Super Mario Land Final Thoughts
I just got myself a shiny black 3DS today. I have to say I’m extremely impressed by the virtual console. I still can’t play with the 3D on though, so I still think it’s a gimmick. Might change my mind eventually. I couldn’t find OoT 3D anywhere so I got Spirit Tracks instead. Hopefully, I’ll get OoT 3D next week. Anyhow, the first thing I did when I opened up the e-shop was to purchase Super Mario Land. I must say at 3.99$, this is not too shabby at all. I had fond memories of this game, as it took me a while to complete as a child. I showed it to my girlfriend and she reminded me that there was a second Mario game released for the original Game Boy. I completely forgot about that! Super Mario Land 2 was awesome! Can’t wait for the virtual console release.
Mario Land doesn’t really compare to the other Mario games. The level designs are for the most part not very challenging nor original. All you do is avoid enemies while navigating your way through a very simple level. All the levels actually repeat themselves as you move along. There are only 12 levels in the entire game, making this the shortest Mario game out there. Still though, for the time (this was released in ’89), Super Mario Land was a great portable title. I still say it is. It’s perfect for short and quick playthroughs. The difficulty does pick up near the end too as I quickly found out. I was completing level after level without many problems until I started to lose lives by the handful near the end. I was able to complete the game with only 4 lives yet. I’m sure I can do better in my next playthrough.
There are some weird things about this Mario game. For starters, the flower makes Mario shoot rubber balls. Secondly, there are Gradius-style levels in this game. Awesome! The enemies are bizarre too, and so are some worlds. The second world is played in an Egyptian landmark with strange writings all over the place. Mario himself is also very small, barely visible at his lowest form. Still though, playing through this game brought back memories and for only 4$, I’d say it’s worth a try. The controls are spot on, made just a bit harder thanks to the 3DS’ “made for babies” D-Pad. That’s my 2 cents, take it for what you will.
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At least you have Zelda. You still have the option of buying a 3DS, returning (or selling on ebay) the amazon one when it arrives and playing Zelda. I’ll have to wait till next week, if it ever arrives. Also, I messed around by creating a few Mii’s and played that where you shoot faces flying in your house. The game showcases the gyroscope pretty well and it uses the camera too. A nice example of how 3D could work.
Also tried Spirit Tracks. The puzzles look very hard. I need to get the princess out of the castle and the guards keep catching me. I’m a bit turned off by this train thing so far but we’ll see how this turns out. I like the visuals though, I wonder if I’ll like this game better then Phantom Hourglass. Also trained some pokemon on my original DS. I’ll still use the beast since I don’t want to change friend codes in that game.
The online system, while still not up to par with X-Box Live (not even close) is way better then what it was on the Wii and the DS. Games takes minutes (or seconds) to download and you can add friends and stuff. You can customise stuff here and there and see who’s online and what there playing. It’s a start.
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The only reason I don’t do exactly what you said Steven is because along with my 3DS I ordered the two DS Zelda games and when I contacted Amazon they said it’s always easier to return the order rather than one portion of the order. If I sell the 3DS I will surely lose some money. All of that is excusable of course, but the main reason I’m holding out is because I’m enjoying the heck out of Wind Waker. As such I don’t mind waiting a few more days. I just hope everything comes in by next week because by that time I will have completed Wind Waker for certain.
I’ve heard that Spirit Tracks is indeed one of the hardest Zelda games thanks to the challenging puzzles, which could be why it didn’t sell equally as well as Phantom Hourglass. Just a guess though as I really don’t know. Perhaps Ahmed can chime in here as he’s the big Spirit Tracks fan.
Pertaining to the 3DS, that sounds like a good start for Nintendo. They just need to do away with the whole friend codes things and have a friends’ list that makes sense. Once I get my system I’ll give you the number and anyone else who wants it. It’ll be neat to see what you’re playing, if it shows old DS games that is, or better still, virtual console games lol. Super Mario Land 24/7 lol.
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I agree with Steven about Spirit Tracks’ overworld travel; that has to be the game’s biggest cop-out and the main reason why people tend to dislike it. It gets a bit better later on when you get the ability to transport people, but Phantom Hourglass’ ship travel outshines linear train tracks by a long-shot.
As I said many times before, try to absorb the blandness of train travelling because the puzzles are insanely good and challenging. No hand-holding like Phantom Hourglass. Also, they’re not simple transitions of traditional Zelda puzzles. Many of them are out of the box, which is why I highly respect Spirit Tracks’ dev team.
Also, I can’t believe you’re addicted to Super Mario Land of all things, Steven. I just finished it on one play-through in 4 hours and I highly doubt I’ll go back to it again unless I’m really bored and I want a quick fix. It’s just incredibly simplistic by today’s standards, yet still a bit fun for short bursts. Go play Link’s Awakening!
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4 hours? It’s a 30 minute game lol. I like it so much because it’s the perfect example of a portable game. Simple, fun and short. It is really simplistic but that’s part of the charm for me. I just picture people playing this in 1989 and I’m sure it was something back then.
Another reason I like it so much was that after Super Mario Land 1 and 2, Nintendo waited almost 20 years until they released a brand new portable Mario game.
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Don’t know why I said four hours. I’m not sure how long it took me to finish it, but it’s definitely longer than 30 minutes for me. I would say two hours maximum.
Anyway, Mario Land 2 is a different beast entirely. That game was epic for a portable. Lots of secrets. Quite challenging to beat 100%. Same goes for the Wario Land series.
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I had a blast with Mario Land 2. Kind of like a portable Super Mario Bros. 3. I don’t remember much about the game, just that if you died, you had to go back and reclaim all the relics to get into the final castle.
The only Wario Land I ever played was the first one on GBA (which was Wario Land 4 I think). I finished it and liked it… but it was bit too much on the puzzle side for my taste, not enough side-scrolling.
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#8 written by Stephane Fortier 10 months ago
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I’ll create a separate post when my 3DS finally arrives with the friend codes so we can have one area where anyone can join us if they’d like. I doubt many people will, but it’ll be a handy reference just the same.
Once my 3DS is here I’ll be all over Link’s Awakening and Super Mario Land. Heck by the time it arrives I might just be playing the Oracles games and Minish Cap lol.
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#18 written by Enhas 10 months ago
Take the time to play through the game again after you’ve beaten it… it’s much harder and introduces some enemies much earlier, even in 1-1.
At least now you can interrupt save. Back in the days of Gameboy you’d have to play through the game once just to get the second quest, and once you beat that you were rewarded with a level select, which was rather pointless since you’ve already spent hours playing the game twice and once you shut the power off, it was gone.
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I did complete the game twice in a row and thought that there were a few things different. One of the main things I noticed was that one of the “shooter area” bosses had a second orb trying to kill you during the fight. Besides that, I didn’t notice that many differences. How do you do the level select thingie? I messed around with the buttons and couldn’t do it.
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I got OOT 3D yesterday but won’t start until I’m done with Spirit Tracks. I’m doing everything in that game so it is taking a long time. I’m quite tired of the train traveling though, if at least they would let you buy and upgrade to the train to make it go faster.
And Stephane, I could pick up the game for you if you want to. Just come to my place and gimme the money before or after, doesn’t really matter.
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All this 3DS talk is driving me nuts. Don’t get me wrong I’m loving my play through of Wind Waker, but I want to try Super Mario Land and Link’s Awakening. I also really want to give OoT 3D a go. I feel like this stupid Canada Post dispute will never end. I can’t believe the government is still arguing over this. Just get over it already!