Super Mario Land 2: Six Golden Coins Review

Super Mario Land 2: Six Golden Coins

Publisher: Nintendo Developer: Nintendo Platform: Game Boy Players: 1 Release: 1992 Genre: 2D Platformer Rating: 8.0 \ 10.0: Great

Above shows Mario using the Magic Carrot
 

Super Mario Land was a rather odd Mario platformer-- anthropomorphic sphinxes? Exploding Koopas? Stages in which you pilot submarines and biplanes.? Fake princesses that turn into octopi? What the heck?!  Well, any fans who thought that was super weird were probably a more comfortable with the game's sequel. Super Mario Land was bizarre, but you couldn't call it "untraditional" back in 1989, because it was the third Mario game released in North America, and the second one was a renamed non-Mario game! (See my review of Super Mario Bros. 2 for more details) The plot of Super Mario Land 2: 6 Golden Coins has Wario, Mario's doppleganger who appeared for the first time in this game, take over Mario's castle-- not Peach's castle-- Mario's castle! To unlock the doors to the castle, Mario must retrieve the six golden coins that are scattered throughout the land. There's one coin hidden in each of the game's zones-- the Tree Zone, the Turtle Zone, the Mario Zone, the Pumpkin Zone, the Macro Zone and the Space Zone. These zones can be played in any order. The game plays like any other Mario game, except with a few creative twists that set it apart. In the Macro Zone, for example, you encounter an abundance of mega-size household objects, implying that you have shrunk. That Zone's boss is a mouse!-- And not Mouser from Super Mario Bros. 2. There is also a good deal of new enemies, some of which were variations of existing foes, and many of which were weird creatures that have never been seen since. The three prime power-ups of the Mario series-- the Super Mushroom, the Fire Flower, and the Super Star, are all present, and are joined with a new power-up: the Magic Carrot. This veggie grants you cute rabbit ears that allow to flutter slowly through the air by holding the A button, and swim indefinitely the same way-- no button-mashing! Anyone who has played the beloved Super Mario World will recognize some similarities. For example, Mario is able to spin jump in both games (it is pulled off differently here because the Game Boy has two main buttons rather than four). Additionally, both games remix and reuse their catchy main themes in many levels. The bonus games from the original SML have returned, but they're different this time. You can save up coins to play one of these games whenever you please. If you've read my review of Super Mario Land, you may have noticed how I scored these two games equally. Well, not that this is really anything to complain about, this game draws visual influence from Super Mario Bros. 3 and Super Mario World making it one of the best-looking titles of the 8-bit era (the first SML lies on the other end of the spectrum as one of the worst-looking games of the late '80s). However, it just didn't feel right to have such a great-looking game appear so colorless. Additionally, some of the music is full of ear-numbing squeaks that make you want to turn the volume down, even the typically catchy Super Star theme. Despite these flaws, Super Mario Land 2: 6 Golden Coins is a classic that shouldn't be overlooked because it's bizarre.

Ups
Creative twists
New power-up
More traditional
Great 8-bit graphics

Downs
Black-and-white ruins graphical appeal
Music with irritating squeaks
 

ESRB: E Content: ??? Price: $3.99 (Download)