Super Mario Land 2
Reviewing Super Mario Land, I found the game enjoyable but not particularly noteworthy. I am happy to say that this was not at all the case for its sequel. Despite still being on the Game Boy, in four odd shades of green-gray, the graphics managed to feel well done and artistic, in contrast to the almost comically poor visuals in the first, and the story was top notch. Mario must go through six zones to collect six coins to reach the final villain - Wario in his first appearance ever. The sound continued to impress, the game was fun, the coin mechanism was fun (coins are saved up to use to play the slots for lives and power ups) and a bunny ear power up allowed Mario to fly, and flying power ups always feel the most fun to me.
In many ways, Super Mario Land 2 doesn't feel like a Mario game. Similar to the first game, the enemies are largely unfamiliar, although Koopa Troopas and Goombas are present, there is no overall score, and especially striking is the lack of a princess to save. The style of Gunpei Yokoi, producer of the Super Mario Land games is markedly different from that of Shigeru Miyamoto, famous for... just about everything else Mario, but he does the franchise justice. The six zones (as opposed to worlds in other Mario games) are imaginative and each one feels so different that I found myself looking forward to seeing the next landscape. The zone themes are also unusual and include space, halloween, clockwork mario, and of course the dark castle of Wario with thunderbolts crackling overhead. In addition, in general the difficulty feels just a tad easier than the first, which to me was a nice change - too many deaths and I begin to get frustrated and the game stops flowing. An exception, unfortunately, is the final castle which is quite difficult and unless you are lucky enough to beat Wario in one go, needs to be traversed many times.
Going from not having heard of the Super Mario Land series to playing this game feels like digging up an undiscovered gem, and is thus far my favourite game on my quest to the roots of gaming (although the quest has just begun). If you have a 3DS, this game is available on the virtual console for $3.99 and it's worth every penny.