Super Mario Land 2 :
6 Golden coins
Unfinished Game #3
Type of Game
Vacation diary of a tourist who travels the world destroying flora and fauna to make tons of money.
Release Date on Our Machines
January 1993, when Bill Clinton arrives at the White House.
Developer
Nintendo R&D1, that's not the name of a droid.
Publisher
Nintendo Co., Ltd. that not the name of a pesticid.
Super Mario Land 2 : available on the Nintendo eShop.
I used to have a blast playing Super Mario Land 1 whenever my big sister Elena let me touch her Game Boy, but I was amazed when I turned on the console one day and a big number 2 appeared with the title on the home screen! The sequeeeel! So cooooool! A lot of new regions of our beautiful planet to explore! Oh no, nothing like that. But that's okay! I loved the surprises this big grey calculator had in store for me, given that I had no control over its games library. I didn't have any say in the matter, but each time I went on vacation, I was treated to new sparks in my eyes! Super Mario Land 2 gave me plenty of them, and some of the most intense. Gone were the unbearably boring journeys in the car that smelled of Rebecca's vomit (my baby sister)! Here come the car sessions that go by too quickly, because you're so into the game! But still smelling of vomit, right; the Game Boy didn't do Sanytol spray either.
Good surprises and bad smells
Looped content
In Super Mario Land 1, the hero looked more or less the same as he did in the NES version of Super Mario Bros. Why did I call Mario a hero, anyway? I don't know, I never thought of him as one. With all due respect, dude. Anyway, Super Mario Land 2 adopted the design of the mythical Super Mario World from the Super NES... although it could be likened to Super Mario Bros. 3, given the 8-bit design, or even SMB2. In any case, you play a plump, cheerful plumber, not some cyborg with a blank stare and a terrifyingly rigid expression! Instead of a classic linear progression, a world map unfolds before our eyes. TOO NOVATIVE ! Well, Super Mario Bros 3 had already implemented this mechanic, but not by letting the player choose where to start. In any case, I'd only played Super Mario 3 three or four times, so I must have forgotten about it (actually, I haven't - I have no idea why I'm lying right now).
In any case, my pupils couldn't stop shining. Each world has its own theme and mechanics, like the moon stage with its low gravity, the giant Mario world where everything is immense, and uh... wait, I'm going to have a quick look at a longplay, I'm having a bit of a memory lapse here. Alternating light and dark in the pumpkin world? But this game left a deep impression on me, I swear! Well, what about the new carrot bonus that lets you hover over almost an entire stage? Ah, did that already exist in SMB3 with the leaf that changes into a tanuki? Yeah, I remembered, what's the matter? Wario's first appearance then, that's true, isn't it? Yes it is! It was weird not to see Bowser making a mess of things, but then he'd been replaced by another overweight, greedy, thieving moron, so... I didn't see much difference. It didn't really matter, though, because it felt like a game with a never-ending lifespan! Today, I realize that it's not that long.
But my enthusiasm at the time only fooled me, and so did my lack of mastery. Strangely enough, failure after failure suited me just fine. It meant I could keep on playing. As long as there were batteries left, and Elena didn't snatch the console out of my hands.
The graphics are always a real treat, I think. Particularly in terms of sprite size. Quite a difference from SML1! They're pretty damn big, aren't they? I've never seen such big sprites on a Game Boy. Do you remember any bigger ones? Well, I don't. But then again, I don't even know what 90% of the Game Boy library consists of. In any case, it still makes me euphoric, like in '93. As much as I adored Super Mario Land 1, its sequel immediately made it bland and outdated. At least at the time. Nowadays, nostalgia allows you to turn things any way you want, according to your needs. I found all the levels teeming with life, the scenery ultra-worked, and much more immersive. Besides, everyone seemed nice, even the ghosts, despite the fact that we were blowing the faces off anyone who crossed our path. Mario executes three creatures a second with an imperturbable smile. Big psychopath, in fact! I wonder if I don't prefer his old design, which is better suited to this kind of mass eradication.
Pixels of
beauty
I have to admit, I was pretty scared of the three rabid little pigs. I could hardly ever beat them! Anyway, even with such a diverse range of stages in a completely crazy world, it works. We'd already seen a lot worse, anyway. I wouldn't go so far as to say that this DA rivals that of Yoshi's Island, but for an 8-bit portable, it couldn't really be bettered. Or so I thought. And then, shortly afterwards, I got a Game Gear, and I changed my mind. I was campaigning for Columns to be recognized as a far better title than Tetris, I didn't care about the Super NES JRPGs, since my cousin Eglantine Toothpaste had lent me Wonder Boy III; I even liked the most hated Double Dragon in history. Game Gear exclusive, yeah yeah. Don't I convince anyone? Well, uh, me neither, actually.
sounds of musicality
As much as I love the main theme of the first Mario Land, and the rest of the O.S.T. too, for that matter, I have to admit that the 2's soundtrack is in tune with the same ecstatic frequency as the graphics. What's more, our character makes no mistake, flashing a goofy grin throughout his adventure. As with Mario Kart 64, Koji Kondo is not part of the journey. He couldn't be everywhere either. Replacing him is Kazumi Totaka, a relative newcomer to the business, but one who has since added some pretty cool projects to his résumé. Link's Awakening, Luigi's Mansion, Animal Crossing, Super Smash Bros... stuff like that, to give you a significant street cred. It's said that he has a kind of signature sound, a bit of melody that he would wedge into most of his work. In the case of Super Mario Land 2, it accompanies the Game Over screen. Strange that I don't remember it, given the number of times I've seen this screen impose itself on my eyes to disrespect me. Fortunately, the guy didn't just slap his musical gimmick all over the place. He also knew how to compose real songs, including those for Super Mario Land 2, which enrich the world of pipes, coins and mushrooms to perfection. Admittedly, we're served up the same compoistion reorchestrated several times, but it comes across so well, and the arrangements sound so good-humored, that I forgive any shortcomings this soundtrack might suffer from. And then, to top it all off with a carrot cake coating, there's a sound effect like no other, audible at the seventh second in the track below. A sound I've heard nowhere else but on Game Boy, a sort of cute squeak mixed with the stridulation of a happy insect. I can listen to this little twinkle fifty times a day and still laugh like a ninny. Even my kid loves it, even though he's never seen a Game Boy in his life! For me, it remains the most beautiful signature of the 8-bit era (I just hope I haven't said that elsewhere about another console).
Camping 6 gold coins
Since I could only play the Game Boy on vacation, or nearly so, I didn't just switch it on while the car or the camper van was moving. Super Mario Land 2 reminds me just as much of gaming sessions on several campsites, in the Dordogne, the Lot or the Gard departments. I can't remember which year we visited which place, but who cares? What could be more awesome than sitting on a carpet of pine needles, under a blazing sun, with a Dove white chocolate ice cream in one hand and the console in the other? Nothing, except the same, but with a dance party in flip-flops and an open shirt scheduled in two hours' time.
And yes, I know you can't play the Game Boy with just one hand. Leave me alone, I'm contextualizing. As I was three years younger than Elena, I had a hard time completing the levels. So I'd always manage to take over one of her saved games, hoping to make a little progress, thanks to the good foundations she'd laid. In the end, I'd inevitably ruin her saves, pretending I had nothing to do with it, and she'd inevitably come down on me. Then, deprived of a Game Boy until the next day, I'd end the day playing with my G.I. Joe or my Monster in my Pocket in the dirt. I liked it too, but I didn't want to admit it, so the next day I'd repeat it. And I'd get punished again. And I'd do it again. Too much recklessness in one person... as long as step-dad didn't order me to put this or that away to make my goofy grin disappear. The game grin as Mario.
