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Most of the original Game Boy library (even counting Game Boy Color) is, in fact, abysmal. I had mentioned it in my original review of Donkey Kong ("Donkey Kong '94") that by and large, most of these games were awful. Everyone remembers The Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening or Pokémon but these were the exceptions, not the rule.

Mario, too, suffers from this, in Super Mario Land 2: Six Golden Coins, originally covered back in October 2020. If I had the option of going back to 2020 and playing it again for the first time I'd use the "Super Mario Land 2 DX" color hack (used for the thumb--it's not from the original game), but again, that's water under the bridge...and I still might give it a run-through another time. However, Super Mario Land 2 feels more like "Mario" than Super Mario Land but it's not as good (and plus, Super Mario Land has very catchy music, the music from Super Mario Land 2 isn't well-remembered for good reason). It's extremely easy (even by Mario standards) and could be done within about two hours without even trying. Most of the game's strengths in how it broke formula with some unusual worlds, non-traditional ways of dealing with coins, and a few new mechanics (Bunny Mario, for instance), but it features just over two dozen non-secret levels (32 if you include everything but some of those include boss stages and short "entrance" levels), and is very easy to beat in just a few hours (if that).

The unused picture that I cropped for the thumbnail can be seen here, it's from the DX hack. (Yes, I know that may be considered cheating but the thumbnail from SimCity 4 uses mods).

FINAL RATING:   

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