Format: Original
Genre: 2d platformer
Developer: Nintendo
Publisher: Nintendo

From its brick and question mark blocks to the iconic character himself, Super Mario Bros. has one of the most distinctive designs of all time-- and Nintendo's developers did a nice job shrinking that down to portable size. Compared to later platformers on the system, Super Mario Land's backgrounds-- pyramids, Easter Island statues, and so forth-- are pretty basic. On that note, exploring pyramids and engaging in shmup-lite gameplay in a Mario game is very strange, although the aesthetics are solid. The game gets spiced up a bit on the Game Boy Color, with an assigned palette.

There are some nice melodies in Super Mario Land, such as a fairly iconic main theme and the third song, which plays at the start of world two. The compositions aren't overly complex but convey some personality and charm. The Egyptian theme is haunting, while many of the others are upbeat and chipper. The game's sound effects are fairly minimal, although the buzzing sound the larger enemies make on death is kind of cool.

The core gameplay loop in Super Mario Land is very solid. Like the original Super Mario Bros., Land has nuanced jumping where initiating leaps at different speeds has different outcomes, and each "type" of jump can be used in different scenarios. The level design is great, with well-paced levels that offer plenty of variety. The fireball attack in this title is quite nuanced, as it ricochets all around the screen, and can even be used to collect coins.

Super Mario Land is a fairly simple platformer which faithfully follows the Super Mario Bros. formula as defined on the NES. It doesn't push technical boundaries in any way, yet it has such a clean aesthetic that it almost can look like one of those "Tiger" electronic games at times! It has good level design and a short length. Fighting UFOs and aliens as Mario takes some getting used to, but it's a fun twist on the usual formula. It must have been incredible to have an experience like this on a handheld ROM cartridge in 1989, even if it was surpassed by later genre entries on the system.