Still as Fun as Ever | Super Mario Land 2: 6 Golden Coins Review
Revisiting One of My All-time Favorite Classics
Revisiting One of My All-time Favorite Classics
Don’t let this Game Boy game fool you! Inside this cartridge is a masterpiece game, designed with care, to be some of the best fun you could have in a 2D Mario game. It’s unique in all the right ways, and I highly recommend you play it.
It’s the year 1999. My Dad walks in the room. “Got ya something from the pawn shop.” It’s Super Mario Land 2: 6 Golden Coins. I pop the cartridge in, and while I’m not immediately good at playing it at the small age of 4, it would serve as one of my comfort games for the rest of my life.
So it should be no surprise that this is one of my personal favorite Mario games, and I’m really adamant about recommending it to any 2D Mario fan as a must-play game. It’s incredibly well themed, with total bangers for music, and a bunch of unique ideas, all of which have helped it stand the test of time. With it easily available through Nintendo Switch Online’s emulation package, it’s easier than ever for me to recommend you give it a try.
There’s so much to Super Mario Land 2 that I absolutely love. For example, when clearing a level ringing the bell, you get to play one of several mini-games that grant you 1ups or power ups to help you in your journey through the next levels. I love how it’s got a somewhat non-linear design, where you can tackle any of the worlds (except the last) in any order. I enjoy how you spend coins in a big slot machine and can get oodles of 1ups. After you’ve killed 100 enemies across the game, it gives you a superstar, which makes you invulnerable for a time, which is very fun. Though, my personal favorite thing might be the secret zones, that can be found in their own little hiding spots in each of the 6 areas. There’s so much to discover! It’s incredible that it all fits on a Game Boy cartridge!
The levels themselves are really well-designed and are thematically tied to whatever world they exist in. Nintendo did a phenomenal job with each of them, which help tie the game’s worlds together as their own cohesive pieces. It really does feel like you’re adventuring through a sprawling, wondrous land.
The movement might be a bit floaty for a traditional Mario game, but even having played modern 2D Mario’s a little more recently, it didn’t take long to get used to over the course of my time with it this go-round. The power ups, like the rabbit ears, help serve the purpose of helping you possibly traverse to some of the secret zones I mentioned earlier, but are also extremely useful in taking out baddies along the way.
The secret zones I’ve mentioned a few times now are unique, and super fascinating! I really encourage you to seek them out. You don’t really get anything from finding them beyond being able to play more levels in the game, and I think that’s an interesting design decision. Don’t need to find them to beat the final boss, and don’t have any unique power ups, either. These days you might do such a thing for a 100% completion bonus, or achievements, but they’re just here for fun. For those that really take the time to explore. Maybe in a sense, modern gaming has poisoned me to think I need something from finding secrets. But back then, in the good old 90s, maybe they understood that perhaps a fun game was a reward in and of itself. It’s refreshing, and honestly? I love it.
I can’t say how many times I’ve beat this game on the original cartridge. Though small in size and in scope, Super Mario Land 2: The 6 Golden Coins has definitely influenced who I’ve become. It’s always been a fun game to play and replay over the years, as I explore levels and enjoy my time in this wonderfully made small island world. I’m glad my Dad picked it up from the pawn shop that day for whatever reason in 1999. And I hope that if you’ve read this through, you might feel compelled to open it up with your Nintendo Switch Online subscription, or just load up a ROM of it on your phone. It’s a great video game, and I highly recommend it.
Originally published at https://backloggd.com.