Super Mario Land
is a 1989 platform game developed and published by Nintendo for the Game Boy, as one of four launch titles for the console. It was first released in Japan in April 1989, followed by North America in August of that year, and Europe and Australia in 1990. It is the first handheld entry in the Super Mario series, as well as the first mainline title not designed by series creator Shigeru Miyamoto. Modeled after the original Super Mario Bros., the game adapts side-scrolling gameplay for the Game Boy's smaller screen, with the player guiding Mario through 12 levels to rescue Princess Daisy from the alien Tatanga in the new setting of Sarasaland.
The game is notable for its distinctive sound effects, minimalist line-art visuals, inconsistent use of familiar Mario elements, and the inclusion of shooting stages inspired by titles such as Gradius. Nintendo developed Super Mario Land under the direction of Game Boy creators Gunpei Yokoi and Satoru Okada, intending it to be the system's pack-in game. However, during development, Tetris captured their attention, and they recognized its potential for a handheld platform. Henk Rogers, who held the rights to Tetris, convinced Nintendo of America that it would appeal to a broader audience than Super Mario Land; as a result, Tetris was bundled with the Game Boy instead.
Super Mario Land played a key role in the Game Boy's commercial success, selling over 25 million copies worldwide and becoming the fourth best-selling title for the system. Despite its short length, critics praised the game for successfully adapting the Mario formula to portable hardware. Since its release, Super Mario Land has been widely recognized as one of the most influential Game Boy titles, and introduced Princess Daisy as a recurring character in the Mario franchise. The game received two sequels: Super Mario Land 2: 6 Golden Coins and Wario Land: Super Mario Land 3, the latter of which spawned the Wario Land sub-series. Super Mario Land was later re-released via the Virtual Console for the Nintendo 3DS in 2011 and on Nintendo Switch Online in 2024.
Gameplay
As a side-scrolling platform game, Super Mario Land is similar in gameplay to the original Super Mario Bros.. As Mario, the player advances to the end of the level by moving to the right and jumping across platforms to avoid enemies and pitfalls, the screen only scrolls to the right, as the player advances, but will not scroll back to the left, and sections of a level that have passed off screen cannot be revisited. Mario travels to Sarasaland to save Princess Daisy from Tatanga, an evil spaceman. Two of the game's twelve levels are "forced-scrolling" Gradius-style shooters where Mario helms a submarine or airplane and fires projectiles towards oncoming enemies, destructible blocks and bosses. Levels end with a platforming challenge to reach an alternative exit located above the regular exit, the former leading to a bonus minigame styled after a Ghost Leg lottery that awards 1 to 3 extra lives or a Superball Flower power-up.Unlike other games in the series, Super Mario Land features several differences that sets it apart from the traditional Super Mario premises. Rather than being set in the Mushroom Kingdom, it is set in Sarasaland and drawn in line art. Mario rescues Princess Daisy in her debut, rather than the series' standard damsel in distress Princess Peach. When jumped on, Koopa Troopa shells explode after a short delay, Mario throws black bouncing balls rather than fireballs, 1-Up power-ups are depicted as hearts, and the level-end flagpoles are replaced with a platforming challenge. Compared to Super Mario Bros., which contains 32 levels subdivided into 8 "worlds" with 4 levels each, Super Mario Land is substantially smaller, with 12 levels subdivided into 4 "worlds" with 3 levels each. There are five unique bosses, one at the end of each of the four worlds, and a fifth and final boss being Tatanga, who appears when the fourth boss is defeated. The first three bosses may be destroyed with projectiles, or the player may move past them to the exit without destroying them first; the last level has no regular exit, and the two bosses at the end of that level must be destroyed with projectiles to complete the level and the game.
Few elements recur from the previous Mario games, such as blocks suspended in midair, moving platforms that must be used to traverse pitfalls, pipes that lead to other areas, collectible coins that grant an extra life when 100 are collected, and Goomba enemies. After the player has completed the game they may play through again on a harder mode, in which the levels are the same apart from enemies being more numerous; if the player completes the harder mode, the game allows the player to start another play on any level in the game.
Development and release
Super Mario Land was developed by Nintendo R&D1 and published by Nintendo in 1989 as a launch game for its Game Boy handheld console. Nintendo CEO Hiroshi Yamauchi believed that fun games promote console sales, so when the company created the Game Boy, he wanted a fun game featuring Nintendo's mascot, Mario. The task came to Nintendo R&D1, a development team led by Game Boy inventor Gunpei Yokoi. Yokoi had previously created the Game & Watch series and worked with his protégé, Shigeru Miyamoto, on the game that introduced Mario, Donkey Kong. Super Mario Land is the fourth Super Mario game, the first portable Mario game, and the first in the series to be made without Miyamoto.Absent Miyamoto's direction, the development team used elements new and inconsistent with the series as Super Mario Land shrunk elements of the series to fit the portable device's small screen. Yokoi, the head of R&D1, served as producer, and Satoru Okada served as director. They had previously developed Metroid and Kid Icarus together, and the two subsequently designed the Game Boy—Yokoi on its industrial design, and Okada on its engineering. Their Super Mario Land was planned as the portable console's showcase title until Henk Rogers brought Tetris to Nintendo of America and convinced Minoru Arakawa that the addictive computer game would help Nintendo reach the largest audience. The company subsequently chose to bundle Tetris with every Game Boy purchase.
The Game Boy was released in Japan in April 1989, North America in July, and Europe in September 1990, and Super Mario Land became a launch game. Its official first release was on April 21, 1989, in Japan, and its North American release followed on August 1. On June 6, 2011, Super Mario Land was released for the Nintendo 3DS Virtual Console as one of the first titles for the service. Its new features include an increased size and an optional "shades of green" color palette to match the effect of the original Game Boy's monochrome. The game was re-released on the Nintendo Classics service for Nintendo Switch on May 15, 2024.
Reception
Contemporary reviews
Many critics saw Super Mario Land as a "smaller" and shorter version of Super Mario Bros. At the time of its release in 1989, reviewers were excited to have a portable Mario game. Paul Rand of Computer and Video Games called the game "an arcade machine in your pocket" and the graphics "remarkable" for their size. French games magazine said that Super Mario Land adequately compromised where necessary to bring Mario to a portable device. Electronic Gaming Monthlys Steve Harris considered the game "fantastic" and "very fun to play", though short. Ed Semrad and Donn Nauert of the same outlet both declared Super Mario Land "easily the best Game Boy cart" of the time. One reviewer in Famitsu wrote that it as the best of the first games released for the Game Boy.Tony Mott of Superplay said the game proved that Nintendo's Game Boy "had playability to match" its competitors. Matt Regan of Mean Machines agreed: "Playability to the nth degree!". British magazines Mean Machines and The Games Machine both commented on the many secrets to find. Player One too complimented the music. Player One further pronounced Super Mario Land a "masterpiece", "the pinnacle of portable video gaming". Three reviewers in Famitsu were not enthusiastic about the graphics, describing them as blurry, less appealing than the Famicom Mario games as it was monochrome. One reviewer felt that although the game was short, it was probably better that way due to the nature of the Game Boy.
Retrospective reviews
IGNs Lucas Thomas wrote that the protagonist, enemies, and overall game were shorter, and noted that Mario himself was just 12 pixels in height on the Game Boy's small screen. With this in mind, Thomas was concerned about player "eyestrain" in rereleases of the game. Still, IGNs Levi Buchanan thought the game made no compromises in its size reduction. Complexs Gus Turner wrote that the graphics were "simple", and Official Nintendo Magazine said the game was "ridiculously short". Eurogamer reported that the game could be finished in under an hour. Reviewing the original Game Boy game, Brett Alan Weiss of AllGame said that similarly found the easy to beat despite a lack of save points and the graphics were too small even for a Game Boy title while finding the gameplay "fittingly super."Complexs Gus Turner wrote that the game had the fun, intuitiveness, and difficulty associated with the series. Eurogamers Chris Schilling called Hirokazu Tanaka's soundtrack "surely one of the all-time greats", and Official Nintendo Magazine said it was among the "greatest videogame music ever composed". Eurogamer and Complex too complimented the music.