Super Mario Land

Super Mario Land was one of the launch titles for the Gameboy in 1989. It was the first Mario game for the Gameboy and helped to rocket the console to success, selling somewhere between fourteen and eighteen million copies worldwide making it one of the best selling Mario games in the franchise. It is also the strangest Mario game when compared to the others, and is unique in terms of game play, characters, and development. 

The game was produced by Gunpei Yokoi, the same man who invented the Gameboy along with his team Nintendo Research and Development 1. They were told by the president of Nintendo to make a Mario game for the new platform. Research and Developement 1 was known for some early Nintendo games like Donkey Kong, Kid Icarus, and Metroid. Super Mario Land would be the first Mario game developed without the help of masterminds Shigeru Miyamoto or Koji Kondo. Despite their lack of contribution to this project, Super Mario Land would develop its own distinct feel that would set it apart from other Mario games. 

Brawl in the Family #341. Describing Mario's confusion in Super Mario Land.

The game is modeled after the first Super Mario Bros. and it plays much like that game. Mario is forces to rescue Princess Daisy from the alien clutches of Tatanga. Most of the familiar game play items are there: mushrooms, fire flowers (well... rubber ball flowers), and invincibility stars. Then the game changes from a platformer into a side scrolling shooter for and underwater stage and a sky stage.

Mario uses a submarine and an airplane in those levels. Something different, but it translates well on the handheld Gameboy screen. At the end of each level is the chance to reach a bonus level. 

Advertising:

I remember seeing this ad not too long after the Gameboy launched. It showcases the shooter style levels and the different scenery that you find in the game. What I didn't notice was that they used a computer generated model of Mario in a plane and hopping around, as well as a model of Princess Peach (or Daisy). That's pretty awesome... not sure if it had any bearing on future three dimensional versions of Mario, but it looks cool nevertheless. I wonder what technological limits were pushed to create this ad.

And... then there's the Japanese ad that features Super Mario Land and Baseball. It features a group of underage American hitchhikers killing time with their Gameboys while waiting for a ride. Seems a little odd. There's a second commercial where they jump from a train car. Not sure what these boys were running from, but I hope they had plenty of AA batteries for the trip. 

The Art:

The artwork for both the Japanese and the North American packaging uses the same artwork, just cropped a little differently. I've always admired the Mario artwork that shows all the enemies and landscapes found within the game, something similar to the Japanese Super Mario Brothers 3 artwork. The super cartoonish style works perfectly for this game series. I also like that Mario is seen trying to escape Super Mario Land, as if the threats are just too much for one Italian plumber to bear. This seems like the only Mario art that doesn't have him in control of the situation, and it looks like he's being overwhelmed. Get the crap out of there Mario!

North American box art

Japanese box art

You'll also notice the small Mario's in the submarine and the plane. Adding vehicles to the game gave it an interesting game mechanic that they haven't used since Super Mario Land. Unless you count Yoshi as a vehicle... or Mario Kart.  

The Music: 

The music was composed by Hirokazu Tanaka. He was responsible for most of Research and Developement 1's early game soundtracks, the ones I've mentioned above and others. Interestingly enough, He later became president of Creatures Inc, a game company who's work includes the fan favorite Mother series, and the company owns of one third of the Pokemon franchise, making Pokemon titles for the Gameboy, and Nintendo DS. Not too bad. 

Music for the game is light and easy to listen to. The most notable track is the song for the Chai Kingdom on world 4. Here's a piano acoustic version of the song, that sounds pretty nice. 

And here's a rendition of the main theme that I didn't find particularly annoying. I do get creeped out by guitar player... just... staring... at... me. 

The Graphics:

Graphically the game feels really small. Yes, you are playing on a small Gameboy screen, but even then the characters and objects are tiny. I see similarities between the first Super Mario Bros. and this game, and that's a good thing. I think the simplistic styling of the textures, objects, and backgrounds give the game a good look. That's something that Nintendo often messes up in later games. They clutter up the screen with too much stuff or model it after something that just doesn't work. That's why I didn't play Super Mario Land 2. It was modeled after Super Mario Bros 3 and World, and it didn't translate to the monochromatic Gameboy. It attempted to be something that it couldn't be on a technologically weak system. Others may disagree with me, but I don't care. 

The Results:

I fired up my red Gameboy Pocket and started. I made it a goal to try and reach as many Bonus Games as possible because there aren't a lot of power ups in this game. I also made a goal to grab as many coins as I could, to eek out some more extra lives. I haven't played this game in a long time. I also had to play quickly because I didn't know how long the batteries would last.

Bonus games can be reached at the end of each stage. There's a chance to
get more lives, but the ladder can switch your result. 

I got through the first world with no problems. Getting a flower gives you the... rubber ball. It bounces all over the screen and can collect coins in hard to reach places. You almost have to anticipate and aim the ball at enemies... which is a difference from the fireballs in other Mario games. And then I reached the fire-breathing Sphinx Bowser-esque boss.

If you get past the Sphinx and step on the button, he actually
explodes instead of falling into the lava or water below. 

So I played through the game pretty quickly. The game is straightforward, and the only difficulty I had was from ghosting caused by the Gameboy's screen. Ghosting is a blur caused by movement of the screen, and there's basically nothing you can do about it on the Gameboy. It doesn't effect the game much, but it caused me to miss a jump or two and fall to my death.

Daisy turns into an ugly fly creature!

Most stages seemed very long, and there were often sections with small moving platforms over chasms that required super timing to get past. There are invisible checkpoints throughout each level though, and if you happen to die, you usually start off close to where you died.

Jump or die!

The Easter Island giant heads make an appearance in this game. The only other game I can think of with Easter Island heads is Gradius. 

I ran into trouble in World 4 with some difficult jumps and zombie jumping enemies that wouldn't die. The turtles in this game are rigged to explode if you jump on them, so you have to anticipate sidestepping from the explosions. With enemies located on small platforms and the length of the levels, I was nervous that I would get a game over and have to restart.

The final stage is an airplane shooter stage, and it leads to the boss, Tantanga floating around in his spaceship shooting stuff at you. I couldn't figure out the timing, and I didn't know if I was actually hitting him with my shots. I kept dying and noticed that my comfortable store of lives had dwindled down to three lives.

You just have to dodge and shoot Tatanga's ship.

On my ninth attempt I managed to finally shoot down the end boss. Mario zooms away in his plane, finds Princess Daisy and the both of them enter a rocket ship and blast off as the credits roll by. Kind of strange, but not bad. The ending features remixed theme music, and the rocket with the clouds zooming past was cool. 

I beat the game in under forty minutes. Quick!

VICTORY!

Epilogue:

This game stands out as one of the first games I can remember for the Gameboy. It seemed like everyone was playing it in 1989, for those fortunate to get their grubby hands on a Gameboy. I like the simplistic stylings of the game and the vehicle levels that made the game different from all the other Marios. When other sequels in the series attempted to add things like hats, items, characters, and objectives, Super Mario Land kept the same formula that made the first Mario Bros a success. Even other Mario titles on the Gameboy didn't have the same effect.

Statistics:

Deaths: 24 Levels: 16 Bonus Games: 10 Boss Attempts: 9 Game Overs: 0 Continues: 0 High Score: 322680 Time: 37 minutes.