Super Mario Land

Super Mario Land is a game for the Game Boy that was released as a launch title in 1989. Unlike preceding platform games of the Mario series, the game takes place in Sarasaland rather than the Mushroom Kingdom. Super Mario Land also introduced the character Princess Daisy, this game's damsel in distress. An evil alien named Tatanga is the main villain, and most enemies in the game are not related to creatures found in earlier Mario games. Unlike the Super Mario Bros. games, Super Mario Land was not developed by Shigeru Miyamoto and Nintendo's EAD division, but by Nintendo R&D1 with Gunpei Yokoi as the producer, what might be a reason for the changes.

The game is the first of three Super Mario Land games, followed by Super Mario Land 2: 6 Golden Coins and Wario Land: Super Mario Land 3.

Gameplay
The game is very much similar to previous Mario Platforming games. The A Button allows the player to jump, while the B Button will make Mario run faster. The Directional Pad controls where Mario walks or runs. Jumping on an enemy will defeat it, and the player will earn points for doing so. When Mario is Superball Mario, or if he is driving the Marine Pop or Sky Pop, the B Button will fire out projectiles at Mario's enemies. All the Bosses, except for Biokinton and Tatanga, can either be beaten by physical attack, or by jumping on a switch behind the Boss. Collecting 100 coins will gain Mario an Extra Life, and if he manages to earn 100,000 points (Done by defeating enemies, as mentioned above), he will gain an extra continue. This is in case he loses all of his lives. Mario is vulnerable in his small size, but when he gets a Mushroom, he will grow slightly in size, and is now able to take damage without losing a life. However, if he does get hit in this state, he will turn back into normal Mario. If Mario collects a Flower, he will become Superball Mario, and will be able to shoot Superballs at his enemies. If Mario happens to find the rare item, the Starman, he will become invincible, and be able to defeat any enemy just by touching it. The effects wear off over time, however. At the end of every level, the player has a choice of two exits. The bottom exit, which takes Mario to the next stage, or the top exit, which takes him to a Bonus Stage first. When Mario reaches the top exit (which is usually a difficult task), the Bonus Stage will allow him to earn a Flower, one extra life, two extra lives, or three extra lives.

The Story


The Story from the Instruction Booklet:

"Once upon a time, there was a peaceful world called Sarasaland. In this world there were 4 kingdoms named Birabuto, Muda, Easton and Chai. One day, the skies of Sarasaland were suddenly covered by a huge black cloud. From a crack in this cloud, the unknown space monster Tatanga emerged to try to conquer Sarasaland. Tatanga hypnotized the people of all the kingdoms so that he could control them in any way he liked. In this way he took over Sarasaland. Now, he wants to marry Princess Daisy of Sarasaland and make her his queen. Mario came to know of these events, and he has started on a journey to the Chai Kingdom where Princess Daisy is held captive, in order to restore peace to Sarasaland. Can Mario defeat Tatanga, release people from his interstellar hypnosis, and rescue Princess Daisy? It's all up to you and Mario's skill. Go for it Mario!"

In order to save Daisy, Mario made his way through all of the four worlds, defeating the enemies that lurked there. The journey was difficult, as Mario had never seen these creatures before, but he eventually managed to defeat Tatanga's four lieutenants, King Totomesu, Dragonzamasu, Hiyoihoi, and Biokinton. However, after beating Biokinton, Mario had to battle Tatanga in his heavily armed ship, the Pagosu. After a tough battle, Mario defeated Tatanga, and rescued Daisy. Tatanga managed to escape with his life, but Daisy still rewards Mario with a kiss, and takes him back to her castle.

It is revealed in the sequel, Super Mario Land 2: Six Golden Coins, that the events in this game were merely a diversion created by Wario while he took over Mario's castle. Wario paid Tatanga to kidnap Daisy, which would distract Mario long enough, so that Wario could steal his castle.

Enemies
About 30 different kinds of enemies are found in Super Mario Land. Most of them are exclusively found in a certain kingdom. The only recurring enemies of previous Mario titles are the Piranha Plant, which goes under its Japanese name Pakkun Flower, and possibly the Roto-Disc, due to a very similar enemy not named in the manual. A few creatures are related to enemies of earlier Mario games, but most of them are unique to Super Mario Land. Notably, their English names are generally very similar or identical to the Japanese names, with the only exception being Kumo, which is not the case for other localizations of Super Mario platformers.

Common Enemies

 * Chibibo
 * Nokobon
 * Pakkun Flower
 * Gira

Birabuto Kingdom Enemies

 * Bunbun
 * Fly
 * Gao
 * King Totomesu (Boss)

Muda Kingdom Enemies

 * Honen
 * Mekabon
 * Yurarin Boo
 * Torion
 * Yurarin
 * Gunion
 * Dragonzamasu (Boss)
 * Tamao (Boss)

Easton Kingdom Enemies

 * Tokotoko
 * Batadon
 * Ganchan
 * Suu
 * Kumo
 * Hiyoihoi (Boss)

Chai Kingdom Enemies

 * Pionpi
 * Pompon Flower
 * Roto-Disc (possibly)
 * Nyololin
 * Chicken
 * Chikako
 * Roketon
 * Biokinton (Boss)
 * Tatanga (Boss)

Artwork
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Trivia

 * This is the first Super Mario title to not feature Luigi or make a single reference to him.
 * This is the second Super Mario title (with Super Mario Bros. 2 being the first) to not feature Bowser as the main villain (or appear in the game at all).
 * Super Mario Land is currently the first and only Super Mario title to feature the superball power-up.
 * This is the only game in the Mario series where enemies kept their original Japanese names, despite the fact that the game was released in the U.S.
 * This is the only game in the Super Mario Land series to not have a save feature.
 * This game has a completely different Starman theme as it is the Can-Can.