Super Mario Land II: 6 Golden Coins Review: A brief yet unforgettable experience

Super Mario Land II is Mario's second foray into portable gaming, and it's certainly a wonderful experience in many ways! While short, this game's 2D level design still stands as the most unique in the whole mainline Mario platforming series. This game has a lot of brilliant things going for it, but does it still hold up today? That's what, I, Brighton Nelson of RPG Ranked, will be diving into in this review: Super Mario Land II Review: 6 Golden Coins Review: A brief memorable experience.

Level Design - 9

From the very first time you see the world map in this game, this game already proves it is something entirely unique and cutting-edge in the scene of Super Mario Bros. If it weren't for the recent release of Super Mario Wonder, I'd still be waiting for a return to the creativity displayed here. Each world is super unique and isn't anything like the grassy, desert, water, cliffs, snow, jungle, sky, and Bowser's castle themes that we got for years on end with the New Super Mario Bros. franchise. While many fantastic levels came out of that (perhaps a little overly hated) miniseries, this game sets a gold standard that those games never were able to beat. While there's some unique worlds and fantastic levels in Super Mario Bros 3 and Super Mario World, those games still really don't hold a candle to this game. This game's six worlds consist of: the Tree Zone, a set of unique levels that display what it's like to ascend a huge tree; the Macro Zone where you enter an enormous house as a tiny Mario; the Pumpkin Zone, a set of darker, haunted themed levels; the Mario Zone, where you enter a big structure that is literally just Mario's body; the Space Zone, which give you some awesome low-gravity levels; and the Turtle Zone, some of the series' most unique (and actually fun!) water levels. Even just accessing some of these levels is super unique in and of itself!

However, as unique as these levels are, two things hold them back from a perfect score of 10. First, with how non-linear the structure of the game is, almost none of the levels are truly difficult because the game needs to let you progress in any way you'd like. Difficulty progression is a big part of a game's experience to me. However, I also equally love the non-linear nature here. So it's not a big deal to me. Still, Super Mario Wonder would go on to experiment and (in my opinion) perfect the formula on how to give the game some non-linearity and major difficulty at the same time. My other dislike of the game is really down to personal preference, but one thing I always loved about the New Super Mario Bros. games is how long the levels were. While the levels in this game aren't anywhere near the shortest in the series, I wish they'd be a little longer and be able to really build on their super unique themes. Nonetheless, many Mario fans love the brief, breezy nature of earlier Mario levels. While my two gripes certainly exist, they didn't tamper with my experience enough to majorly hinder my opinion of this game's unique level design.

Art & Graphics - 9

While Super Mario Land looked like a graphical tech demo for a new system that the developers were struggling to navigate, Super Mario Land 2 is a work of art. The black-and-white pixel art of this game is still one of my favorite looks Mario has ever had, and I can't help but adore how this game looks. While some of the games on the three Game Boy systems don't hold up too well today, this is not one of. This game still looks so cute and charming to this day, and that's a telltale sign of immaculate pixel art.

Music - 4

I always have a hard time giving a bad score to a soundtrack, as a musician who wants to compose for games myself. However, as much as Super Mario Land II's music works well enough in the game, it's not able to set the mood or be catchy outside the game like most Mario soundtracks do. There are quite a few songs in this game that were, unfortunately, pretty terrible. I remember the Graveyard theme distinctly as a rather horrible song. The composer did a great job of setting the goofy mood of Mario, but this may just be the only Mario soundtrack that I say is actively weak in the whole mainline series.

Combat - 2.5

Like the music, the combat in Super Mario Land 2 is a step back from Super Mario Land, even if it's a much smaller step. While this game does have one of the best final bosses in the 2D Mario series, that's about where the positives end. While the enemies are unique, the only things we got here is jumping and Fire Flowers. I know, Mario combat is supposed to be simple, but I still prefer a little bit more power-up variety and such. There are a lot of 2D platformers that have great combat, so it's definitely possible to have more than this. Super Mario Bros 3 and Super Mario World have a lot of great variety to their combat, but a Fire Flower alone isn't enough. The Carrot power-up can make jumping on enemies a little more fun, but it's not really interesting enough as a combat tool to make this score any higher. I'd have loved to see as much power-up variety in this game as its level variety... that really could've made this an absolute all-timer.

Controls - 5

This game's controls aren't bad, per se, but it never feels great to control Mario. My favorite platformers make me smile when I randomly jump around because there are a lot of cool, fluid moves I can do. Here, I didn't ever think "this game controls poorly", but I never thought "this game controls well" either. Hence, the average score. While the Carrot power-up is undoubtedly a fun power-up that gives Mario some cool moves, it doesn't change the fact that this game is very much lacking diversity in Mario's skillset, which is not a problem with the most fun Mario games. Compare this to even its predecessors, Super Mario Bros. 3 and Super Mario Bros. World, and you can instantly see how the Tanooki Suit and Cape make Mario so fun to control. Here? He's just decent.

Story - 2

The fact that this game has a unique setting among the Mario series is the only reason it even gets any more than a single point. Mario Land is great, but we all know that Mario's stories are usually pretty bad. And, yes, I am expecting platformers to try with their stories because they are completely capable of doing so. I judge less harshly with platformers because you don't wanna break up levels, but you can still try harder than this.

Platforming - 7

This game had a ton of memorable platforming segments! While there aren't as many sections that stand out to me as games like Super Mario Galaxy or Super Mario Sunshine, it's still great. The Macro World and the Mario World specifically have many unique platforming segments, such as platforming through gears, on bouncy balls that may or may not have been in Mario's nether regions, and through the ducts of a vast house. While the platforming itself is relatively easy and not all that exhilarating, there are a lot of standout segments that'll stick with you, even if you haven't played the game for years.

Theming - 9.5

The level theming and world of Super Mario Land II is some of the best I've ever seen in any Mario game! I love how distinct every level is in this game, yet the world is so interconnected as a land that is believable to be Mario's home kingdom. There is no 2D Mario game that has such a beautiful, interconnected world that is this unique. Super Mario World is interconnected in a more fun way, but the zones aren't nearly as unique, so I have to say the whole theme and world design in this game is fantastic.

Quality of Life - 9

I can't think of anything about this game that has significant problems that decreased my enjoyment of the game. Sure, the controls and feel of Mario aren't the best, but that's its own category for a reason because that's really integral for platformers. Honestly, this game's proper balanced. Ain't bad at all.

The Verdict

Fun Factor - 7
Overall Score - 66%
Letter Rating - B+

Super Mario Land 2 is one of the most brilliant 2D Mario games, with fantastic level design and an amazing world map. While Mario isn't super fun to control in this game and the power-ups are lacking, this game is one of the golden standards for what a good 2D Mario game can be. If they re-released this game with more power-ups and a more fun control scheme, this could probably be the best 2D Mario game because it has so many fantastic elements.

Primary Version: Super Mario Land II (Game Boy)