Super Mario Land
|
|
Released in North America on July 31, 1989 by Nintendo, and developed
by Nintendo R&D1, Super Mario Land takes the storied
plumber into the realm of the handheld. |
I saved up for so long to get a Nintendo Game Boy in 1991, I payed mostly in
quarters. Staying focused on the goal wasn't difficult--by that point,
Nintendo had already embedded Mario deep into my dopamine centers. Back in the
80's, I begged my parents for an NES for the sole purpose of playing
Super Mario Bros. A few years after that, I used all my birthday money
to get Super Mario Bros. 2. In 1990, I convinced my four year-old
brother that what he really wanted for his birthday that year was
Super Mario Bros. 3. Poor kid probably never got to play a full ten
minutes of that game. After his first game over, I promptly confiscated
it.
With those three games under my belt, I was ready to experience Mario's first
handheld adventure. The thing is, I'd found my mom's Christmas present hiding
spot that year and bragged to her about it. Her either genius or specifically
cruel punishment was to force me to pay her half the price of the Game Boy
(which came with the extraordinary Tetris) and Super Mario Land,
the first Mario Game Boy game, before I could open them...funny thing, my
childhood. I squirreled away my three-dollar a week allowance for months, and
picked as many pecans as my prepubescent hands could handle until I saved up
the requisite $60 bucks.
It was totally worth it.
|
|
So many options! |
Super Mario Land is a unique take on the Mario 2D essentials. Series
producer (and living legend), Shigeru Miyamoto, remained outside of the game's
development, the reins handed over instead to Miyamoto's wizened mentor,
Gunpei Yokoi. Yokoi not only designed the actual Game Boy handheld unit, but
produced the first entries in both the Kid Icarus and Metroid series.
|
|
See Goomba, stomp Goomba. Poor Goomba. |
Yokoi's credentials have credentials, but thankfully, the Nintendo elder
statesmen very wisely left the core tenets of 2D Mario gameplay undisturbed
here. The heroic plumber still jumps on enemies heads to vanquish them, eats a
mushroom to grow bigger, and leaps across bottomless chasms. Gunpei's
contribution is to instead add some funky, unique touches to this core
gameplay. Yeah, I'm changing tense now.
|
|
Pictured: Mario getting funky. Deal with it! |
Super Mario Land is a shorter experience than its NES counterparts,
consisting of four worlds, with three levels apiece. Hey, when you're taking a
45-minute car ride somewhere, playing a game with no save options (run out of
lives, and it's game over), you want to be able to beat that game in
45-minutes. These four worlds leave the Mushroom Kingdom behind for the
eclectic realms of Sarasaland. The first world is inspired by ancient Egypt,
the second Atlantis, the third Easter Island, and the fourth Eastern Asia.
Each world also has a decidedly alien touch, as the main foe here is an evil
Spaceman named Tatanga. Tatanga has kidnapped not Princess Peach, but Princess
Daisy, and it's Mario to the rescue.
|
|
I really can't tell the difference. |
Despite the alien and international inspiration, Mario still faces off against
some familiar foes, like Goombas and Koopas (whose shells now explode a few
seconds after they are vanquished) and Piranha Plants. However, he'll also
have to tangle with a gnarly Sphinx boss, flying Easter Island statues, and
deathless, Confucius-like zombies, among others.
|
|
What a crock, there's not one damn rabbit in this entire level! |
One of Mario's most famous power-ups is tweaked to help, as he no longer
shoots ground-bouncing Fireballs when he picks up a flower, but Superballs,
which not only bounce off of every surface, but collect any coins they touch
for Mario. Like Fireballs, Superballs kill enemies on contact (some enemies,
like the bosses, take more hits), though only one Superball can be onscreen at
any given time. Super Mario Land also retains the series' classic
invincible star, and hides one-ups in several places, though they're in the
form of hearts now, instead of mushrooms.
|
|
I had a dream like this once |
As for the levels themselves, while there are only 12, they all live up to the
Mario standard of excellence and innovation. Two even involve force-scrolling
shooter gameplay, as Mario operates a missile-firing submarine and UFO,
respectively--this is a first, and really "only" for the series. Levels still
contain secrets, from an underground pipe leading to hundreds of coins, to
alternate paths through some stages.
|
|
It does exist! Of course, I don't have a Superball
right now. |
As always, Mario gains an extra life for every 100 coins he collects. Also,
every non-boss level contains an upper exit, which can generally only be
accessed by performing an impressive platform-jumping feat. Leave through the
upstairs exit, and you get to play a bonus game where you can earn up to three
bonus lives. You'll definitely want to rack up on lives early on, as later
levels are tough. At least, I thought they were tough when I was a pre-teen. I
made it all the way through the game on my second try here (I played through
the game for the first time in more than 25 years for this review), though
maybe I just have some enviable muscle memory. If there's a snag in the
gameplay, it's that the controls are slightly, slightly, slightly tighter than
in the NES Mario games, though only...slightly. They're still great.
|
|
What if Mario's entire existence is a a narcissistic fantasy? |
As for the production values, the graphics are very simple, with backgrounds
generally consisting of minimalist line-drawings, and Mario himself only 12
pixels tall. However, there's a strange, zen-like beauty to it all...like it
all looks exactly how it needs to. As for the game's music, chiptune maestro,
Hirokazu Tanaka, has created a chiptune masterpiece. Super Mario Land's
music is fun, varied, atmospheric, rhythmic. The biggest miracle of all is
that Tanaka created both new "Underground" and "Invincible" themes here,
despite the fact that Koji Kondo's originals are stone cold classics...and
somehow Tanaka's hold up just as well. The sound effects are also charmingly
spot on. These sweet Game Boy sounds are timeless.
|
|
Elegantly minimalist. |
Really, it's crazy just how well Super Mario Land has aged--perhaps
because it does the basics so well. I'm glad I came back to it after all these
years. Past the huge dopamine kick, it's great to discover that the games you
loved as a kid still hold up today.
Comments
Post a Comment