle games at times than a strict platformer. Great production values, though!

[MrRoboto19XX]

Alright, I purchased this game as stated earlier last night along with alleyway. However by the time I got settled I was too tired to actually play the thing, so I played it today while watching saved by the bell.

I kid you not. I felt so period-perfect!

Anyway, my opinion of the game is largely the same opinion I remember having circa 1993 or so when I really got into gameboy gaming. "Eh, alright".

Back then it was the little things; koopas that blew up (such a pain), the way that a star made you invincible (odd) and the fact that I was fighting a sphinx (uh...). All of these things made my opinion of the game shaky.

Today, with the kowledge I have of this game, as well as games in general I think that the game is similar to an early build of a smb game, much like someone said earlier.

But the thing that Im currently pondering; was Yokoi trying to do mario his way (i.e. what were some little things he wanted to change) or was he trying to imitate miyamoto, with fair results?

The world may never know.

[Perkar]

I prefer Mario Land 1 to the second game, i think its the massive scale of the first game i like better. Mario is tiny and the levels are huge. In the second game mario takes up half the screen and the levels are much more claustrophobic.

i agree with that statement 100%

myself, i had a gameboy just about from launch, but strangely enough i never had any of the mario games for it. last year at CGE i picked up a minty complete copy of Super Mario Land for $7 (in fact it was the only thing i purchased at CGE), and i played through it on the airplane back to detroit. loved it.

i had picked up mario land 2 a few months earlier and played through it as well, but i really didn't care for that one, and i think it's because of what playgeneration stated.

[§ Gideon §]

This game raised me.

[cmislin]

yeah those two games were great now if I could only find where they are hhmmmm somewhere in the house doh

[Aussie2B]

As much as it pains me to say it, seeing as I practically worship the tragically lost Gunpei Yokoi, I don't think Super Mario Land is all that great of a game. Sure, it can be a bit of mindless fun now and then, and the music is downright terrific (the main reason you'll ever see me playing the game). However, everything being so extremely tiny makes you have to squint just to discern anything and also makes precise targeting for landing on enemies or platforms unnecessarily difficult. The controls are also rather sloppy and slippery, which doesn't help matters. Probably the clincher is that it's so mindnumbingly easy (sorry, but having to play through it twice just to experience the difficulty it should've been at from the get-go doesn't cut it) and there's not even enough creativity and variety to the level design to make up for it. It's just lacking in any real meat and thus degrades to standard platformer fare. Fun sometimes? Yes, for sure, but anything remarkable? Nah.

As for Super Mario Land 2, it was certainly an improvement in nearly all regards (not music, though), but it too suffered from being too easy and possessing somewhat sloppy movement. Now Wario Land, THAT is when things started to get really good. The controls finally got tight (although they functioned in an entirely new way, of course) and there was loads of depth and variety.

[Jake2215]

What is all this "mind-numbingly easy" talk? I first owned the game about 8 or 9 years ago, and I thought it was super-effing hard. WOW was it hard. Honestly, I don't know what it was, but I had a much, much easier time with the other Marios, outside of Lost Levels.

Maybe it was the slightly sloppier controls. It's just filthy wrong for Mario not to control like an absolute dream. I think it's one of those things you take for granted, and then miss when it's gone. Sort of like charming levels.

[Push Upstairs]

The game is sorta easy if you have played alot of Mario games...but then i'm refering to when i owned this game when i was like 12/13 and nearly walked through this game.

I do know it is insanely easy to rack up lives in this game, much much easier than in Mario 3.

[Jorpho]

Oh yes, it's not quite what I'd call an easy game, the first SML. It's still on the short side, though. (At 12 levels, it's the shortest Mario game ever.)

[gamescanner.org]

Hello. I posted another topic here:

http://www.digitpress.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=92502&highlight=

Can anyone help???

[Jorpho]

By the way, seems someone made a remake for the recent Retro Remakes competition.
http://www.remakes.org/comp2006/screenshots.php?page=9

[Roi]

Wonderfull game! Now I think it's a easy game but when I was young I couldn't finish it LOL !

[rbudrick]

It's intersting that some found this game hard. It was one of those games I beat the first day on the 2nd or 3rd time. But, I spent a crapload of time finding all the secrets!

THere were no warps, though, so I can see how some might think it was hard, but there were only 4 levels, though...

-Rob

[B - Mark]

SML2 reminded me of SMW..

The SML 2 graphics ressembles me Super Mario Bros. 3 for NES.

[aaron7]

Yah that game was hella easy.

I had the first one on my TI-89 calculator... badass.

[WanganRunner]

I've never even owned a copy of SML1, although I have played it (waaaaay back in the day).

SML2 is a great game, IMO.


Now I need to go find copies of both, lol.

[gamescanner.org]

Yes, both copies are easy to find these days. I noticed that SML1 besides being relased as a Million Seller package it also had two alternate packaging designs. Not too much different, but still. Worth checking it out if you seriously are thinking about collecting it.

BTW, SML2 had incredible graphics for a GameBoy game at the time. Or at least that is what I think.

Front cover:
http://imageevent.com/gamescans/gameboy?p=47&n=1&m=20&c=5&l=0&w=1&s=0&z=9

Rear cover:
http://imageevent.com/gamescans/gameboy?p=48&n=1&m=20&c=5&l=0&w=1&s=0&z=9