Uploaded August 2026 | Updated September 2026, 2 weeks ago
New Super Mario Land (SNES, 2019) is an unofficial homebrew remake of Nintendo’s 1989 Game Boy classic Super Mario Land. Created from scratch rather than built as a ROM hack, it recreates the entire Sarasaland adventure with colorful 16-bit graphics inspired by New Super Mario Bros., modernized movement and simultaneous multiplayer for up to four players. This is v1.5, both loops played; first loop on normal difficulty, then the second loop on expert difficulty.
Rating: 8.5/10
The original Super Mario Land has always been one of the stranger Mario games. Its tiny monochrome graphics, exploding Koopa shells, bouncing Superballs and submarine and airplane shooting stages gave it a personality completely different from the console games. New Super Mario Land keeps that identity intact while dramatically updating how it looks and plays.
All four kingdoms and 12 stages return, closely following the layouts and progression of the Game Boy original. You still travel through Birabuto, Muda, Easton and Chai Kingdom before confronting Tatanga, and unusual elements such as the Marine Pop submarine and Sky Pop airplane stages remain part of the adventure.
The biggest difference is the movement. Mario controls more like his modern counterparts and gains abilities such as wall sliding and wall jumping. These additions make movement faster and more flexible, although they also change how some of the original level layouts can be approached. The physics are not quite as precise as Nintendo's best official Mario games, but later revisions significantly improved the controls and general polish; version 1.5 is noticeably smoother than the earliest release.
The standout feature is four-player simultaneous multiplayer. Using a SNES Multitap, four players can tackle the stages together, turning what was originally a strictly single-player Game Boy adventure into something resembling New Super Mario Bros. Wii. It can become chaotic, especially in the tighter levels, but seeing this kind of multiplayer running on SNES hardware is extremely impressive.
Visually, New Super Mario Land is remarkable. Rather than adopting the pixel-art style of Super Mario World, it uses pre-rendered graphics based on 3D models to imitate the look of the Nintendo DS-era New Super Mario Bros. games. The effect is unusual but convincing, with large character sprites, colorful environments and effects including translucent water, heat distortion and animated waterfalls.
Technically, the project is even more impressive when you consider how it was made. The developer wrote the game from scratch in assembly rather than modifying an existing commercial SNES title. It was originally intended as a private Christmas present celebrating the 30th anniversary of Super Mario Land, with only 30 cartridges produced for friends before the ROM spread publicly.
The soundtrack gives Hirokazu Tanaka's distinctive Super Mario Land themes fuller SNES-style arrangements. Later revisions also improved the music and addressed some of the rougher audio elements found in the initial release. Combined with the graphical overhaul, it makes Sarasaland feel far more elaborate without losing the quirky atmosphere of the Game Boy game.
Its biggest weakness is inherited directly from the original: it is very short. A normal run can be completed in roughly half an hour, although finishing the game unlocks the harder second loop, just as in Super Mario Land. Multiplayer also adds considerably more replay value than the original ever had.
There are occasional reminders that this is a fan project rather than an official Nintendo production. Collision detection and momentum can feel slightly unusual, some effects are visually busy, and the pseudo-3D art style will not appeal to everyone. But these are relatively small issues considering the ambition of the project.
New Super Mario Land is an exceptional SNES homebrew game and a fascinating reinterpretation of one of Mario's most distinctive adventures. It preserves almost everything that made the 1989 original memorable while adding better presentation, modern movement and an extraordinarily ambitious four-player mode. More than just a technical demonstration, it is genuinely fun to play and one of the most impressive examples of what dedicated homebrew development can achieve on the Super Nintendo.
New Super Mario Land (SNES, 2019) is an unofficial homebrew remake of Nintendo’s 1989 Game Boy classic Super Mario Land. Created from scratch rather than built as a ROM hack, it recreates the entire Sarasaland adventure with colorful 16-bit graphics inspired by New Super Mario Bros., modernized movement and simultaneous multiplayer for up to four players. This is v1.5, both loops played; first loop on normal difficulty, then the second loop on expert difficulty.
Rating: 8.5/10
The original Super Mario Land has always been one of the stranger Mario games. Its tiny monochrome graphics, exploding Koopa shells, bouncing Superballs and submarine and airplane shooting stages gave it a personality completely different from the console games. New Super Mario Land keeps that identity intact while dramatically updating how it looks and plays.
All four kingdoms and 12 stages return, closely following the layouts and progression of the Game Boy original. You still travel through Birabuto, Muda, Easton and Chai Kingdom before confronting Tatanga, and unusual elements such as the Marine Pop submarine and Sky Pop airplane stages remain part of the adventure.
The biggest difference is the movement. Mario controls more like his modern counterparts and gains abilities such as wall sliding and wall jumping. These additions make movement faster and more flexible, although they also change how some of the original level layouts can be approached. The physics are not quite as precise as Nintendo's best official Mario games, but later revisions significantly improved the controls and general polish; version 1.5 is noticeably smoother than the earliest release.
The standout feature is four-player simultaneous multiplayer. Using a SNES Multitap, four players can tackle the stages together, turning what was originally a strictly single-player Game Boy adventure into something resembling New Super Mario Bros. Wii. It can become chaotic, especially in the tighter levels, but seeing this kind of multiplayer running on SNES hardware is extremely impressive.
Visually, New Super Mario Land is remarkable. Rather than adopting the pixel-art style of Super Mario World, it uses pre-rendered graphics based on 3D models to imitate the look of the Nintendo DS-era New Super Mario Bros. games. The effect is unusual but convincing, with large character sprites, colorful environments and effects including translucent water, heat distortion and animated waterfalls.
Technically, the project is even more impressive when you consider how it was made. The developer wrote the game from scratch in assembly rather than modifying an existing commercial SNES title. It was originally intended as a private Christmas present celebrating the 30th anniversary of Super Mario Land, with only 30 cartridges produced for friends before the ROM spread publicly.
The soundtrack gives Hirokazu Tanaka's distinctive Super Mario Land themes fuller SNES-style arrangements. Later revisions also improved the music and addressed some of the rougher audio elements found in the initial release. Combined with the graphical overhaul, it makes Sarasaland feel far more elaborate without losing the quirky atmosphere of the Game Boy game.
Its biggest weakness is inherited directly from the original: it is very short. A normal run can be completed in roughly half an hour, although finishing the game unlocks the harder second loop, just as in Super Mario Land. Multiplayer also adds considerably more replay value than the original ever had.
There are occasional reminders that this is a fan project rather than an official Nintendo production. Collision detection and momentum can feel slightly unusual, some effects are visually busy, and the pseudo-3D art style will not appeal to everyone. But these are relatively small issues considering the ambition of the project.
New Super Mario Land is an exceptional SNES homebrew game and a fascinating reinterpretation of one of Mario's most distinctive adventures. It preserves almost everything that made the 1989 original memorable while adding better presentation, modern movement and an extraordinarily ambitious four-player mode. More than just a technical demonstration, it is genuinely fun to play and one of the most impressive examples of what dedicated homebrew development can achieve on the Super Nintendo.
