Balder
Supreme Overlord
Trying to cut down the amount of movies I watch
Posts: 6,838 
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Post by Balder on Sept 24, 2019 10:05:58 GMT
This week: Super Mario Land Year: 1989 Developer: Nintendo, Nintendo Research and Development 1 Publisher: Nintendo Platforms: Game Boy Chosen by: Spirit BombNext: MeleeMaestro |
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Post by ModeratorNumber2 on Sept 24, 2019 10:12:47 GMT
Added and stickied.
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scipioafricanus
Cartoon Pony Wrangler
Sega Does What Nintendon't... except the 32X
Posts: 3,614
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Post by scipioafricanus on Sept 24, 2019 10:50:11 GMT
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scipioafricanus
Cartoon Pony Wrangler
Sega Does What Nintendon't... except the 32X
Posts: 3,614
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Post by scipioafricanus on Sept 24, 2019 10:57:56 GMT
Wow, Derek really doesn't like this game.
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dschult3
Off-Brand Transformable Robot
The true heir to the Monado.
Posts: 2,883
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Post by dschult3 on Sept 24, 2019 11:05:44 GMT
If you analyze this from 2019 perspective, you would give this a 3. If you analyze this from a 1989 perspective, you would give this a 4 or 5. Nobody thought you could do this on portable system back in 1989, so I think you have to give them some benefit of the doubt. I personally am going to go in between and give it a 4. It is a fun game. It just isn't that big. And when you play this game up against, Super Mario land 2, there is no comparison.
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stratogustav
Supreme Overlord
Warrior with Bandana
Posts: 7,646
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Post by stratogustav on Sept 24, 2019 11:31:36 GMT
It is still one of the last games of the series, and the second one definitely improved on this one, closing the series with a tremendous ending. Who would guess Mario didn't end up with Peach, but with Daisy.
Lucky people knew early on. That way no one has to worry about wondering how the series ends, and Nintendo can freely keep releasing Super Mario games on every new generation.
By the way, happy 130th anniversary to Nintendo. It is hard to grasp how the company started around the time when the construction of the Eiffel Tower ended.
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centipede
Off-Brand Transformable Robot
It was just one soy latte, I swear!
Posts: 2,807 
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Post by centipede on Sept 26, 2019 0:19:38 GMT
Wow, Derek really doesn't like this game. And Mark loved it. That would've been an interesting co-op episode. |
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centipede
Off-Brand Transformable Robot
It was just one soy latte, I swear!
Posts: 2,807
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Post by centipede on Sept 26, 2019 0:23:35 GMT
This game is like a modded Super Mario 1. The fireball gets replaced with this Surface-to-Air ball bearing that collects coins, and the levels all have themes, rather than the Mushroom Kingdom all the time. There's walking easter Island heads, rocks you can ride and Chinese hopping zombies. I liked that.
And when you watch the credits, there was only like 8 people who made the game. Compare that to any title today...
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Spirit Bomb
Cartoon Pony Wrangler
#DeathToAmerica #DeathToTheAmericas #DeathToChristianity #DeathToFascism
Posts: 3,651
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Post by Spirit Bomb on Sept 26, 2019 2:53:19 GMT
Wow, Derek really doesn't like this game. Even though his review of it was shit, I'll at least give him respect for giving his honest opinion on it. It's always a nuance when a fanboy like Derek is willing to criticize something they are closest to, even if their critique is way off-point or overly subjective like his review was. |
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Post by Imperial Khador on Sept 26, 2019 19:23:21 GMT
As with many people at the time, this was the first Game Boy game I received aside from Tetris, and I played the heck out if. I'm kind of glad the physics didn't quite match SMB1 on the NES, as it forced your to learn things all over again. The themes on the levels were varied and fun, and including the underwater and spaceship shooter levels were also super cool.
Certainly if it were made today in a vacuum, it would be found lacking, but it is really cool, and I think anyone who played it at the time, or who goes back and plays it with suitable context will really enjoy it. Yeah, I know Derek's not fond of it, but that's okay too.
I think it was really cool that the Super Ball was included as an unlockable power up in Super Mario Maker 2, turning Mario monochrome and including some SML music. It can still be used to collect coins, or even activate switches, so can make for some very cool levels.
There's also a very nice fan rom-hack upgrade of the original called 'Super Mario Land DX', that re-imagines the game as getting the DX treatment Link's Awakening received when the Game Boy Color came out. It is also work a playthrough.
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stratogustav
Supreme Overlord
Warrior with Bandana
Posts: 7,646
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Post by stratogustav on Sept 26, 2019 19:30:35 GMT
Thanks for sharing that. Real props to that guy making the DX version, it looks great.
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Pimpjira
Guardian Force Shooter
Posts: 1,102
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Post by Pimpjira on Sept 27, 2019 16:05:05 GMT
It's a fun game. The graphics and controls are not as good as SMB1 but it has other things going for it. The themed levels are cool, as are the few shmup sections for some variety and it also has some of my favorite music in the series. Also if I remember correctly, the second loop in this changes things up more than SMB did.
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Spirit Bomb
Cartoon Pony Wrangler
#DeathToAmerica #DeathToTheAmericas #DeathToChristianity #DeathToFascism
Posts: 3,651
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Post by Spirit Bomb on Sept 29, 2019 13:21:02 GMT
Super Mario Land is by far my favorite 2D Mario. I think the only other 2D entry that comes close to Land 1 for me is SMB 3 on NES, which itself was a great game, but with less nuance as Land.
Mario Land reminds me of other far-out Nintendo sequels like Majora's Mask, in that it took a risk by taking its franchise to an entirely different location: Sarasaland. Talk about a breath of fresh air. It also introduced a bunch of new enemy types, like those neat lava-spewing orchids or those creepy hopping zombies that resurrect when they are squashed. The levels themselves were completely different from the Mario norm; gone are the recycled mushroom levels and instead there are ocean levels with flying saucers hovering about, a pyramid level, and a bamboo forest level infested with those crazy leaping zombies and featuring one of my favorite GB tunes:
Actually, EVERY tune in Mario Land is awesome and in fact it has by far my favorite OST overall of any Mario title, which is saying something.
Mario Land is also important because it's one of the earliest pieces of evidence of Miyamoto's inferiority to his peers in regards to video game programming, as it was directed by VG legend Gunpei Yokoi (RIP), and Miyamoto had no influence on the game's development. Majora's Mask confirmed to the world that he is an inferior programmer when it was directed by a different designer and released in 2000. I can't stress how important it was for me that Miyamoto had no involvement in Mario Land, because if he did it would've just been a shittier version of Super Mario Bros "Deluxe" except released in '89 as a launch title for the GB instead, and no one would be talking about it today because it would've been set in the EXACT SAME LOCATION as EVERY previous Mario game and would've rehashed all the familiar Mario elements that we had seen before. Yawn!
In conclusion, I absolutely love Mario Land for the following reasons: It had a kick-ass soundtrack, it was full of cleaver nuances, it fixed minor gameplay annoyances, it didn't feature repetitive-as-hell visuals & audio like SMB 1 on NES did, and it allowed another, more talented game designer to take a stab at the Mario series and turn it on its side. For all those reasons, it is my favorite 2D Mario by a long-shot and I wish Mr. Yokoi was still alive so he could make another wacky, awesome 2D Mario game (EDIT: I just remembered that he actually retired from Nintendo shortly before he was killed. My mistake...)
I proudly award Super Mario Land 5/5 stars. It's an 8-bit blast from the past and my favorite 2D Mario game. Check it out if you haven't.
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