Among the various Mario titles on the GameBoy, I place this on the very
top. Though it is a short affair, and not very difficult, it offers up
the most unique environments in a Mario game up to this point.



Graphics: 9



The graphics really shine, though only on the primitive GameBoy. The
environments, as mentioned before, are very intense, varied, and
specific. The accompanying graphics capture each environment perfectly,
whether it is the dark and surprisingly sadistic Pumpkin Zone, or the
oddly yet appropriately mechanical Mario Zone. The environments never
feel stale and make great use of the hardware that the GameBoy has to
offer. The amount of detail that could be packed into a game made
entirely of primitive pixels continues to amaze me.



Sound: 10



Surprisingly, this aspect of the game was what I found most enjoyable.
Each environment has a wonderful set of background music, magnificently
accentuating the experience. Whether it is a woodsy type song for Tree
Zone, or a bubbly song for the Turtle Zone, the songs are immediately
recognizable and make you think "Yeah, this is a tree. Or a pumpkin. Or
the moon."



Addictiveness: 7



Yeah, this game is fun and all, but it's really not all that long. Sure
there are a few hidden paths to discover through the levels, but even
with those the game is very short. It is hard to recommend more than a
couple of play throughs, because once you've played the game all the way
through once, you know where every enemy will be and how to counter
them.



Story: 9



Ok, so the story is much more of a setting, in which Mario must gather six macguffins
to unlock the gate TO HIS OWN CASTLE in order to kick Wario out of HIS
OWN CASTLE. It's just my own opinion Mario, but wouldn't it have been
easier to just keep Wario out of your castle than to have to go to all
this trouble to get him out? And seriously, who has six different keys
that you have to have to unlock your front door? If I had to go to the
grocery store, the gas station, and a slew of other locales just because
I forgot the key to my front door, I would rethink my whole spare key
idea. But I like this story because it shows off Wario who is, in some
ways, more frightening and challenging to Mario than Bowser. Sure Bowser
breathes fire, but Wario is capable of using the exact same power ups
that Mario himself can. Heck, he even looks like him, giving it a very
"your greatest enemy is yourself" feel. Or maybe I'm reading too much
into it. Nawwww.



Depth and Difficulty: 6 & 5 respectively



I group these two together because they were what took me out of the
game the most. As I stated before, it is short. I blew through this game
in a couple of hours, and there's not a whole lot to do after that.
Maybe discover a few new routes here and there, but nothing else. And
throughout all of this, I barely died. Sure I had my slip ups, but it
was more due my not paying attention to the game because it was so
bloody easy. I found myself not paying very close attention to what I
was doing, breezing past enemies and obstacles, and then all of a sudden
a challenge would appear, but I was still in "autopilot" and I would
blunder right into lava. Or spikes. Or whatever. The point is, it lulled
me into a state of going through the game without really paying
attention, which isn't good.



Overall, I would say that you have to play this game at least once, if
not twice, to appreciate the wonder of the world created here and to see
Wario pitted against Mario in their first big confrontation, the first
of many.

This game is fun to play.  I actually love playing this game and I am so glad that I found out about this game.  Good review.

This game is really fun. I think that it is the best of the Mario Land series by far. (Excluding 3D land that is) and really lets the GB show what it has.

I love this game, nice review.

The game is pretty fun, its something that I would play any time I would like, its a pretty addicting game, I like it.

I've heard amazing things about Super Mario 3d Land... I need to get a 3DS...

Definitely one of the better non staff reviews. Very well done. I have this for GameBoy. I played through this games so  many times as a kid. It is so freaking fun. I do have one thing to clear up about the story. Wario took over Mario's castle while he was on his adventure during Mario Land 1.

Nice job on this review. I own the gameboy color version of this game and I beat it. Such a classic.