 The first Super Mario Land was a launch title for the Game Boy when it was first released alongside Tetris in 1989, and this was a big deal, not just because it was a new Mario game, but because it was a fully fledged, fully realized, scrolling platformer on a handheld system. A game like Tetris seems like a natural fit for a handheld from the late 80s because the gameplay happens on one static screen, but a freaking Mario game that runs on four AA batteries that you can play in the car? It almost seemed too good to be true, and honestly, it kind of was. The game still looked like this when you played it. Mario is absolutely tiny and the game is a bit of a bleary mess, but our imaginations were able to fill in the blanks and make the game seem like a much better experience than it probably actually was. Fast forward three years to October 1992 and Nintendo cranks out another Mario game for Game Boy, Super Mario Land 2, Six Golden Coins, and as you can see from the footage, this is a massive leap forward from the previous game, and it looks, sounds, and plays like what you'd normally expect from a Mario game, which to me is still slightly insane because I mean, from a text standpoint, the Game Boy was never the most advanced or cutting edge thing. Stuff like the Sega Game Gear and Atari Lynx danced circles around the Game Boy, but when it came to getting the absolute most out of the hardware, Nintendo did not mess around, and this game is proof. What's really interesting about this game is that it's a Mario game that did not directly involve series creator Shigeru Miyamoto, which sounds like it might be a bad thing, but instead Mario Land 2 is full of original ideas and characters. For instance, this is the first game to feature Wario. There's no Bowser in this game and no Princess Peach either for that matter. Instead, it's Wario that shows up and steals Mario's castle. Wait, what? Mario has a castle? Or is he just subletting from Dr. Wily or something? Well, either way, Mario's got to get Six Golden Coins to get it back, so you gotta visit six different worlds, and what's really cool here is that you can play them in any order you'd like via the world map. There's an underwater world, you go inside a robot Mario, you get shrunken down and deal with giant ants and stuff, you even eventually go into space where you're jumping around in low G. The worlds here are clearly influenced big time from Mario 3, but it's not at all derivative. Each world is distinct and unique to this game in particular. You get six lives and it's A to jump and B to, uh... Wait, this is a Mario game, you don't need me to tell you that stuff, you know the deal. I will say there's two power-ups in this game, one is the Fire Flower and the other is a carrot that gives you rabbit ears and the ability to float. Yeah, this is a Mario game, alright. I remember when I first played this, I thought the carrot was a turnip like in Mario 2 and you could just chuck them at enemies, but nope, that's a carrot. There's a few other things that make this game stand out as well, like how each stage has two exits. One is a regular door that's just to complete the level, but there's also a bell near the exit. And if you're able to ring it, you'll go to a bonus game where you can win extra lives and power-ups and other good stuff. The bosses are also something different from Mario game. There's a witch and there's this crazy bird and an octopus that hangs out inside a whale, just to name a few. The final boss fight in particular against Wario is really fun because he uses the same power-ups as Mario, and this fight is actually pretty tough. Man, it'll never not be weird to see Wario in rough draft form like this compared to what he looks like now. It reminds me of what the bots from Mystery Science Theater looked like back in the KTMA days. There's a few other minor touches this game has as well, like the coin counter that goes to three digits, along with a goomba counter, and there's all sorts of enemies that only show up in this game, like these dudes wearing Jason masks with knives in them? The hell is that? One obvious thing that Mario Land 2 has going against it is that it's, you know, an original Game Boy game, so it's only in black and white. And yeah, if you're not into that, I get it, but there is a ROM hack out there created by Torres called Super Mario Land 2 DX, and it essentially converts the game into a Game Boy Color game, which is pretty dang cool. It also adds Luigi as a playable character, and it's compatible with the Super Mario Land 2 Randomizer. Yes, that's right, there's a Mario Land 2 Randomizer. Oh, those crazy kids, what'll they think of next? My point is, if you're avoiding this game because it's not in color, or maybe you're just tired of Mario stuff from that era, that is not an excuse anymore. But even in its original incarnation, Mario Land 2 still stands out as something different despite all the Mario stuff that came before, and has arrived since. Mario's jump in range of motion still feels immediately familiar, and this one still maintains the pick-up-and-play accessibility that made Mario popular in the first place. It's easily a Top 5 Game Boy game, and it's in the conversation for best original Game Boy game ever, and if nothing else, it's proof that Nintendo took the Game Boy very seriously. First-party games on the Game Boy were just as polished and fun to play as their NES counterparts. Just look at Link's Awakening, Donkey Kong 94, and Metroid 2, in addition to Mario Land 2, and in many ways, the Game Boy served as a natural extension of the NES. These games weren't made just for the sake of throwing them out there, they play like companion pieces that measure up just as well as any other game that was made in their respective franchises up to that point. Or in the case of Mario Land 2, they created one of the most inspired handheld games ever made. Alright, I want to thank you for watching, and I hope you have a great rest of your day!