After the largely successful Super Mario Land was released for the Gameboy, it was a safe bet it would get its own sequel. That sequel is Super Mario Land 2: 6 Golden Coins. Since it's a Gameboy game, you can now only find it via Internet, garage sales, flea markets, etc. Should you spend your time searching for this game or just stick with modern games?
Storyline: 8.4/10
This game takes place after Super Mario Land, in which the space invader Tatanga kidnapped Princess Daisy of Sarasaland. While Mario was away on his quest, Wario, who made his debut in this game, went to Mario Land and took over Mario's castle. Before Mario can just charge in and beat up Wario, the door needs to be unlocked. It can only be unlocked by collecting the 6 Golden Coins scattered throughout Mario Land. Mario has to travel to 6 different "zones" to claim the Golden Coins and re-take his castle.
Hmm, pretty good for a Mario game, actually. But it seems like Mario's castle, or for that matter, Mario Land just popped out of the blue. We haven't seen them before, and we don't know where they came from or how Mario got them. Perhaps Peach may have finally given Mario the thanks he deserves for saving her and the kingdom so many times, but that's just personal speculation. It's taking place right after Super Mario Land did add a little more depth to it, but nothing much. At least it's not another kidnapping.
Gameplay: 9.2/10
Super Mario Land played quite similarly to Super Mario Bros, and Six Golden Coins isn't much different. Platforming hasn't evolved much, but of course, there's always some sort of power-up on the cover art that's a new installment to the game. For Land 2, that's the Carrot. When Mario grabs one of these Carrots, he gains a set of rabbit ears on his head. When he jumps into the air, hold A to make him flap his ears and hover across the ground. This is more useful than it looks, as Mario travels almost completely horizontally, but does slowly lose altitude. The Fire Flower’s in too; since this was a Gameboy game and didn't have color, Mario now wears a feather on his hat to symbolize the power-up. Other than that, it's not much different from it's past appearances, but it's still useful.
Now probably the most major change since Super Mario Land is the use of an overworld map. Mario can travel through the map to wherever he wants to go. To get to one of the zones that holds a Golden Coin, there's a landmark on the main map. If you lead Mario to it, you'll enter a sub-map of that particular zone, where you can access the levels. It makes the game much less linear, especially since the Golden Coins don't have to be found in any particular order. Another new addition is that coins have much more use in this game; instead of just collecting 100 to get an extra life, the coins you get in each level are saved up. The amount you've saved will always be displayed, and there is a place you can spend them. Just to the right of where Mario begins on the map is a little cove inside a hill. In there, Mario can spend his coins to play a selection of mini-games. These are all roulette-style mini-games, but the more Mario pays, the better the reward offerings are. He can play games for either 30, 50, 200, or 999 coins. These can give you either power-ups or extra lives, which can be quite convenient, especially for the last level of the game.
A new goal game is also here - actually, there are 2 of them. The first one is a skill crane to get you power-ups or lives. Various items are moving on a conveyer belt, and the crane is moving left to right. You have to press A to lower it and get the item you want. But while the crane stops when it lowers to grab something, the conveyer belt doesn't, so that makes it more difficult. The second one is a wire game that can also give you power-ups or a 1-Up. Mario is at the bottom of the screen, and there is a series of interconnected wires above him and four different items above the series of wires. Mario has to jump somewhere to activate a spark, and there are 4 places he can jump from left to right. When he chooses a place, 2 of the wires will be cut. The spark will travel upwards, taking the route of any horizontal wire along the way except the ones that have been cut. Mario will get the power-up that the spark touches. I'm not too fond of the wire game, but the crane is pretty good and requires more skill rather than luck.
Secret Exits from Super Mario World are back as well, but that will be covered in the Replay Value section. There aren’t many more minor features. Mario has his Spin Jump ability from Super Mario World, which he can trigger by pressing down while in the air. It serves basically the same function, a more powerful jump to break blocks that are under him. There's also an enemy counter at the bottom of the screen that tallies how many enemies Mario's defeated. For every 100 enemies he defeats, he'll get a Starman. It's really a pretty pointless features and you won't be getting it much; it seems like a last minute, tacked on feature they just threw in.
Graphics: 8.3/10
Since this was a game for the original Gameboy, it would be monochrome if played on said system, but most people here probably don't have that model. Most of us here probably have a Gameboy Color or Gameboy Advance, both of which this game can be played on to put in more color. Aside from colors, the game looks quite good for its era. Remember in Super Mario Land, those outdated Mario sprites, those tiny little ? Blocks, the ugly-looking flowers? As much as I liked that game, the graphics were less than good. That's not a problem this time around, as the game looks a lot better. Mario's sprite has been updated to look more modern and less pixilated, the enemies and blocks have grown to a bigger, more suitable size, and it has more detail and shading.
The GBC has seen better graphics though; despite looking good, Super Mario Land 2 isn't a graphical breakthrough. Though most of its score came from the fact that it's impressive but not excellent, there are some fairly minor issues. Wario looks kind of strange in this game, parts of him look kind of crooked. And Mario's death sprite does look rather odd. But those complaints are so minor they're almost unfair. I've made my point. Graphics - 8.3'd.
Music and Sound Effects: 8.5/10
I don't care that the game's music
is generally deemed as sub-par, I liked it. Like Super Mario World, a lot
of the game's tracks are remixes of a main theme. The main theme of this
game, however, I find quite enjoyable and catchy, especially some of its
other remixes. The Athletic theme is probably the best remix of this theme,
the remix on the second level of Tree Zone is good too despite being rather
bizarre. Some remixes are a bit obnoxious though, like the water theme,
which plays in Turtle Zone level 1, for example. It's not exactly annoying,
but surely not one of the better remixes.
Most of the actual levels have a remix of the main theme, with a few exceptions, like the second level of Space Zone, apparently called the Star Maze, is not a remix and it is still one of the best themes in the game, if not THE best. The overworld in particular doesn't have many remixes. In a few zone maps you may be able to hear some samples of the main theme, but for the most part they’re all original. The Turtle Zone theme is pretty good, and the main map in general is pretty catchy despite looping a lot.
The Starman theme is in pretty bad shape, sounding a little dull despite the cool little jingle that plays at the very end of it. Even with its share of forgettable musical scores, I do consider the music of this game somewhat underrated. And did I mention the appearance of Totaka's Song in the game? Sound effects, of course, aren't that great, they're pretty much he same as any earlier Mario platformer. The music can sometimes mess up a little when some sound effects play, but it's not as severe as it was in games like Super Mario Bros.
Controls: 9.7/10
Largely similar to other Mario 2D platformers. Control Pad to move, A to jump, B to dash or use power-ups, down to duck. There isn't much new here, and the controls feel very familiar and work well. Just one complaint I have is how the Spin Jump is triggered - pressing down in the air. It just feels a little poorly placed, as this makes it hard to Spin Jump in certain directions. Moving the camera up and down feels sort of tacky as well, it's done by pressing B and holding up or down. But this is hardly a problem as you won't be using this feature much, therefore I didn't take off points for that. When trying to go into pipes, sometimes the controls can be unresponsive and it might take you a few tries of adjusting your position to get in. But this pretty much only applies to vertical pipes
Length and Difficulty: 7/10
At the time of its release, Super Mario Land 2 was one of the largest of all Gameboy games, storing 4 megabits crammed in to one cartridge. Yet surprisingly, the game is quite short. There are 6 zones for the 6 Golden Coins, most of them containing 3 or 4 levels, not including the secret ones. Most of them can be completed within a few minutes, but toughies are thrown in every now and again. The last level of Space Zone is quite difficult the first time around, and Wario's Castle is set up with a bunch of hard to dodge traps and enemies, making it the hardest level of the game. While most levels are unique and well-designed, they're quite easy most of the time. Plus, the Carrot can offer you safety when jumping onto narrow platforms or avoiding bottomless pits. One factor that did contribute to the difficulty is that, if you get a Game Over, you can kiss all of your Golden Coins goodbye. Yes, all of them will return to their guardians. To get them back, you have to fight and beat the boss that holds them again. Since most of the bosses are easy enough or are easier after you've beaten them once, it shouldn't hold you back too much, as it won't take long to reclaim the lost Golden Coins.
Replay Value: 7/10
Yep, the Secret Exits from World are back. Same basic idea, you have to take an alternate route in the stage you're in and find the Secret Exit. In this case, the Secret Exits are doors with stars hanging above them. I loved the Secret Exits in SMW, but was rather disappointed with how they fared in this game. Although they are generally more challenging to find, they're a lot less rewarding. In most cases, if you find a Secret Exit you'll be led to a Secret Level. But this usually won't provide you anything, you just get to play and beat the level and you don't unlock anything else. Just 1 Secret Exit has a reward, which is the Macro Zone exit, but that reward is miniscule, as it is only a shortcut to the boss. They could have at least given a coin or item reward. There are only around 8 of them, too. But as I just said, they're really quite a challenge to find, and you may sometimes find yourself needing to use a guide. Finding all the Secret Exits unassisted should take you a few days to complete. After you've found them all, there really isn't much else to do in the game. However, I've found myself collecting coins to play mini-games to reach maximum lives or messing around with the debug room glitch. Although these aren't exactly sidequests, I still found them entertaining after beating the game.
Fun Factor!: 9.2/10
Magical Carrots, non-linear gameplay, pick-up-and-play controls, what do you expect? It's a Mario game in the main series, there's a safe bet that it's gonna be a blast. The overworld, great levels, a large variety, and its improvement from the original in almost all ways all make it more of a joy to play. And it maintains one of the magical elements of Mario platformers, it that it can appeal to casual players just as much as it can appeal to hardcore gamers. The main quest is rather easy and casuals could beat it in a matter of days, although hardcores will typically be able to beat it in less than a day so there is a small imbalance there, but even so the game offers bigger challenges for hardcore gamers to conquer. In this day and age, it may not be as much fun as it was at its release, because now we have other masterpieces for more powerful consoles; but no matter what console it's on, you can't deny a great game. The fun, unfortunately, is a little too short-lived for my tastes. I mean, it's most delightful when you're first playing the main quest and finding the Secret Exits, but it's only a few days of doing all that before it gets a lot harder to find ways to entertain yourself in the game. But you played it, you beat it, you did the sidequests, and you enjoyed it.
Overall: 89/100
It's hard to judge older games since I've gotten used to modern videogame standards, so I did cut the game some slack to be as accurate as I could for the Gameboy era. For its generation, it was one of the titles that deserved only the highest recommendation while it was still on the shelves. But like all games, eventually, videogame technology is going to advance and people are going to expect more out of videogames, and thus older games begin to fade into history. Even by today's standards, you can still be quite entertained by Super Mario Land 2. Plus, you might want to get this game just to have played every game in the main Mario series, as a good deal of people I quizzed said they have never played it. And better yet, Nintendo has managed to create a sequel that's every bit as awesome as the original, probably even moreso this time around. As for a recommendation... it is a great game, but it's outdated, as mentioned before. If you want to try this game out, I'd suggest you buy some of the awesome modern games first, like Super Mario Galaxy. If you've gotten bored with your modern games, it'd be in your best interest to find this old-school treasure.
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