Portagames will be running a weekly feature that touches on the rich heritage of portable gaming’s greatest classics every Friday. Readers are more than welcome to send in their tips and suggestions for write-up to relive those glory days back when AA batteries are a staple weapon in every child’s portable gaming arsenal.
We will take a look at Mario’s very first adventure in Nintendo’s maiden debut in the handheld arena. Super Mario Land was released the same year the Game Boy was introduced to the world way back in 1989.
Princess Daisy was in the evil clutches of Tatanga, the Mysterious Spaceman. Mario had to go through four different worlds in order to free his beloved Daisy, with the end culminating in a dogfight with the fireball spitting Tatanga.
Everything about Super Mario Land was perfect - the game score went along with the game very nicely, leading you to tense moments when you squared off with the end-level bosses as well as speeding up as the clock ticks down. Controls were tight, and you have no one to blame but yourself when Mario bowls over and dies due to a momentary lapse of concentration.
Who could forget the hard mode which is accessible once you complete Super Mario Land once? There were more enemies to stomp on, and new traps appear in previously safe places. Truly one of the battery-busting games on the Game Boy as you kept pushing yourself to achieve faster times.
I can’t forget how many hours I spend playing Super Mario Land that my grades at school were affected negatively. Super Mario Land is truly an instant classic, and it is more than capable of holding its own even if it was released in this day and age. Without the dot-matrix graphics, of course ;)
