Super Mario Land 2 retro review

[ZeroAX]

It is a pretty quick play and that's part of the reason I like it so much because you can run through it in like 2 hours or less its great

my speed record is in less than an hour. on normal (not that it's a hard game just saying on easy it might have been 45 minutes )

[msimplay]

Mario Land 2 rocked -- the original.... not so much.
Mario Land 2 was the first portable Mario to really give the console versions a good run for their money.

Gameboy was the only console I had at the time and at the time of release Super Mario Land 1 was absolutely great but the lack of levels does let it down these days.
However I do have to say it does provide a different experience compared to Super Mario Bros one which is what I was comparing it to at the time of release.
I think that the levels were a whole lot more varied and each level had a different boss and music based on the theme of the world unlike Mario Bros 1 which seemed pretty much the same the whole way through although I have to say the enemy placement was extremely clever at times.
Now onto Super Mario World 2 yup it totally bested Mario Land 1 in every way possible.

[noiseredux]

um, the first Super Mario Land is still one of my favorite GB releases of all time. I just played through it again a couple months ago. It is certainly short, but it's a fantastic game for a GB launch title. And no less fun to this day.

[BakaTanuki]

I played both these games for the first time only within the last few months, and enjoyed 1 a bit more. I have no issues with the controls.

[gravitone]

A while back I figured out why mario land feels so crappy when you play it. It's not the controls that are broken, its the way mario is moved around the gameworld. They forgot to add a crucial element of mario physics, namely acceleration. You ever noticed how mario normally always takes a little time to get up to speed on the nes/snes, and as soon as you let go of the direction key it takes a while before comming to a stop, even when pressing the oposite direction. Mario land's mario is hopped up on extacy to such an extent that he gains instant full speed. Letting go the directional buttons will instantly freeze mario into place. Great stuff when you are playing your favourite stitching or sowing game, or trying to solve those pesky picross puzzles, but for platformers it turns our italian prince of persia into a 2" remotely operated dinky toy. You know, the kind that flies of into a frenzy as soon as you contemplate so much as looking at the controls.