Hello, everybody! …I do know I said I wouldn't be doing Game Reviews again, but I've decided that I will - just not as often as before. So let's begin this review!
Super Mario Land [1990, Game Boy]
Developer: Nintendo R&D1 (now Nintendo EPD)
Publisher: Nintendo
Overview
Super Mario Land was the first Mario game released for a portable console, originally in 1989 (but 1990 in Europe.) It was also the very first videogame I ever played!Plot
Super Mario Land's plot is a simple one; Princess Daisy (her first appearance!) of Sarasaland has been kidnapped by the evil alien Tatanga, and it's up to Mario to save her.I give it a score of:
⭐️⭐️
It may not have been overused in games at the time, but the 'kidnapped princess' plot is enormously common throughout human history. So my reasoning is that the plot could have been more unique.
Gameplay
The gameplay is also standard Mario. However, the flower powerup shoots 'Super Balls' that ricochet diagonally and are not affected by gravity, whilst the Koopa Troopas explode. So there is definitely variation!Also, two levels (2-3 and 4-3) are played in a shoot-em-up style of gameplay, which is not something I have seen employed in a Mario game much since!
The game's bosses are relatively simple; I would expect as such from a game only about 36 kilobytes in size, though!
I give the gameplay:
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Looking at it today, Super Mario Land doesn't have many powerups. But between exploding turtles and shoot-em-up levels, it tries what many Mario games before and after don't.
Replay value
…This part is quite difficult to gauge. Despite the fact that it can be played over and over, Super Mario Land only has twelve levels. So there is replay value… but at the same time, not a huge deal.
With that in mind, I give the replay value of Super Mario Land:
⭐⭐⭐
You can play this game over and over again, yes… but it does lose charm when you've memorised all twelve levels. (not that I ever have. I'm still on 3-2…)
So, taking into account all of the scores I have given Super Mario Land thus far and taking into account the rest of my feelings on this game, I give Super Mario Land an overall score of:
🌟🌟🌟🌟
It's not perfect. But then again, nothing is. It's not the best portable Mario game… but it was a tremendous attempt at the first! I love it and have done for as long as I can remember. So I highly recommend it!
[Nintendo eShop price as of 17/02/2018: £3.59]
Anyway, that's all from the main part of this post, though there is something else I wish to say…
-A New Blog Schedule-
March and April will only have one post, while May and June will not have any posts.
My GCSEs are coming up, so I won't have nearly as much free time for this as I wanted.
I would like to keep posting, but my priorities need to be set right.
So with that, I shall see all of you next month. So goodbye for now!