Super Mario Land, even 34 years on, is fun. It’s also short and easy – you are almost certain to defeat it on your first play through, which should take less than 40 minutes.

It was the GameBoy game I wanted most at the system’s launch, not knowing that Tetris would ultimately spend most of the time in the system’s cartridge slot.

It has its own flavor. Backdrops are decidedly earth-like, including Chinese bamboo forests and Easter island backdrops. Enemies are aliens, dropped from UFOs. And there are vehicle sections. Weird.

The precision jumping, iconic hero, and catchy music still grounds this as a real Mario experience, despite the eccentricities.

Worth a play through, but clearly a first-gen effort. Mario is better represented in both this game’s sequel, Super Mario Land 2: 6 Golden Coins (1992), and Donkey Kong (1994).