System: Game Boy Developer: Nintendo Publisher: Nintendo Players: 1 Save: Battery Genre: Platformer

After a long wait, Mario returns to the GameBoy in the second instalment of the Mario Land series. This time a new villain has appeared! He goes by the name Wario, and he has taken over Mario's castle. Find the 6 Golden Coins scattered through out the island to unlock the door to the castle, and face Wario head-on.

North America: November 1992
Japan: 10/21/1992
Europe: unknown

Screeshots: 1 · 2 · 3 · 4 · 5

The original Super Mario Land is remembered for it's less than stellar gaming engine. However, being released after Super Mario World, Super Mario Land 2 attempted to play much the same way. It had a similar graphic style, and far similar game mechanics to what we would call a regular Mario game. Complete with 6 unique worlds, Super Mario Land is an extremely fun game to play. Of course it's no Mario 3, or World, but it stands alone as the GameBoy's best original Mario platformer. The game included the classic Super Mushroom power-up as well as the Fire Flower and the Starman. But instead of a feather for a cape, or a leaf for a tail, SML2 had a carrot that gave you bunny ears. They allowed Mario to float safely to the ground in a similar fashion that a raccoon tail would, but with the bunny ears, the descent was even slower, so you could nail any landing. Although the game is not overly challenging, a few boss battles can trip you up from time to time, and Wario's castle is a particularly challenging level. The inclusion of a battery save was a huge plus, and something that this game's predecessor lacked. God knows we'd all kill for a new 2D Mario platormer, but in the mean time, if you haven't played Super Mario Land 2, I suggest you give it a try. The simple fact that this is a decent 2D Mario game is enough for me to deem it, a classic. '

Score - 8.5

It's a classic!

Page by Xander

02/05/2005