Rank the Mario Land titles

[Nintegageo | 582]

I'm playing through Wario Land SML 3 and I actually think that I have it ranked third. I just rather the way Mario controls vs the power-ups/Wario charge mechanic that is used, though I do love the levels, themes, etc. SML 2 is my vote as #1. Curious which other people think.

[noiseredux | 232]

I honestly rank them in the order of their release. SML is super basic, sure. But it was weird, and mind-blowing to have a full fledged portable Mario game in '89, so it meant a lot to me. I've played through it so many times.

I think SML2 is impressive, no doubt. But I don't actually enjoy it QUITE as much as the original.

SML3 is fine. But I think of it more as WL1 and that series definitely got better later.

[WhyNotZoidberg | 586]

The poll reflects my opinion! 2 > 1 > 3

Interestingly, I have the same order of preference for the NES games.

 

edit: this comment aged poorly, and did it quick! the poll does not reflect that order as the time of this edit.

Edited July 2, 2021 by WhyNotZoidberg

[TDIRunner | 2,771]

I don't consider SML3 as part of the mainline Mario series.  But if I'm ranking those three specific games I would say:

3 > 2 > 1

Each game kept getting progressively better each time and even though SML3 isn't really a Mario game, it's still the best playing game out of those three.  And just to clarify, I consider all three games to be great games, but SML1 definitely shows its age these days.    

[twiztor | 855]

2 > 3 > 1. 

agree with most everyone else that SML3 is really Wario Land 1 and i don't really think of it as a Mario game, but for the purpose of this thread, that's how i'd rank them.

[fox | 1,673]

3 feels the most fleshed out.  All the different helmet powers and hidden treasures to find really make it stand out.

2 has some funky level themes but otherwise is pretty run of the mil.

1 is very much dated and is too short and easy.  Very much the watered down Mario experience.

[TDIRunner | 2,771]

10 minutes ago, fox said:

3 feels the most fleshed out.  All the different helmet powers and hidden treasures to find really make it stand out.

2 has some funky level themes but otherwise is pretty run of the mil.

1 is very much dated and is too short and easy.  Very much the watered down Mario experience.

This is a pretty good description and I agree with it.  But I will add one thing in SML2's defense.  The improvement swing between games was much larger between 1 and 2 compared to 2 and 3.  

[DefaultGen | 5,433]

SML is way too short with 12 easy levels. In terms of old ass GB games, Castlevania: The Adventure is equally short but at least it was hard as balls comparatively so it felt longer.

SML2 is generic for a Mario game, which meant playing it on a Game Boy blew my mind as a kid because it's a damn Mario game!

I'm not a big fan of Wario Land's backtracking or the charge mechanic in general. I'm a simple man who wants to run to the right and stomp on dudes as Mario. But it's a big game and brings new ideas to the Nintendo platformer table, so I'm definitely putting it above SML.

2 > 3 > 1

[fcgamer | 4,753]

I don't consider Wario Land as part of the series though technically it is, I'd give it first place.

Mario Land comes in second, part two in third place. Part 2 is fun, but it feels really watered down compared to Mario World.

[phart010 | 1,708]

Is 3D Land considered part of the series?

[phart010 | 1,708]

4 hours ago, TDIRunner said:

SML1 definitely shows its age these days.    

I had it back in 1993 and it felt aged back then 

[TDIRunner | 2,771]

13 minutes ago, phart010 said:

I had it back in 1993 and it felt aged back then 

I got it the year it was released.  At the time, I was happy to have a Mario game on a portable console and didn't feel it was too restricted.  But SML2 just blew it away in terms of visuals.  

[fox | 1,673]

46 minutes ago, phart010 said:

Is 3D Land considered part of the series?

Is Donkey Kong Land?  

[DarkTone | 988]

Enjoy all 3. Wario land is the best of 3. 

[Tanooki | 4,952]

Wario Land *ISN'T* in all honesty, other than branding, Super Mario Land 3.  There really is no Super Mario Land 3.  It was another Nintendo white lie to sell a new franchise using the coat tails of something far superior to do it.  Yoshi's Island isn't Super Mario World 2 if you catch where I'm going with it.

 

Wario Land is challenging and fantastic, as you can die in that unlike the puzzly-platformer sequels.  Good variety, nice stages, good 'suit' choices etc.

 

Personally I can't vote on this.  Super Mario Land looks more 8bit basic, but the music may have lesser tracks but they're far more fun, inspired, iconic, and the unique lands are awesome.  The fact they've never re-used the power ball bugs me as it's so fun with its uses.  The game has solid precision, well done stages, just a bit more basic, but worthy.

Super Mario Land 2 though, that was mindblowing, using the SMW 'super' Mario sprite blew my mind when I saw that.  It has the nice bunny ears in place of the cape basically, and the rest is as it is.  Control feels less precise but still flows well, stage designs are all over the board, more fun than just 'there' but nothing even close to bad.  A great game with a nice amount of things to do, things to discover, the only real annoyance is the hard jolt final Wario boss as he's a bastard compared to the rest of the game so it'll catch you off guard.

They're just both great games, but so dissimilar it's really too hard to call a winner.  If I had to, it would be the first if forced, because I return to it far more because it gives me a sense of accomplishment as you can knock it off in around 45min.  And despite that, 32 years on now, I still don't tire of finishing off the game and Tatanga is just cool as are the 'flying' stages.

[Tanooki | 4,952]

7 hours ago, phart010 said:

Is 3D Land considered part of the series?

Technically according to Nintendo it is.  You could even make the argument for the Super Mario 3D World too, follows the same design style the 3DS game does but got the world name being on a console instead of handheld.  They're all part of that same design as the first 2 Mario Land games on Gameboy.

[phart010 | 1,708]

19 minutes ago, Tanooki said:

The fact they've never re-used the power ball bugs me as it's so fun with its uses. 

That’s because Mario never went back to Sarasaland. Power ball flowers only grow in Sarasaland 

[Tanooki | 4,952]

Just now, phart010 said:

That’s because Mario never went back to Sarasaland. Power ball flowers only grow in Sarasaland 

Doesn't have to just be there.  Fire Flowers and others have rolled over since, only other that hasn't are sub-con veggies.

[Sumez | 2,994]

I definitely see Wario Land as a sequel to Mario Land 2 moreso than a precursor to the later Wario Land games, which are a very different (and IMO much more boring) style of game.

[fcgamer | 4,753]

If you like the original SML, check out Binary Monsters 2: Adventures in Hell. It's one of my favourite GB(C) games of all time.

[AstralSoul | 502]

Wario Land > Mario Land 2 > Mario Land

As others pointed out, Wario Land is Wario Land 1, not so much Mario Land 3 despite the subtitle. But judging these, Wario wins it by a mile. SML2 is still excellent however and SML is a fun 20 minutes.

 

[noiseredux | 232]

23 hours ago, Tanooki said:

Wario Land *ISN'T* in all honesty, other than branding, Super Mario Land 3.  There really is no Super Mario Land 3.  It was another Nintendo white lie to sell a new franchise using the coat tails of something far superior to do it.  Yoshi's Island isn't Super Mario World 2 if you catch where I'm going with it.

 

I'm with you. Especially replaying Yoshi's Island this week. It bugs me that this game is called SMW2, because... that almost dooms it. As the first game in the Yoshi's Island series, it's a really good and impressive game. As the sequel to SMW, it's a letdown. 

[Tanooki | 4,952]

4 minutes ago, noiseredux said:

I'm with you. Especially replaying Yoshi's Island this week. It bugs me that this game is called SMW2, because... that almost dooms it. As the first game in the Yoshi's Island series, it's a really good and impressive game. As the sequel to SMW, it's a letdown. 

It's a bit stupid, but for me, it's personal.  I don't recall the circumstance, but despite having Nintendo Power, somehow with how they covered it vs it hitting the stores I was under the hard impression that it was Super Mario World 2, that you actually had another Mario world, just more yoshi enabled.  I had no idea it was them lying to me again with SML3 not being a Mario game in the slightest but a scam to sell a new mascot game (Wario.)  Wario was fantastic enough, sure, but it's 0% Mario, Super Mario, or any Mario Land-ish of any kind.  Given the SNES game was a $50 hit and a hit right when I was saving for/buying the launched Virtual Boy and pocketing more savings for N64 that wasn't supposed to delay well into 1996 at that rate I was fucking PISSED.   First time I felt Nintendo lied to me to sell a product.  By that point enough copiers came over from asia so TRU and others revoked their return policy so I was stuck with it.  As such I've always been sour on that particular game, despite actually not entirely hating it either.  I've never finished it, and I truly despise the RANK system (as I do in any game) as they tend to punish people for not being OCD collectors.  So I've been a casual Yoshi player ever since.

[phart010 | 1,708]

15 hours ago, fcgamer said:

If you like the original SML, check out Binary Monsters 2: Adventures in Hell. It's one of my favourite GB(C) games of all time.

Would you mind sharing some gameplay footage? I can’t seem to find any

[Splain | 2,586]

I haven't played SML3 all the way yet, and I actually suspect I might eventually rank it higher than SML2. But SML2 is the one that I had as a kid and it feels like home to me.