Super Mario Land 2: 6 Golden Coins

Super Mario Land 2: 6 Golden Coins
North American box art
Developer(s)	Nintendo R&D1
Publisher(s)	Nintendo
Director(s)	Hiroji Kiyotake Takehiko Hosokawa
Producer(s)	Gunpei Yokoi
Composer(s)	Kazumi Totaka
Series	Super Mario
Platforms	Game Boy, 3DS Virtual Console
Release date(s)	Game Boy 3DS Virtual Console
Genre(s)	Platforming
Mode(s)	Single-player

Super Mario Land 2: 6 Golden Coins (スーパーマリオランド2 6つの金貨, Sūpā Mario Rando Tsū Muttsu no Kinka) is a platforming video game developed and published by Nintendo for the Game Boy, and is the sequel to Super Mario Land, also on the Game Boy. It was released in Japan on October 21, 1992, in North America on November 2, 1992, and in Europe on January 28, 1993. Super Mario Land 2 was created by director Hiroji Kiyotake rather than Mario series creator Shigeru Miyamoto.

In Super Mario Land 2, the player assumes the role of the protagonist Mario, whose main objective is to reclaim his castle, stolen by the antagonist Wario. However, the magical seal that Wario placed on the castle entrance can only be undone by collecting the six Golden Coins, which are guarded by Wario's henchmen in various locales of Mario Land. Mario's quest thus revolves around retrieving each of the golden coins in order to regain access to his castle and defeat Wario. Super Mario Land 2 is notable for its debut of Wario, who later became the protagonist of the spin-off Wario series starting with the game's sequel, Wario Land: Super Mario Land 3.

At 4 megabits, it was one of the largest games on the Game Boy at the time of its release and eight times larger than its predecessor's capacity.

Gameplay

Screenshot from Super Mario Land 2

The objective of Super Mario Land 2 is to reach the end of each level, defeating or avoiding enemies while doing so. The game retains several enemies from the Mario series, such as the Goomba and the Koopa, and also introduces several new enemies. Enemies can usually be defeated by jumping on their head, but also may need to be defeated in different ways, such as a fireball. Other famous mechanics include Warp Pipes, which allow the player to enter hidden areas or find shortcuts, coins, and ? Blocks, which hide coins and items. Unlike in previous Mario games, coins are not used to get lives; instead, they are used to play games in a special area that awards lives and other power-ups. To gain lives, instead, the player must find hearts like they did in the original. After killing 100 enemies, a star comes flying down which provides a short period of invincibility. The star can also be found at other places in the game. While being invincible, the 5th and each subsequent enemy killed will provide one life.

While its predecessor was similar to the original Super Mario Bros., Super Mario Land 2 has more in common with Super Mario Bros. 3 and Super Mario World: there is an overworld map, the player is no longer restricted to moving only right in a stage, many stages contain higher and lower areas instead of entire stages all at a single level, and any stage (except for the introductory stage and "boss" levels) can be replayed multiple times. At the end of a level, there is a door that must be touched to clear a level. In addition, there is also a bell high above the door which, if touched, activates a mini-game where the player can try to get either a power-up or 1-ups.

There are 32 levels in total, based in several different themed zones. There are some secret levels that can only be accessed by finding alternative exits found in regular levels. Once a player clears or loses a life in these secret levels, they are returned to the level where the secret exit was found. Each zone has its own boss, which must be defeated to get one of the 6 Coins. If the player loses all of Mario's lives, all of the 6 Coins are returned to the bosses, which must be defeated again to retrieve the coins. From the beginning of the game, the player may choose to complete the zones in any order.

Super Mario Land 2 features three returning power-ups—the Super Mushroom, Fire Flower, and Starman. The Super Mushroom increases Mario's size, the Fire Flower gives him the ability to shoot fireballs, and the Starman makes Mario invincible for a short time to anything besides pits. Both the Super Mushroom and the Fire Flower also allow Mario to do a spin jump like in Super Mario World. Due to the grayscale palette, Fire Mario is differentiated from Super Mario by having a feather in his cap, a feature not seen in any other Mario series game. Also unique to Super Mario Land 2 is the Magic Carrot power-up, which turns Mario into Bunny Mario. Bunny Mario can jump higher, jump repeatedly by holding down the jump button, and descend slowly using his ears (interestingly, this shows a similarity to the "Super Leaf" power-up in Super Mario Bros. 3).

Like Super Mario World, instead of going through a series of stages through each world, the player navigates a large overworld map that contains an additional map for each world with its own series of stages followed by a boss. However, the six worlds can be played in any order unlike in most Mario games that feature overworld maps. The game saves the player's progress after beating a stage, being the first Mario game released on a portable system to have a save feature.

Plot

Super Mario Land 2 takes place immediately following Super Mario Land. While Mario was away in Sarasaland, Wario put an evil spell over Mario's world, Mario Land, brainwashing its inhabitants into believing Wario is their master and Mario is their enemy. Wario's motive behind this sudden attack was to take control over Mario's castle to have a palace of his own. After traveling through Mario Land and collecting the six Golden Coins, Mario regains entry to his castle. Mario enters and defeats Wario, who flees, breaking the spell. After Mario was successful to win the battle against Wario, he was able to regain full access to his Castle again, and everything turns back to normal.

Development

Super Mario Land 2 is one of the only Mario games to not be directed by Shigeru Miyamoto, alongside its predecessor.

The music was composed by Kazumi Totaka, and it is one of his earliest works. Totaka's Song is also hidden in the game and can be heard in the Game Over screen after waiting for exactly 2 minutes and 30 seconds.

Reception

Reception
Aggregate score Aggregator Score GameRankings 79.56% Review scores Publication Score AllGame EGM 87.5/100 Nintendo Power 3.7/5

Official Nintendo Magazine ranked Super Mario Land 2 44th on their list of the "100 Greatest Nintendo Games". Nintendo Power listed it as the seventh best Game Boy/Game Boy Color video game, praising it for its improvements over Super Mario Land and for having impressive visuals for a handheld game. Allgame also commented on the graphics, stating that the similar platform game Donkey Kong Land displays "more detailed graphics, the downside to this is that levels tend to blur quite a bit more when in motion. So in this respect, you get a fair trade off. " The review concluded that "In overall fun and enjoyment, it's hard to go wrong with this title. It's not a very long game, but even experienced players should find a little challenge in it. It's excellent for road-trips where you may only play in short sessions."

Game Informer's Ben Reeves called it the fourth best Game Boy game and praised its levels' creativity. Before it became available, GamesRadar listed Super Mario Land 2 as one of the titles they want in the 3DS Virtual Console. UK based magazine "Total" gave the first Super Mario Land game 94%, but only gave the sequel 70%

Re-release

The game was released for the Nintendo 3DS' Virtual Console service eShop on September 29, 2011 in North America and Europe, and was released on October 12, 2011 in Japan.

External links

• Official Nintendo Japan Super Mario Land 2: 6 Golden Coins site (Japanese)
• Super Mario Land 2: 6 Golden Coins at MobyGames
• Super Mario Land 2: 6 Golden Coins at NinDB
• Information about Super Mario Land 2 on GameFAQs