I've been looking for games like this lately. After finding it at a game store, I bought it and starting playing it. Now here's my Review for it! And remember, a 0-4 star scale is used.
Graphics: 1/2
The graphics are really ugly. They're worse than the original Super Mario Bros.! Only a few things looked okay but everything else was awful looking. And, why do things like Mario, items, and blocks look really small, unlike Super Mario Bros.? I don't get it. Super Mario looks barely taller than small Mario in other games! Mario may be short, but he isn't THAT short. Not even the color from the GBA makes this game look better!
Sound/Music: ***1/2
The music in this game is awesome. The main overworld music for Worlds 1, 2 ,and 4 is great, and the pyramid music and the music for 2-3 and 4-3 aren't far behind. The Starman music is different, but it doesn't matter all that much. The sound effects might not have been as good, especially the awful sound you hear when you hit a boss with a projectile, but overall the sound and music in this game are very good.
Difficulty: *
Way too easy. I guess that one star comes from either 3-1 or 4-1, the two hardest levels in the game in my opinion. 3-2 doesn't look too easy to me either. These two or three)levels are harder than the rest due to their hard jumps and enemies in the wrong places. They're also a little too long. The rest of the game is real easy. Getting past the first two worlds, even on Hard Mode, is a piece of cake! Some may think that Tatanga, the final boss, is hard, but compared to levels like 3-1 or 4-1, he's a little easy.
Controls: **
The controls are... well, not too easy to control, or not too hard. My main complaint is that Mario, like in Mario 1, cannot turn around very easily in the air. This makes it hard when you have to "bend" your jump if you want to get onto a platform above you. Mario 3 improved on this kind of stuff by making it easy to turn in mid-air. If you don't hit A hard enough to jump, you'll never make it to the next platform. Jumping is my main complaint about the controls, but the rest is fine.
Characters: **
A lot of the enemies in Super Mario Land act much like normal Mario characters. For example, Goombas are called Chibobos, Piranha Plants are called Pakkun Plants, and Bullet Bills are called Giras. I guess those are the Japanese names for the enemies. I wonder why they didn't get translated into English. What I don't like? I don't get how in later levels, an enemy exactly the same as one in an earlier level appears but has a different name and look. Kumos in the Easton Kingdom (World 3) are exactly like Flies in the Birbuato Kingdom (World 1). Also, Nyolilins in the Chai Kingdom (World 4) are exactly like Gaos in World 1. Maybe it's an environment thing, but I still don't like it. Why put these new enemies in?
Levels: **1/2
Although the levels are above average, there are two things that stop the score from being four stars: very few levels and the fact that some levels repeat a lot, especially 4-1. The game makers probably wanted to make levels longer by putting the same section in different parts of the level. And why only twelve levels? Mario 1 had more than twice the number of levels! Mario 2 also had more levels! Maybe the game makers ran out of ideas... but I seriously doubt that. Despite those two complaints, I do like these levels. There's a submarine level and an airplane level and other nice things in levels. There are also bonus rooms like Mario 1's, but with many more coins in them. At the end of a level, there's a tower with two doors; if you take the upper door, which is harder to reach, you'll get to play a bonus game. Overall, these are nice levels, there just needs to be more of them and different sections of them.
Items: **1/2
There are more items in Super Mario Land than in Mario 1, which is a good thing. Mushrooms are the same, although Flowers give you Superballs, which bounce off the ground. They're useful in underground places, but not so useful in overworld places. Also, Starmen in this game don't bounce, just fall off the screen, which I don't like. But what I really like about the items is the fact that the Sub Pop/Sky Pop are in this game, which you use in 2-3 and 4-3. I really like that one item, giving a positive rating here.
Bonus Game: 1/2
There's only one bonus game, and it's sort of like a slot machine where you must line up Mario with an item, making sure the ladder won't be near Mario if he's lined up with a very good thing. It's very hard to time, and not interesting. The only good thing is that you can always get a good prize if you're not fiery, and you probably won't be in later levels.
Replayability: *1/2
A very short game, so the score here won't be good. You can try to beat Hard Mode or get a high score (although the game doesn't save it). Or maybe you just want to play it again for the fun or the good music. But if the game saved and it was longer, this would be a better score.
Fun Factor!: **1/2
A pretty fun game, if you don't mind accidentally losing lives thanks to a stiff jumping ability. It's fun, but not too fun.
Overall: **
The game is way too short to get a good score, but it is good enough to not get a bad score. So it's average. Just like Pac-Man 2, if the game was longer it would be much better, but it ended up only being average. So rent it for 1-3 days if you want to beat the game, beat Hard Mode, find all the secrets in the levels, and maybe even listen to the good music.
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