Super Mario Land 2: 6 Golden Coins - Nintendo’s Hidden Gem
I was digging through some of my old Game Boy games the other day, rehashing the past a little, when I suddenly came across Super Mario Land 2: 6 Golden Coins – quite possibly the greatest Game Boy game ever and, to make an even bolder statement, quite possibly the greatest 2-D Mario game ever made. It’s been over a decade since I’ve played this piece of Mario history, so I could be missing some of the negative aspects about the game, but I really can’t recall not liking anything about this hidden gem.
Super Mario Land 2: 6 Golden Coins was released in America in 1992. At the time, it was one of the largest Game Boy games (4 megabits) and it even had a battery backup save. Players could scroll left and right on the screen – it didn’t follow the traditional linear stage work, and the game also had an overall world map where players could pick and choose what level they wanted to play (similar to Super Mario World). There were also several hidden exits in the levels that would lead to other hidden stages and etc. Not to mention it starred the first appearance of Mario’s fat and greedy arch-nemesis – Wario.
The plot of Super Mario Land 2 depicted Wario stealing Mario’s castle and casting a hypnotic spell across the land. The spell caused the inhabitants to turn against Mario as Wario sat gloriously in his newly stolen castle. The only way Mario could get his castle back was to travel to 6 different themed zones to get the 6 Golden Coins needed to unlock the gate to his castle and defeat Wario. I think this might actually be one of the only Mario games where the plot is NOT to rescue the princess.
Super Mario Land 2: 6 Golden Coins introduced a lot of new things into the Mario franchise, but unfortunately outside of Wario, none of them carried over to later installments. The music in the game was superb, as nearly every Mario game can attest to, yet I have never heard any of the music from either Mario Land or Mario Land 2 in any future Mario games – ‘tis a shame. Super Mario Land 2 was also the first game to introduce the carrot power up, in which Mario sported a bunny suit (similar to Mario Bros. 3’s raccoon tail) and also the feather fire suit which allowed players to destroy specific blocks with fire balls.
The six zones in the game included the Tree Zone, Space Zone, Macro Zone, Pumpkin Zone, Mario Zone, and Turtle Zone. Each one of the zones brought a unique element to the Mario franchise and it’s a bummer that none of them really transferred to later Mario iterations. Although Super Mario Galaxy could have gotten its motivation from Mario Land 2’s Space Zone, which depicts Mario floating through space dodging stars, etc. – it’s a stretch, but hey I have the right to speculate. Many of the zones are pretty self explanatory, in the Tree Zone Mario witnesses several stages involving a tree – the ground around it, inside it, a beehive on its branch, and its top. Other zones, however, are a little more complex such as the Macro and Mario zones. In the Macro Zone, Mario is shrunk down to fit into a little house where he goes through its various rooms. In the Mario Zone, Mario is faced with fighting toy look-alikes of himself and the end villains are… the three little pigs – weird right? Definitely, but hey, it is Mario, and when you think about it the whole idea behind Mario is whack – a fat, Italian plumber who jumps high and eats mushrooms to get stronger. Yep, definitely whack.
It’s a real shame that Super Mario Land 2: 6 Golden Coins will never be released on the Wii’s virtual console since it’s an old Game Boy title and not an actual console game, but it’s even more of a shame that I no longer have my Game Boy to play it again. This game is the real successor of Super Mario World (1991). It is based largely off the popularity of SMW and had Super Mario Land 2 been an actual console game, people wouldn’t be discussing which game was the best 2-D platformer between Super Mario Bros. 3 and Super Mario World. They would be discussing which is truly Mario’s greatest adventure between all three of them. As always, thanks for reading.
-Dillon (D-Dub)
P.S. if you have never played this game then you’re missing out. You can get it off of Amazon.com for $9.95, and if you have a Game Boy I highly recommend that you check this hidden gem out.
Tags: Dillon, Game Boy, Mario, Nintendo, Super Mario Land 2: Six Golen Coins, Video Games
October 31st, 2008 at 1:03 pm
soo. i noticed you said you haven’t heard music from these gameboy mario’s in any future mario games. and i seem to be the only person who has caught on to this. i can’t find anyhting about it online. but there’s actually an insane amount of oldskool mario references in mario galaxy.
the first song. this is something i noticed when making my Mii… the music in the Mii are is (i believe) a slow remix version of i thiiink the level in mario 2: 6 golden coins where you climb up leaves and theres a bunch of ants walking around.
also actually in the game. i’ve noticed a couple songs. i honestly don’t know where they are in either games… but i know they are in there. in mario galaxy there’s a song that plays and it is DEFINATLY from the original gameboy mario. it’s the level in the gameboy mario where theres big trees in the background that look like bells, slightly? i’m trying to be as helpful as possible. haha but it’s not getting me very far. but i just know the references are there.
another thing, dealing with mario 2 and mario galaxy. i think the floating around in the bubbles idea came from mario 2. where the hippo’s give you bubbles. =) and at one point in mario galaxy you fly up in one of the bubbles and ring a bell at the top of a tree, which is similar to how you could ring a bell at the end of each level for a bonus.
i dunno. mario galaxy has so many flashbacks to old games. (same goes to zelda twilight princess) i’d love to find a website dedicated to these flashbacks. but, im definatly diggin the oldskool twists on newer games. =] it’s epic