Journey with Mario to a land of giant crabs, Koopa Troopas, flying stone heads and hungry sharks!
Travel over land, in the air, and underwater. Mario makes his way through four treacherous worlds on his way to save the Princess!

Super Mario Land is the first Mario adventure on a handheld console. It takes place, not in the Mushroom Kingdom like the previous games, but in Sarsaland. An alien called Tatanga emerged from a dark cloud and hypnotised the people so he could control them. Now, he wants to marry Princess Daisy (who you may know from Mario Kart etc.). Mario came to know of these events, and he has started on a journey to the Chai Kingdom where Princess Daisy is held captive, in order to restore peace to Sarasaland.

The gameplay is similar to the Super Mario Bros. games: left/right to move, A to jump, hold B to run faster. You can defeat many (but not all) enemies by jumping on them. If you get a Mushroom, Mario will grow and can then survive one hit. The Flower will allow you to shoot Superballs (with the B Button) at enemies and coins. The Star makes you invincible for a short time.

At the end of each (non-boss) level there are two exits; the top one leads to a bonus minigame. At the end of some boss battles there is a switch that will kill the boss (like the Ax in SMB).

I like the music for this game, but it's not always easy to tell if you're under the effect of a Mushroom or not.