Super Mario Land 2: 6 Golden Coins is the side-scrolling 2D sequel to its predecessor Super Mario Land for the Game Boy. This title is compatible with all existing Game Boy systems and offers three progress-save slots where the original version of its predecessor had no save feature.

It conforms to its Mario-platforming predecessors a lot more than the original Super Mario Land did — it removed the vehicle levels, swapped out the Superball for the Fire Flower, and allowed players the ability to go backwards in levels if they so desired, making it a great deal more flexible than the original. SML2 also offered a marked visual upgrade, with much larger character sprites and a more polished, focused style of play.

Most significantly, Super Mario Land 2 marks the debut of Wario — Mario’s greedy, self-proclaimed arch-rival, who seizes Mario’s castle and serves as the game’s final boss. Wario proved so popular that he went on to headline his own series of platformers (Wario Land) and party/microgame titles (WarioWare). The seventh entry in the Super Mario series, SML2 was produced by the late Gunpei Yokoi rather than Shigeru Miyamoto, and was the last original side-scrolling Super Mario game until New Super Mario Bros. in 2006.

The story of Super Mario Land 2, taken directly from the original instruction booklet — narrated by Mario himself:

DANGER! DANGER! While I was away crusading against the mystery alien Tatanga in Sarasa Land, an evil creep took over my castle and put the people of Mario Land under his control with a magic spell. This intruder goes by the name of Wario. He has been jealous of my popularity ever since we were boys, and has tried to steal my castle many times. It seems he has succeeded this time. Wario has scattered the 6 Golden Coins from my castle all over Mario Land. These Golden Coins are guarded by those under Wario’s spell. Without these coins, we can’t get into the castle to deal with Wario. We must collect the 6 coins, attack Wario in the castle, and save everybody! IT’S TIME TO SET OUT ON OUR MISSION!! ★ The 6 Golden Coins are the coins needed to open the gate of Mario’s castle.

After rescuing Princess Daisy from Tatanga in Sarasaland (the events of the first Super Mario Land), Mario returns home to his own private island — appropriately named Mario Land. Upon returning, however, he finds that an old rival, Wario, has taken over his castle and bewitched the inhabitants. To reclaim his home, Mario must hunt down the 6 Golden Coins scattered across the six zones of Mario Land, each guarded by a boss under Wario’s spell.

Unlike the gameplay of its predecessor, Super Mario Land 2 closely resembles the mainline Super Mario titles. As a side-scrolling Mario game, the basic concept is to run, jump, and swim across levels while collecting coins and power-ups and defeating enemies. You’ll see many enemies returning from older games, like Koopas, alongside a host of brand-new ones.

Key Changes from the Original Super Mario Land

• Fire Flower replaces the Superball. Mario now becomes traditional Fire Mario, throwing bouncing fireballs, instead of the original’s ricocheting Superball
• No more vehicle levels. The Sky Pop and Marine Pop shoot-’em-up stages are gone, returning the focus to pure platforming
• Backtracking enabled. The screen can now scroll left as well as right, so Mario can return through levels — a big flexibility boost
• Bigger sprites. Character sprites are significantly larger, enabling more focused, fast-paced action and better visual quality
• Overworld map. Like Super Mario World, locations are traversed via an overworld map, giving rise to secrets, shortcuts, and even a casino bonus area
• Two difficulty modes. SML2 is one of the first Super Mario games with selectable Normal and Easy modes, chosen by picking Mario’s size before selecting a save file
• Spin Jump. As Super Mario, pressing down in midair performs a Spin Jump to break bricks from above — a technique borrowed from Super Mario World

The controls are standard for a Mario platformer, mapped to the Game Boy’s button layout.

The Spin Jump is the signature new technique — borrowed from Super Mario World, it lets Super Mario break bricks from above and defeat tougher enemies like Koopas that would normally require multiple hits.

Super Mario Land 2 returns to traditional power-ups, dropping the original’s Superball for the classic Fire Flower — and adding one brand-new transformation, the high-flying Bunny Mario. Two zone-specific forms (Space and Aqua Mario) also appear as cosmetic variants in special areas.

Super Mario

From a Mushroom. Takes one hit, breaks bricks, and can perform the Spin Jump (press down in midair).

Fire Mario

From a Fire Flower. Throws bouncing fireballs that defeat enemies and break fiery blocks — replacing the original’s Superball.

Bunny Mario

The signature new power-up. From the Carrot. Big rabbit ears let Mario flutter and slowly descend, gliding across large gaps.

Space Mario

In the Space Zone, Mario dons an astronaut suit. Weaker gravity makes jumps far higher and floatier.

Aqua Mario

Mario’s swimming form for the game’s many underwater sections, navigating currents and aquatic foes.

Mario Land is split into six themed zones, each accessible from the overworld map and each holding one of the 6 Golden Coins behind a boss. Unusually, the zones can be tackled in almost any order — only the Wario Castle finale is locked until all six coins are collected. Each zone below shows a screenshot plus the Golden Coin awarded for clearing it.

Zone 1

Tree Zone

A giant tree teeming with woodland creatures — Spikeys, Bopping Toadies and sleepy Heavy Zeds. Mario climbs from the sap-filled trunk up into the canopy, choosing between the branches or a Beebee hive. The secret course is dotted with Mushroom Platforms.

Boss: Big Bird

Zone 2

Space Zone

A zone amongst the stars with weaker gravity, making every jump higher and floatier. Mario wears an astronaut suit (Space Mario) and faces alien-like enemies. Old foe Tatanga returns from the first game as the boss.

Boss: Tatanga

Zone 3

Macro Zone

Everything is giant — Mario explores an enormous house where ordinary household objects tower over him. The drill-nosed Sewer Rat lurks in the attic, travelling up walls and through pipes to drop on Mario.

Boss: Sewer Rat

Zone 4

Pumpkin Zone

A spooky Halloween-themed zone full of ghosts, masked ghouls and haunted scenery. The Witch lives here in her mansion, conjuring flames and lighting the fires beneath her cauldrons to attack Mario.

Boss: Witch

Zone 5

Mario Zone

A zone built inside a giant statue of Mario himself, run like a factory/funhouse with conveyor belts and mechanical hazards. The boss battle is against the Three Little Pigs — Buro, Bucho and Bupon — each in their own suspended house.

Boss: Three Little Pigs

Zone 6

Turtle Zone

An aquatic zone set in and around a giant turtle and the belly of a whale. Mario swims through underwater passages as Aqua Mario. A mother Octopus guards the final coin, spitting out her children to attack.

Boss: Octopus

The 6 Golden Coins are the heart of the game — one is awarded for defeating each zone’s boss. All six are required to open the gate to Mario’s castle and confront Wario. Lose all your lives and the bosses reclaim their coins, forcing you to collect them again (unless you load a save).

Wario is the reason Super Mario Land 2 matters historically. Mario’s self-proclaimed arch-rival makes his very first appearance here — a greedy, hulking, mustachioed anti-Mario who has coveted Mario’s castle since the two were boys. With Mario away in Sarasaland, Wario seizes the castle, bewitches the populace, and turns Mario Land into his private playground.

Wario’s Castle — The Finale

After collecting all 6 Golden Coins, Mario unlocks Wario’s Castle, the game’s climactic final stage. This treacherous fortress is the toughest level in the game, packed with hazards and tricky platforming, culminating in the showdown with Wario himself.

The Wario Boss Fight

Wario is a multi-phase final boss who mimics Mario’s own power-ups. He fights in escalating forms: a base form, then a Bunny Wario form (wearing the carrot ears), then a Fire Wario form. Mario must jump on him repeatedly, dodging his charges and projectiles through each phase. Defeating Wario reclaims the castle and ends the game.

Each of the six zones is guarded by a boss holding one of the 6 Golden Coins. Defeat them all to unlock Wario’s Castle and the final confrontation.

Big Bird

Tree Zone · Owl Course

A large crow that nests at the top of the Tree Zone. It swoops down to strike Mario. Defeating it reveals that the Big Bird has stowed the zone’s Golden Coin inside its egg.

Tatanga

Space Zone · Star Course

A space alien from Mario’s past — the very same villain who kidnapped Daisy in the original Super Mario Land. He pilots a small craft that fires energy beams; stomping on the spacecraft damages him.

Sewer Rat

Macro Zone · Attic Course

A drill-nosed rodent that lives in the attic of the giant Macro Zone house. It travels up walls and through pipes, attempting to drop down onto Mario from above.

Witch

Pumpkin Zone · Witch’s Mansion

The Witch lives in the haunted Pumpkin Zone. She conjures flames to strike Mario and lights the fires beneath her cauldrons during the battle.

Three Little Pigs

Mario Zone · Block Course

Three ball-shaped pig bosses named Buro, Bucho, and Bupon. Each lives in a house suspended from the ceiling and has a different means of attack — all three must be defeated to win the battle.

Octopus

Turtle Zone

A mother octopus residing in the belly of the whale. She spits out her own children at Mario as projectiles while he tries to land hits on her.

Wario

Wario’s Castle · Final Boss

The greedy final boss and the game’s star villain. Wario fights through escalating phases, mimicking Mario’s power-ups — including Bunny Wario and Fire Wario forms. Stomp him through each phase to reclaim the castle.

Super Mario Land 2 blends familiar Mario foes with a host of new creatures themed to each zone — from woodland Spikeys to space aliens to haunted ghouls.

Other notable enemies include Bopping Toadies and Beebees (Tree Zone), masked ghouls (Pumpkin Zone), and a wide assortment of zone-specific foes. The returning Koopas now take a Spin Jump or fireball to defeat properly.

Super Mario Land 2 was developed by Nintendo R&D1, the same team behind the original — not Miyamoto’s EAD.

• Producer: Gunpei Yokoi (the legendary creator of the Game Boy)
• Developer: Nintendo R&D1
• Notable: Shigeru Miyamoto, the Super Mario creator, was not involved in development
• Technical leap: Much larger sprites and a battery-backed save chip (3 slots) than the original Super Mario Land

The official store description used to promote the game on Nintendo platforms:

A full walkthrough with the ending and credits, plus the original US and Japanese television commercials.

Super Mario Land 2 was one of the best-received games of its entire release year and remains a perennial favourite Mario title on the Game Boy. It was roundly praised for its music, graphics, and the many improvements made over its predecessor.

Awards

The game won four awards at the 1992 Nintendo Power Awards:

• Best Play Control
• Best Game Boy Title
• Best Theme and Fun
• Best Graphics and Sound

Some serious bragging rights for the production team. Thanks to its strong reputation, Super Mario Land 2 was seen as a natural choice for re-release on modern handhelds — it arrived on the 3DS in 2011 to great acclaim, and like its predecessor earned a Player’s Choice budget re-issue.

Super Mario Land 2 has earned several community reviews from Super Luigi Bros. visitors over the years:

Want to add your own? Get in touch to submit a review.

As a major Game Boy hit, Super Mario Land 2 shipped with numerous regional box art variants.

Logos, Title Screens & Map

• Wario’s debut. Super Mario Land 2 marks the first-ever appearance of Wario, Mario’s greedy arch-rival, who went on to star in the Wario Land and WarioWare franchises.
• Won four 1992 Nintendo Power Awards: Best Play Control, Best Game Boy Title, Best Theme and Fun, and Best Graphics and Sound.
• The death-exit trick. If you die on a level you’ve already completed, you can press START then SELECT to exit the level without losing a life. (You may feel guilty about it later.)
• 32 levels across 6 zones, each zone holding one of the 6 Golden Coins behind a boss — plus the Wario Castle finale, making 7 parts in total.
• Lose all your lives and the bosses reclaim their coins, forcing you to re-collect them — unless you load a save file.
• Hearts, not coins, grant extra lives. Coins are instead spent on minigames, including a casino — a break from the classic 100-coin rule.
• The Carrot power-up turns Mario into high-flying Bunny Mario, a memorable one-off transformation with floaty rabbit ears.
• Three battery-backed save slots — a big upgrade over the original Super Mario Land, which had no save feature at all.
• The last original 2D side-scrolling Super Mario game until New Super Mario Bros. (2006) — a 14-year gap.
• Produced by Gunpei Yokoi, the creator of the Game Boy, with no involvement from Shigeru Miyamoto.
• Mario Kirby Masterpiece Video. A 1995 Japanese educational video (produced by HAL Laboratory) starred both Mario and Kirby; the Mario adventure featured scenes relating to Super Mario Land 2 and Super Mario Kart.
• Re-released on the 3DS in 2011 to great acclaim, and on the Switch’s Game Boy – Nintendo Classics service in 2023.
• Tatanga returns. The alien villain from the first Super Mario Land reappears as the Space Zone boss.
• Larger sprites. Characters are drawn much bigger than in the original, giving the game a more detailed, expressive look.

Sub-pages, guides and resources for Super Mario Land 2.

Galleries, screenshots and downloads.