Super Mario landed on Game Boy
We are in 1989, Nintendo is about to launch its new portable console, the first Game Boy. As a tough title, Nintendo chooses its most famous brand, Super Mario . This is certainly not a risk-free choice: as long as the series already has its fame, it never trie
d to carry it on a portable console. Shigeru Miyamoto did not participate in the development of Mario’s first portable iteration, so roles of directors and producers were entrusted to Satoru Okada and Gunpei Yokoi, the late creator of the same console on which the game would be released.
Super Mario Land lo
oks like a miniature version of Super Mario Bros .: the gameplay is basically the same, but the number of levels is drastically reduced. The game can only count on 12 levels divided into 4 worlds, a small number that, however, turns out to be optimal, considering that the game lacks the chance to save its own progress. Whenever you turn off the console, therefore, you have to start the adventure again. Fortunately, in the version for Virtual Console you can stop the game and resume it from where it was interrupted, making the game more step-by-time, but at
the same time revealing its irresistible duration. Join him at the first Super Mario Bros., there is also the fact that there is no map of the world where it can move: at the end of a level, it is automatically brought to the next, and you can not go back to rewrite a level already passed if you do not turn off the console . This means, consequently, that there are no collectible or
notable secrets, elements that would have become important in the main series with Super Mario World , which would come out the following year.
What distinguishes Super Mario Land from his cousin is the game world. If most of Mario’s titles are set in the famous Kingdom of Mushrooms, here we are in Sarasaland, where a wicked alien creature named Tatanga abducted Princess Daisy. So, the cards on the table are different, but the game does not change: Mario has to move through the platforms, with jumps calc
ulated to avoid precipices and enemies, to save a princess. The differences in gameplay are few, and the big one is perhaps the introduction of two levels that remind Gradius, in which Mario controls a submarine or an airplane, I intend to shoot at everything that moves towards him.
At that time, S
uper Mario Land was well received by critics and audiences. After all, he was able to make the Mario Bros. series of games on a portable console optimally, which was not at all deserved. In the aftermath, we know that many other portable chapters of the series would come out, in comparison of which Super Mario Land ispale. For this reason, to date, th
e title has lost part of its value, especially since the sequel, released shortly thereafter, would have surpassed it all over and over. Nevertheless, the first Super Mario Land remains a great historic title, which every fan of the series should play at least once; For others, this is a now negligible episode.
Try again, Mario
Three years after Mario’s debut on Game Boy, Nintendo decided that it was time for another portable adventure. Miyamoto, also this time, did not attend, so the role of directors fell on Hiroji Kiyotake and Takehiko Hosokawa, while Gunpei
Yokoi retained his place as a producer.
Super Mario Land 2 : Six Golden Coins ( Super Mario Land 2 onlyfrom now on) differs quite sharply from the predecessor: first, th
ere is a map of the world where the player can move freely after the first levels, deciding even in what order to face the worlds of gaming, even an unseen element for the main series. This means that the various levels can be rewritten at will, without having to restart the game as it was in the predecessor. The number of levels is also increased exponentially (32), and perhap
even this game has a rescue function that will trigger at the end of each level. There are also secret releases that lead to equally secretive levels, features inherited from his cousin Super Mario World .
The story of the game moves immediately after the first episode. After his excursion to Sarasaland, Mario returns home to find out that his childhood friend, now a new nobleman, has cast a spell on his castle to capture it. This new nobleman responds to the
name of Wario, and is one of the greatest novelties introduced by the game: Wario would become one of the most iconic characters of the Marian universe, enjoying a sub-series entirely dedicated to him.
The story of the game is quite different
from that of the other chapters, but this does not change the substance: Super Mario Land 2 is a 2D platform that inherits a lot from its predecessors, including the three main power ups. Red mushroom, fire
and starry flower make their way here, accompanied by a new power-up, which has so far been relegated to this single episode: the carrot. This allows Mario to turn into a rabbit version capable of jumping higher than normal and planing using his ears. Maybe it’s not such original powers within the series, but it’s certainly a version of Mario that we have not seen since then.
