Mario’s very first adventure on Game Boy was weird yet memorable to say the least. How well does it still hold up during Mario’s 40th anniversary?

It might be an early midlife crisis I’m getting into, but lately I’ve been replaying and sometimes repurchasing old titles from my youth. I’m also getting into games I never got the chance to play when I was younger. I try to play them on original hardware and sometimes I’ll play them on newer devices or services like the Nintendo NSO.
I call it “Backlog to the Future”. Do the games I played as a kid really deserve a spot in 2026, and are they as good as I remember them being?  Starting off my own personal backlog review series is a trip to 1995!

April 1995 launched the start of the Game Boy “Play it Loud!” campaign in my hometown at the time, and I remember looking behind the counter to see all the updated, colorful Game Boy systems. They came in a big plastic case to display the console itself and I chose the red variant. I did it deliberately as it was Mario’s color. I played Mario once before at a relative’s house on the NES, but even then, I had already reserved a spot in my heart for everyone’s favorite plumber. Next up was choosing my first game. Super Mario Land was released in 1989 (as do all good things!), and luckily, Nintendo still sold their first-party titles six years later as the Game Boy really had a long life cycle. Also it was the perfect tie-in with the new colorful Game Boy campaign.

Driving home I remember thumbing through the manual and reading the backside of the box. The artwork is still one of the most recognisable cover arts to date! Once home I started playing and the music from the very first level still lives rent-free in my head. A lot of people disliked the movement Mario had in SML but for me personally, this is how Mario moved! It was a hard game for a six-year-old and I never got past the 3rd world:  Easton Kingdom (Easter Island). I didn’t even know there was another world after this one! Now, how does it hold up?

Game design & controls

Nintendo’s R&D1 development team was tasked to bring Mario to the Game Boy as a launch title and one thing stands out: Miyamoto was clearly not involved. It looks like a really barebones version of what it looked like on the NES. This is due to the limitations of the Game Boy system. It resulted in simple graphics and short levels. The Mushroom Kingdom is also replaced by 4 overworlds set in the Sarasaland and also Princess Peach is replaced by Princess Daisy! The typical Mario platforming is still present, and it still feels like a Mario game. The movement however, is completely different from previous iterations. Again, for me personally, nothing game-breaking as this is the inertia-less Mario movement I grew up with. I had a harder time adjusting to the other 2D-Mario movement because of this.

There is a decent variation of enemies and bosses to fight off (25 in total), and the game gets increasingly difficult. The underwater and flying levels are fairly easy and are a well-balanced break from the enemy-ridden party you have to go through in later levels.

Sound

When you first boot up the game, you’ll notice something odd. Super Mario Land doesn’t have a theme song on the title screen. Back in the day, I thought nothing of this, but replaying it in 2026 I had to check if my volume wasn’t muted until I entered the first level. Today we’re used to being welcomed by a great theme on the title screen. However once you drop into level 1-1, you will be introduced to the sound and music you’ll hear 100 times when booting up the first level. Because GAME OVER meant restarting all of it and getting back to level 1-1 all over again. So get comfortable because you’ll hear this song for the rest of your life! Every one of the 4 worlds has its own theme, and together with the “invincible star” and boss fight music, you’ll never get bored of them. It’s weird because they loop after a minute and they never feel annoying. Another sound you’ll hear rent-free is the “death sound” when you die or fall off the level. This is how my childhood sounded in the very first year of my Game Boy play sessions.

Backlog to the Future:

How does it hold up? I started my play-through on the OG DMG Game Boy. The first thing I noticed was the disbelief that I was able to play this for more than an hour as a kid. How did I ever manage to see anything on this tiny screen? Furthermore, I had to position myself at the perfect angle of the morning sun to be able to see my game. This is how we had to do it back in the day, and for some reason, we were fine with this. I put the game into my Game Boy Advance, hoping it would be better but then I remembered somehow the Advance was even worse. I suddenly remembered why I ran to the store to buy the SP with a backlit screen. I wish I still had that one! Instead, I put the game in the Analogue Pocket, and I feel like this is the best way to play the original cartridge! If only Nintendo made that one as a rerelease!

The reason I really liked playing it on the Pocket is because of the save states. Having the power to load up a save anywhere in the game is a luxury we never had as a kid. And the game is short but challenging, so I was glad to play it that way. Once I finished the game on the Analogue, I also went to check it out on the NSO. I played it on my Nintendo Switch 2 and tried a bunch of controllers, and they all felt nice to play on. Handheld mode also brings nostalgia right into your palms. One thing I really liked about the NSO is beside the save states, it also rewinds. This way you can avoid the hassle of reloading save states like on the Analogue.

It might be nostalgia but I really like Super Mario Land. As a kid, I didn’t care about Princess Peach, I only knew Princess Daisy, the more alternative girl from another castle! This is my Mario title, and this is how we move without inertia! I had a blast playing my very first childhood game again after 30 years! I feel like Super Mario Land is what made the Game Boy so good and memorable for me in the first year! Be sure to give it a chance if you never played it, and if you’re wondering if you should play it again after all these years, yes! It’s worth the midlife crisis! A short but memorable Mario title on the go!

8,5/10

Tested on DMG Game Boy, Analogue Pocket & Nintendo NSO on Switch 2