This more deliberate pace, slower exploration of a gameplay idea lent itself very well to the Game Boy. Super Mario Land 2 is trying to do a very similar thing. The levels are long, usually have one single gameplay idea and explore that idea to a natural conclusion. They obviously decided to implement fewer ideas, but explore those ideas more. Super Mario World has a more deliberate pace, putting you in gameplay situations that last for a longer period of time. That you’re fighting against a bolted-on level, not a functioning cartoon environment. That the platforms are stage-play elements bolted on to the background. And this fits within the conceit of Super Mario Bros. You’re going through a gauntlet of short, themed challenges. You don’t really feel like you’re exploring, discovering. But there are weird outliers, levels which seem disconnected from the overarching theme of the world. 3 you have eight worlds and the levels within those eight worlds are all of a similar type. Compare the game with its predecessor: in Super Mario Bros. It might sound weird to think the game best remembered for its speedy cape acrobatics and running with Yoshi is ultimately about a leisurely stroll but that’s really what the game is about. Super Mario World was built on the idea that you are exploring a strange new land, Dinosaur Land, taking the time to discover new challenges and enemy types. Since Super Mario Land 2 is clearly meant to emulate Super Mario World on Super Nintendo, we have to look at its overarching idea about level design to understand what’s happening. Weird DesignĮach early Mario game has a very specific idea about its design. The game is a sibling to Super Mario World, sure, but the fine people at Yokoi’s R&D1 did not strictly ape the Super Nintendo title they made a game all their own. Mario’s time to grow up on Game Boy had clearly arrived.Ī comparison between the Land sprites and the Land 2 sprites. Suffice it to say, those smaller sprites were never impressive and platformers on Game Boy were now very successful at using console-sized sprites. Read my article on Super Mario Land to read about its design. The only Mario platformer on Game Boy was getting very long in the tooth by 1992: Super Mario Land was an analogue of Super Mario Bros. Looking at Super Mario Land 2, I can’t shake the idea that someone at Nintendo (most probably our favourite bespectacled supervilain Nintendo president, Hiroshi Yamauchi) told Gunpei Yokoi’s team to put something like the brand new Super Mario World on Game Boy. The team responsible for Mario clearly had no time to make Game Boy games (Miyamoto’s EAD division was very busy making Super Nintendo titles) so it fell to R&D1 to use him on Game Boy. He was Miyamoto’s character, and he oversaw all the major games featuring him. He was featured as a guest character in many titles (he was the referee on the Game Boy version of Tennis, the paddle controller in Alleyway) but Nintendo really parcelled the release of Mario games. So what was ultimately the most recognizable game character was seldom seen on Game Boy. Super Mario Land 2: 6 Golden Coins is only the third game on Game Boy to have the name of Mario in the title: Super Mario Land and Dr. Mario are its two predecessors. It’s essential to me for that: the many ways Super Mario Land 2: 6 Golden Coins is strange while staying a competent platformer worthy of the most recognizable video game character. That being said, this game is weird on so many levels. Lots of fun levels, plenty of interesting surprises, nothing is egregious with the game easy enough for everyone to enjoy. Let’s get it out of the way: Mario Land 2 is a great game. Including this game.Īnd interesting it is! It’s again, like the original Super Mario Land, made by Gunpei Yokoi’s division in Nintendo. It makes everything more difficult but more interesting. When you’re a child though you have terrible hand-eye coordination. In hindsight Super Mario Land 2 is laughably easy. I was kind of the Game Boy idiot savant all my cousins would dump their games on my lap to unlock stuff for them. Being a better player, I would get through the game unlocking for them the levels they couldn’t reach. Since I only saw them during the summer when our families would camp together on the family lot, I would borrow the game from them during the sunny summer months. I never had the game when I was a kid but my cousins did. To me, nothing says summertime like Super Mario Land 2: 6 Golden Coins. North American release in November 1992.GAME BOY ESSENTIALS Home About Timeline Get the Books Super Mario Land 2: 6 Golden Coins
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