Kriven-Raven

Super Mario Land 2 is the equally-odd follow-up to 1989's Super Mario Land, a game which I hold dear to my heart and reviewed not long ago. While the original Super Mario Land was more of an aesthetic departure from the majority of the series, even including a pair of levels which were downright in the wrong genre, its younger brother takes a step back towards the traditional Mario style of visuals and play while also being damn sure to retain the weirdness from its predecessor. Mario will travel through six lands to get back to his castle, including a short trip into outer space and a dizzying climb through a clockwork tower that looks just like him.

The most noticeable change between Super Mario Land and Super Mario Land 2 is visually. Super Mario Land was built in the very early days of the Game Boy system, and the developers didn't quite have a handle on what the device could do. As such, the game looks very simplistic, much like early NES games. By contrast, Super Mario Land 2 more greatly resembles Super Mario Bros. 3, having defined outlines and shapes for each object and character and devoting more of the screen to characters. The result is a game which is much easier on the eyes and does an exemplary job of portraying beautiful backdrops and scenarios with depth utilizing a limited resource pool.

I'll actually take a moment there to talk about just the environments, because they really look awesome. Despite being limited by the amount of colors and shades which can be used, the environments are all spectacular. Particularly there are a couple of tropical island themed levels which are simply superb, with sparkling water backdrops which I can only describe as "delicious" because they make me thirst for a cool pitcher of liquid life on a sticky summer day. Now, not only do the environments look beautiful but there's a whole bunch of unique ones that really help this game stand out. You've got your typical water world, but in addition to the deep sea swimming stage, you get to navigate through a sinking submarine. You can travel to space and don an astronaut outfit and, more importantly, bounce around in reduced an zero gravity environments, both of which are a blast. Quick extra about Space Zone: one of the stages is a reference to the Balloon Trip mode featured on Balloon Fight, which I got a real kick out of.

Of course there are other bizarre realms, such as the Macro Zone where Mario is tiny and must travel around a giant house. As mentioned before, the Mario Zone, which is a giant Mario wind-up toy (at the end of which lurk the Three Little Pigs for whatever reason.) The stages are all just something different and, especially when compared to the recent string of Mario games which have all been hesitant to try anything new, stand out from the rest of the franchise.

Like the previous Super Mario Land title there are unique bosses for each world. This time, though, a lot more care has been put into characterizing these bosses and making each confrontation as fun as possible. A few of them are pretty difficult at first, but once you get a handle of the attack patterns it becomes a fun game of rhythm and motion. The bosses are also really satisfying to stomp, and I'm not quite sure why. It could be because of how big and animated they are, but jumping on their noggin just makes one overcome with joy.

Gameplay is greatly expanded from the original Super Mario Land and almost as diverse as Super Mario World. Not only can Mario run and jump in traditional manner, but the spin jump move makes a return, allowing Mario to plow through blocks beneath his feet and access hidden areas. Additionally he has two power-up suits. The fireball suit makes a return, although because of the limited colors the Game Boy could display is represented by an Indian-styled feather rising from Mario's cap. While I was disappointed by the fireball suit replacing the superball suit from Super Mario Land, the developers made up for this by including a new set of blocks which can only be destroyed by fireballs. This means more exploration and more reasons to go back to previous levels.

This game also introduces the rabbit suit, which functions a lot like the raccoon suit from Super Mario Bros. 3. Instead of actual flight, however, the rabbit suit allows you a more controlled descent by tapping the jump button. I'm not quite sure on this, but it also seemed like the suit allowed Mario to jump higher, which helped him reach a few otherwise difficult areas. Unfortunately the rabbit suit has one major drawback: you can't spin jump while wearing it. I'm not quite sure why they decided to do that, but it was a major pain in the ass on more than one occasion.

The enemies were all something special, and I found myself facing foes of all sorts from gigantic ants and stag beetles to Jason Voorhees-inspired Goombas. I noticed at least one enemy, a bee, which I recognized as having later appeared in the Wario Land series. That was kind of cool, because I always like to see where things originated and I hadn't really noticed the connections before. I mean, I knew Wario Land was actually Super Mario Land 3 and that the entire Wario franchise spun-off from these two games, but I had always thought the Wario games were a little more different. It just always seemed like there wasn't much overlap with the worlds Wario explored and the worlds Mario travelled, so it was cool for me to see that the connections were a little tighter than I'd had thought.

Game overs are handled a little differently in this game than in most. This is probably a result of the introduction of a save feature. See, save features have kind of made game overs a redundant concept. They've been reduced to an aggravating three seconds of black screen before you boot back in almost exactly where you were before. In the old days it used to be that if you got a game over, that was it. You're back at the start of the game, buddy. This game is over. This is okay when games only take an hour or two to crash through, but as games started requiring more time and effort... well, can you imagine playing Tales of Symphonia for forty hours only to be launched back to the beginning of disc one because you couldn't beat down a boss? Painful, isn't it?

Super Mario Land 2 overcame the issue of saves making it too-easy and the classic concept of a game over making it too difficult by still making a game over a severe punishment. You see, when Mario loses all of his lives he loses any of the golden coins he's collected as well. While there isn't usually a way to challenge boss enemies once they've been defeated, you'll have to do just that after a game over to reclaim your precious coins. And trust me, fighting Tatanga again any time soon is not on my to-do list.

Unfortunately, not everything about this game was good. I can't remember a single song from the soundtrack for the life of me. Unlike Super Mario Land which has a pretty memorable score, Super Mario Land 2 suffers from a few fitting yet bland tracks. It was also a victim of the same physics bugs which plagued the original game, such as the sudden and unpredictable loss of momentum mid-jump and slippery controls leading to less than precise landings. These bugs, while annoying, aren't a huge issue for the majority of the game. In the last stage, however, they're going to lead to your death far more frequently than they ever should.

The last stage of the game, the Wario-occupied Mario's Castle, is an absurdly difficult stage which would have been much better were it not for the physics bugs. Compared to the rest of the game, and even to the final confrontation with Wario, this stage is Hard Mode on crack. However, it is pretty clever with a lot of its traps, and with patience and good timing a player can navigate the narrow halls without too much hassle. It's also pretty cool to see the final castle furnished with Mario-themed decor, proving that the plumber is just as narcissistic as those he regularly battles.

The final confrontation with Wario is a really cool battle. It would have been a lot more fun without having to worry about doing the entire castle over if I had lost, but it was still a really awesome battle. Mario must face off against his callous cousin in a three-phase match. During each phase Wario obtains a new power-up, truly filling the role of the evil doppleganger. In the first round Wario is armed only with a Super Mushroom, which has made him tremendous in size. After this he upgrades to the rabbit suit, and finally a duel of flaming fingers as he grabs hold of a fire flower. Despite being utterly predictable, this is one of the cooler match-ups in Mario history, and not experiencing it is a disservice.

I was at first going to give this game a lower score, because I wasn't too impressed with it during the playthrough. I was never bored, which is a good thing, and the game isn't bad. It just didn't wow me as much as I had expected, especially with two decades of hype behind it. But now that it's all over I can feel myself itching to pick it up again. Hell, I've had to stop writing this very review several times just to satisfy my desire to blast through a level or two. Just to feel what it's like to stomp a boss again, or just land squarely on a platform. With these feeling so overpowering, I can't give this game a lower score. It doesn't deserve it.

Super Mario Land 2 comes highly recommended with a final score of eight out of ten.





Nathan DiYorio is a floundering self-published author who fails to make a living by operating a blog of many opinions where he can often be found rambling about Hammer Bros., Marvel comics, and other such uninteresting things. He also sometimes transcribes public domain articles and stories for the masses to read over at this pathetic excuse for an archive.

Playing Super Mario Land got me thinking about something which has bugged me for quite some time, and I think I've finally found an answer (though it's one I've suspected for quite a while.) Before I really get into this, though, I have to give a warning that this is just the thoughts of a nerd who over-analyzes things which the creators have not typically bothered to care about. But I just like to put myself in these fictional places and imagine how that particular world works. I dunno. If that makes me a loser, then so be it.

Back to the topic at hand. Super Mario Land takes place in a country known as Sarasaland, which is ruled over by the flamboyant Princess Daisy. Sarasaland (sometimes called Sarasa Land, but I don't like that as much) is divided into four kingdoms: the Birabuto Kingdom, the Muda Kingdom, the Easton Kingdom, and the Chai Kingdom. Each kingdom has its king (Totomesu, Dragonzamasu, Hiyoihoi, and Biokinton respectively.) However, each of these kingdoms, presumable, answer to the higher government headed by Princess Daisy. This effectively makes Sarasaland an empire. Okay, well it's never referred to as anything but "Sarasaland", so this isn't that confusing.

However, Super Mario Bros. 3 also divides into kingdoms. These kingdoms, whose rulers have gone nameless, are Grass Land, Desert Land, Water Land, Giant Land, Sky Land, Ice Land, Pipe Land, and Dark Land. Popular theories are that these areas are kingdoms beside the Mushroom Kingdom, or simply fake areas created for the fictional play which is Super Mario Bros. 3 (a theory I don't subscribe to.) However, given the government of Sarasaland, I think it likely that *at least seven* of these kingdoms are truly under the dominion of the larger Mushroom "Kingdom", which could be an improperly named Mushroom Empire.

This is further interesting to me because, other than Bowser, none of these kings have been seen in subsequent games. Could it be that after the events of Super Mario Bros. 3 the idea of an empire ruling over multiple kingdoms was abolished in favor of a more unified and defensible government? And why would they refer to the collective empire as the Mushroom Kingdom? Are there untold wars in which the Mushroom Kingdom dominated the poorer nations?

Only fan fiction can tell.

*Dark Land is the possible exception. Although if Dark Land were actually part of the larger Mushroom Empire, this could explain why King Bowser Koopa, despite regularly antagonizing the ruling family, would still be able to attend a number of sporting events and tournaments, and freely walk the streets. I think it possible that, given the other residences of the Mushroom Kingdom being Goombas and Koopas, Dark Land is a rebel state attempting to break free of the clutches of the Mushroom Empire.



Nathan DiYorio is a floundering self-published author who fails to make a living by operating a blog of many opinions where he can often be found rambling about Hammer Bros., Marvel comics, and other such uninteresting things. He also sometimes transcribes public domain articles and stories for the masses to read over at this pathetic excuse for an archive.

I'm sorry, more to myself than to my readers, that I go through these ridiculous phases. It's the most tiring on-again/off-again relationship I've ever had! My fickle mind. I can have a wonderful creative stretch going, but just a small interruption and it's right back to the intellectual and creative gutter for two or three months. That's not any way to live, and it's not any way to reach my dreams. I know that. But once you're in that gutter it's so damn hard to climb out. I never in my life thought that motivation to do something you enjoy doing would be one of the most difficult things to attain.

It can be really hard to believe that creativity is a snowball, especially when you're down in the gutter. And I know I'm not the only one who's been there, and I know I'm not the only one climbing out. So if you're stuck in this day-to-day slog where everything in your life is gray and all you want to do is lay around wishing you were better, you need to listen up. I know how hard it is when you're in that gutter, because I've been in it since January. When you're down there it's so easy to just give up. You might even convince yourself that you hate the dream you dared to dream. It's so easy to tell yourself that you hate painting, that you hate photography, that you hate poetry, that you hate writing. So, so easy to tell yourself, and so, so easy to believe it.

But don't you dare actually take that negative nonsense to heart. It's a lie, and deep down inside you know it is. It's a very convincing lie told by a very convincing liar. But it's still a lie.

You'll realize that when you finally pull yourself off the grimy gutter-bottom and try to do something again. Now don't try to climb too high all at once, or you'll tire out and slide back down. But if you take little steps, like by reviewing a video game and allowing that to breed more posts and more ideas (and this is all just a personal example, by the way. Don't take the idea of reviewing a game as literally the only way to get creative again.) you will find that your brain starts working again. You'll find that you truly enjoy creating again. You'll take hold of that spark, and if you run with it day after day it will bloom again.

Don't let yourself get lazy. That spark will snuff right back out. Don't let them tell you that you can't. They want to snuff it out for you. You just keep on keepin' on. You'll be a lot happier for it.



Nathan DiYorio is a floundering self-published author who fails to make a living by operating a blog of many opinions where he can often be found rambling about Hammer Bros., Marvel comics, and other such uninteresting things. He also sometimes transcribes public domain articles and stories for the masses to read over at this pathetic excuse for an archive.

I'm sure you've noticed that I've ported DeviantArt Journals into my Post Archive along with the other retired or repurposed blogs 2-Bit and Gallery Lost. I doubt you've also noticed that I've continued creating new journal entries to DeviantArt. What the hell am I doing, then? Well, the simple fact is that I'm now using DeviantArt as a second place to post the same blogs that I write for here. The posts in the DA Journal portion of the Post Archive are posts which were written exclusively for the DA Journal several years ago, so those are the ones being included in that archive. Any newer posts that appear in my DA Journal are simply reposts from here.

I hope that answers any questions you didn't actually ask.



Nathan DiYorio is a floundering self-published author who fails to make a living by operating a blog of many opinions where he can often be found rambling about Hammer Bros., Marvel comics, and other such uninteresting things. He also sometimes transcribes public domain articles and stories for the masses to read over at this pathetic excuse for an archive.

Super Mario Land is a bizarre little beastie which has followed me through my childhood. It's a different kind of Mario game, but it's different in a very good way. There's something weird about it that makes it addictive. It almost feels random, but in a way that keeps luring you back. Actually, thinking about it now, this game is probably the biggest influence on the modern Wario series. I know the Wario games evolved straight out of Super Mario Land, but I think this game has had a particular influence over the direction of the story and environments of the Wario Land games. In fact, the bizarre nature of this title (and I can only assume its sequel) is probably why Mario was pulled from the spotlight.</i>

This is one short game. As a kid it took me hours of trial and game over to reach just the third world of the game, the Easton Kingdom, where I would inevitably lose every last one of my lives. As a kid, I must have sucked at games. I picked this up today and, after a couple runs easing into the physics and the controls of the GameBoy Advance SP (which I haven't ever used for any length of time before), I destroyed this game. Not, not literally. It's still in beautiful condition. I did, however, blow Tatanga's purple butt out of the heavens in about an hour.

The first thing to mention, really, is that this game is simple. Of course it is, it was a very early title for the Game Boy, a device with even less horsepower than an NES. However, the simplicity of the game does not detract one bit from the quality of it. Think of Super Mario Land like a really good short story in video game form. It's not as detailed as a novel, but that's okay, because it isn't meant to be and it uses the simplicity of its form to its advantage. This game is bare bones Mario to the basics, and even barer. You jump, you run, you shoot superballs. That's about it.

Unfortunately the game doesn't handle physics as well as its predecessors, which is a bit of a bummer because physics was what Mario was known for. That was its whole thing. The Mario franchise was built on physics. Momentum and gravity and traction. Super Mario Land doesn't play like a Mario title in this regard. It's slippery, it's weird, gravity will sometimes increase at random, and you occasionally lose all of your momentum while jumping. This will lead to a few deaths. Sorry to say.

Fortunately the game is pretty forgiving. There are numerous checkpoints throughout stages and spawning at one will remove all enemies from that portion of the level, so you aren't instantly being massacred upon revival.

A little less forgiving is the item placement. Power-ups are sparse, and you can go almost an entire world without ever finding two of them. Not that they aren't there, but that they're on an inaccessible area because of the multi-tiered nature of some stages. These stages are cool because they give you a reason to replay the game and explore a slightly different path. Unfortunately, you really have to know they're coming or you're probably going to miss them. Don't kick yourself though, because you'll probably pop the game back in sooner than later.

On the topic of power-ups there are three: the Super Mushroom, Super Flower, and Starman. The Starman, a classic, will make you temporarily invincible to any and all attack. They're a very good thing to find in this game, because the enemies are far more daunting than in pretty much any other Mario sidescroller. The Super Mushroom will, of course, make you larger upon consumption. The only new power-up is the Super Flower, which is similar to the Fire Flower. Instead of fireballs, however, Mario gains the ability to toss the superball. Superballs are basically bouncy balls. They ricochet off any solid surface, and can be a lot of fun. With good practice you can become a superball sharp shooter and learn how to deflect the ball into enemies who would otherwise be out of reach. To be honest, I'd really like to see this power-up reappear in a future Mario title.

The enemies are cool and generally stylized for each of the for worlds (each world is its own kingdom with its own unique environment, all of which are awesome.) Despite being aesthetically different, the enemies follow the same basic patterns. You've got Goombos and Bombshell Koopas in each world, which are your basic antagonists, and an additional hopping enemy which is stylized for each world and requires two hits to take down. There are also a few unique enemies per world, all of which have pretty simple attack patterns which are easy to grasp.

The most annoying enemy that I encountered was the Bombshell Koopa. Unlike the Koopa Troopas of games past, this Koopa's shell is a bomb. After crushing the turtle to death that bomb will explode. If Mario isn't out of there fast enough, his overalls will be overdones. But that's not the annoying part. The annoying part is that if you don't land directly on the Bombshell Koopa's head, but if you hit his shell by mistake, you take the damage. This freaking sucks. And it will get you more than once. And you will swear. It's okay.

There are four worlds in the game. The first two are designed around a particular element while the second two are based on cultures. The first world is your average introduction world, although the last level is a sweet Egyptian themed pyramid with an amazing musical score. The second world is the water world. Hold on, hold on, I know what you're thinking, but you're wrong—this water world actually doesn't suck. I think it's my favorite world, to be perfectly honest. The above-water stages will remind Mario-savvy gamers of portions in Super Mario Bros. 2 where you had to leap on narrow hills and avoid Trouters. Classic.

The third world is inspired by Easter Island, with multiple stone heads on the backdrop and similarly shaped native enemies. The fourth world is based around China, although it throws a little bit of everything at you, being the final area. Difficulty is on pretty easy up until about the eighth level where it kicks it up a notch. By the fourth world things get hairy, and you're going to start dying a lot. These worlds are each their own kingdom, all components in the larger Sarasaland, which speaks interestingly to the governance in the Mario world. Maybe I'll talk about that tomorrow. These kingdsom are the Birabuto Kingdom, Muda Kingdom, Easton Kingdom, and Chai Kingdom respectively.

Each kingdom is ruled by, of course, a king, who has been hypnotized by Tatanga and must be knocked to their senses. The boss battles are all really cool, and each boss is unique, although they speak fondly of the boss battles from Super Mario Bros. with an "Instant Win" switch located behind the king. After these battles Mario will find himself before a false Daisy, and reluctantly set off to find his princess in another castle.

There are two levels in the game which are different from your typical platforming experience. These levels are set up as scrolling shooters, something which many people find downright irritating as the end-game stage. Unlike most games, however, which just toss you into a schmup as the final boss battle or what have you, there is a balance. Every sixth level is a schmup. This means that, unlike the majority of games which do this, you aren't just being tossed into a different style of play at the very end of the game. You have the half-way point stage, the end of the Muda Kingdom, which introduces this gameplay to you. These levels really shouldn't be too much of an issue for anybody, and it helps that they're a lot of fun.

In general, this game wins by all accounts. Another phenomenal soundtrack from the Nintendo pen, aesthetics which are eerily pleasing, and gameplay which is generally solid although there are a few kinks. It is short, and that could be an issue for some people, but it's not for me. I'm gonna go ahead and rate this one an eight. It comes highly recommended. Keep in mind, though, that I haven't had the opportunity to play the version of this game available on the 3DS Virtual Console. I hear there are some differences. This review was specifically for the GameBoy release. Maybe someday if I have some extra change lying around I'll grab the Virtual Console version and let you guy knows how I feel about that one, but I'm growing a bit leery of Nintendo's online distribution. Modern Nintendo in general, to be honest with all of you.

I digress. Super Mario Land is a fantastic game, and if you can get your hands on it, do so.





Nathan DiYorio is a floundering self-published author who fails to make a living by operating a blog of many opinions where he can often be found rambling about Hammer Bros., Marvel comics, and other such uninteresting things. He also sometimes transcribes public domain articles and stories for the masses to read over at this pathetic excuse for an archive.