Review Information
Game Reviewed Super Mario Country, by DJ Coco
Review Author FibS
Created Aug 11 2014, 2:26 AM

General Commentary and Game Overview
Let it be said first and foremost that I am not familiar with Super Mario Land, beyond that it is the source of the Rabbit Ears powerup and some of the most memetic and annoying music I have ever heard.

As such, I have to consider this game based on what I must presume to be a reasonable approximation of optimal Mario gameplay within the limitations of the GameBoy's specifications.

On that count, this game turns out very well.
 
Pros - All graphics are custom; all backgrounds are original
- Acceptably faithful to the GameBoy's limitations, considering the difficulty in emulating those limitations
- Powerups and extra lives can be purchased between levels for difficult areas
- Non-linear
- Checkpoints always have a Super Mushroom right after them
- Automatically saves after clearing a level
 
Cons - Large sprites combined with small window make for difficulty in approaching offscreen dangers
- Monotonous, annoying music, especially menus and the shop
- Shrill sound cues (the reason I've never played Super Mario Land)
- Despite complete non-linearity, some zones are very easy (Beach) while others are extremely difficult (Forest)
- 1-ups within blocks come back when you die
 
Impressions
Gameplay
8 / 10
The game follows an SMB3-like gameplay typical of many fangames, with the only actions available to Mario being movement, jumping, and the action button - which as usual, will shoot fireballs if applicable and will cause Mario to run faster while held.

Mario can acquire the Fire Flower or the Rabbit Ears, which can be purchased in the shop or, it seems, each Zone features one or the other inside of ? Blocks.

I've seen the Rabbit Ears used in a few fangames before - I presume that the need to press jump a second time is faithful to the original game, though it isn't a control scheme I approve of.

For the most part, despite being a typical Mario platformer, it is implemented very well, with smooth controls and very few obvious glitches.

Specific-case criticisms follow:

- The shop allows you to fall between the pipes.

- Enemy collision boxes are a bit iffy, occasionally damaging Mario if he (visually) lands on top of them from too far to the left or right.

- Enemies activate when the screen is close enough, and some of their configurations make their immediate attacks rather unfair. Forest 2 has this with the ants that toss rocks.

- Rarely, a Para-type enemy will fall through the ground after the first hit.
 
Graphics
8 / 10
Though it's hard to tell due to the simplicity and global theme of Mario visuals, most if not all of the graphics in the game are original, the backgrounds being the main hurrah. The enemies aren't so great by comparison, looking too much like quickly edited SMB3 and SMW sprites.

Although the game generally does a fine job visually differentiating backgrounds from foregrounds, there are a select few instances where these blend together - the first level of the Forest Zone's vines are one. This is only a minor inconvenience, as an offending level usually makes it clear on the first playthrough that the object can be stood upon.

The player has the option of toggling artificial scanlines while playing.
 
Sound
7 / 10
On the plus side: the music is in *.ogg, and you can just open it right up whenever you like.

However, the fact remains that it's GameBoy music, which has always been very shrill and grating. It would be possible to make it less so, but only if the music was all original too.

There are very few tracks I like in this game (Forest 3 being one of them), and they don't loop - OGG files can loop seamlessly, and I presume GameMaker or whatnot can handle them when they do that, right?

In addition to the music itself, some of the sound cues are very alarming; they're even higher-pitched and shriller. I never cared for SML's cutesy jingle when entering a level.
 
Replay
10 / 10
This game will piss you off. You will play it and you will scream "Oh that is KOOPA KRAP!" when you die to one of those stupid rock-tossing ants.

And the game will save your progress too, just so you think you have a chance of ever beating it.

Yeah. Good luck with that one, Mario.
 
Final Words
9 / 10
A fine game suffering only from inconsistency in difficulty and the natural drawbacks of the GameBoy.

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