Super Mario Land 2: 6 Golden Coins

By - Richard J. 
 
It was only a few weeks ago when I was able to play through Super Mario Land 2: Legend of the 6 Golden Coins for the first time. I was finally able to take a break from the constant stream of new release games to review, and take a look at something much older. Originally launched in 1992 for the Gameboy, Super Mario Land 2 became an instant classic. By the time I was old enough to understand what a classic was, my Gameboy playing days had been long left behind. But after 18 years, does this classic still hold up?

Like most Mario games, Super Mario Land 2's plot revolves around saving a princess. However just like the first Super Mario Land, you are saving Princess Daisy, not Princess Peach. Wario has taken Daisy once again, and it is up to Mario to travel to six worlds to collect the six golden coins in order to open the gate to Wario's castle.

While Super Mario Land 2 may take a slightly different path with its story, it does stick to its platforming roots. Each level will have players jumping on enemies as they make their way to the end of the level. Instead of having to jump on a flagpole to end the level, you have two options. First, you can run through the door on the bottom of the screen to move onto the next level. Your second option is to make it to the top of the screen and ring a bell. Ringing the bell brings you to a special game, then moves you on the next level.

Other Mario games focus around mushroom and flower power-ups. Super Mario Land stays close to this tradition, but does add a bit of its own flare. You collect the basic mushroom to grow, the flower to throw fire, and the star to become temporarily invincible. The new addition in Super Mario Land are carrots that turn you into a bunny. The bunny is like the evolution of the raccoon from SMB3. As the bunny you can jump off from any platform, and then repeatedly push the A button to glide with your ears. This may not seem like much, but can clear out a huge headache if you got a series of spikes to cross.

The openness of Super Mario Land 2 makes it feel like the game was ahead of its time. Instead of going from level to level, then world to world in a strict line, Super Mario Land 2 allows you to go to which ever world you want to at any time. Simply walk to where the world is, and playthrough said world's levels. Each time you finish a world, a golden coin snaps into its place on the gate of Wario's castle. After that you simply must run through Wario's Castle and defeat him.

The graphics in Super Mario Land 2 are fantastic for an original Gameboy game. It goes for a somewhat original style where the scale of everything seems a little bigger. Mario, enemies, "?" boxes, and everything else look as though they are 1.5x zoomed in from Super Mario Bros on the NES. It should also be noted that everything looks better in Super Mario Land 2 than its NES counterparts.

Audio wise, Super Mario Land 2 is once again a winner. Classic chip-tunes are littered throughout, and act as the glue that hold the rest of the fantastic pieces of game together. Without the audio, I'm not so sure the game would have had such a great impression on me.

Overall, Super Mario Land 2 is a true classic for the original Gameboy. If you are a Mario fan who has not yet played Super Mario Land 2, you owe yourself to do so. It may not be a very long game, barely taking over 2 hours to complete, but the rest of the game is so incredible that even if you aren't a Mario fan there is guaranteed to be something that you will love.

PROS

• Great Gameplay
• Fantastic Graphics
• Outstanding Audio
• True Classic for the Gameboy

• A Little Short