So my first review is actually going to come from the original Game Boy. Super Mario Land 2: 6 Golden Coins is a game that I personally feel is often times forgotten about when talking about the many great Super Mario games. So let's get to it.
The whole plot of the game revolves around collecting 6 golden coins. Why you ask. Well for the first time, Wario has taken over the castle in which Mario lives while he was out on some adventure. Interestingly enough Wario would go on to spawn several of his own games, but that's a story for another time. Here in his debut though, Wario has control of the castle and in order to unlock the castle door Mario must locate 6 golden coins
If you haven't guessed already, these coins are collected by defeating various bosses in yup, 6 different worlds. The first really nice thing that I found about this game was the immediate freedom to choose where and when I want to go. So if I want to go to the Pumpkin Zone I go to the Pumpkin Zone. If I get bored of it half way through I go to the Space Zone. If I want to torture myself with 6 straight boss battles I can set it up that way. For an old school game like this, I thought it was a real nice touch.
The zones themselves (Space, Pumpkin, Tree, Turtle, Mario, Macro) all offer their own unique challenges. or example, the Space Zone is virtually zero gravity, the Turtle Zone has a lot of swimming, and in the Macro Zone you play as a mini version of our hero. Several of the zones also have secret levels (another awesome touch that would be seen in later Mario games as well) that actually alter the way the zone looks.
How to get to these secret levels are a secret so I'll keep my mouth shut on that. Again though for a game on Game Boy, I was and still am impressed by the amount of detail in each zone. So in short, the worlds (zones) are awesome. The only downside to them is that the difficulty level is really not all that high compared to most Mario games of the time.
The music of the game is pretty decent overall as far as I'm concerned. As you probably guessed, the zones have different music as do the levels. A few of the songs get a little irritating after you hear them a few times, but otherwise the music and sound effects I cannot really complain about at all. Overall though for a game on the original Game Boy, the diversity of music is still pretty good when you look at it compared to the previous Super Mario Land game that had oh I don't know... Perhaps 3 or 4 songs.
As with the first Super Mario Land, I felt that the game was and is just a little short. The game is longer than the first, but the levels seem simpler and more straight forward. I never really came to a point where I was thinking that was a lucky jump or how the heck am I supposed to make that. It does make sense however that Mario's Castle would be in my opinion one of the hardest castles in any Mario game. I guess it really doesn't make sense. The final battle itself after all of Mario's hard work seems also to be a bit underwhelming as you face off against Wario in three different phases. None of which are overly difficult to deal with. If you are looking for a Mario game to kill time and not deal with anything overly difficult, yet still be able to have an enjoyable gaming experience than I highly recommend this game. I have been playing it since 1992 and it remains one of my all time favorite Game Boy games.
As with the first Super Mario Land, I felt that the game was and is just a little short. The game is longer than the first, but the levels seem simpler and more straight forward. I never really came to a point where I was thinking that was a lucky jump or how the heck am I supposed to make that. It does make sense however that Mario's Castle would be in my opinion one of the hardest castles in any Mario game. I guess it really doesn't make sense. The final battle itself after all of Mario's hard work seems also to be a bit underwhelming as you face off against Wario in three different phases. None of which are overly difficult to deal with. If you are looking for a Mario game to kill time and not deal with anything overly difficult, yet still be able to have an enjoyable gaming experience than I highly recommend this game. I have been playing it since 1992 and it remains one of my all time favorite Game Boy games.
If I were to rate it on a scale of 1 to 10 I'd give it a solid 8.5 or 9. The only real drawback that I can find in this game is again is it's difficulty level. Otherwise, the introduction of Wario, freedom to choose which levels to play, amazing graphics for the Game Boy, hidden goodies, and overall enjoyable experience heavily outweighs the bad. Recently this game has been re-released on the Nintendo 3DS's Virtual System. If you've never gotten a chance to play this gem I strongly encourage you to give it a try and kick this guy off of Mario's apparent throne (seriously who knew Mario had a castle).
Till next time! Happy gaming!
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