Game Review: Super Mario Land 2: 6 Golden Coins (Game Boy)

Recently I beat a game that I have owned since about 1997, when I first bought it with my chore money as a kid. It’s time to review Super Mario Land 2: 6 Golden Coins!!! First the name: While the NES and SNES full-sized consoles had the Super Mario World series, the ones with Land in the title were aimed at the portable Game Boy console. Sort of a Disney World/Land situation, if that makes sense. This installment has a “2” in the title because it follows after Super Mario Land, which was the first Mario title for the new-for-the-time handheld. Both games are excellent and very fun, but if you grew up with the Mario sequels, this second game is going to be closer to what you’re used to. Unlike the first, SML2 has an overworld and several bosses, and Mario’s sprite has been enlarged (as have the other sprites in the game) so that he’s easier to see. This has since become a bit of an unspoken rule in Game Boy graphics–in order to make things more legible, all the sprites are made bigger,…