super mario land 2

content/games/gameboy/_index.md

@@ -20,7 +20,7 @@ This includes black cartridge [GBC](/games/gameboycolor) games. See [the rating
 | 2 | The Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening | A |
 | 3 | [Kirby's Dream Land 2](/games/gameboy/kirbys-dreamland-2) | A |
 | 4 | Tetris | A |
-| 5 | Super Mario Land 2 | A |
+| 5 | [Super Mario Land 2: 6 Golden Coins](/games/gameboy/super-mario-land-2) | A |
 | 6 | [Turtles III: Radical Rescue](/games/gameboy/teenage-mutant-ninja-turtles-iii-radical-rescue) | B |
 | 7 | [Super Mario Land 3: Wario Land](/articles/wario-land/) | B |
 | 8 | Gargoyle's Quest | B |

content/games/gameboy/super-mario-land-2.md

@@ -0,0 +1,36 @@
+---
+title: "Super Mario Land 2: 6 Golden Coins"
+date: 2023-11-02T16:35:00+01:00
+score: 5
+howlongtobeat_id: 9381
+howlongtobeat_hrs: 2.1
+game_name: 'Super Mario Land 2: 6 Golden Coins'
+game_genre: '2D Platformer'
+game_release_year: 1992
+game_developer: 'Nintendo'
+tags:
+  - 'Mario'
+  - '2D platformer'  
+---
+
+The second [Game Boy](/games/gameboy) _Mario Land_ installment is criminally underappreciated and that has to stop. I'm here to tell you that you owe it to yourself to breeze through this strange non-Mushroom Kingdom where everything you know about Mario is turned upside-down. 
+
+The power of _Super Mario Land 2_ (SML2) is immediately apparent after finishing the introduction level and being left to your own devices on the world map: you can _choose_ which world to tackle first! SML2 was released two years after the titular _Super Mario World_ SNES installment, where that isn't even the case. SML2 is the open world variant of Mario, thirty years ahead of _Bowser's Fury_! After beating the boss of your choice, you collect a Golden Coin, of which 6 are needed to pry open the door to the final castle. 
+
+![](cow-skull.png "SML2 has cows in jelly and skulls with swords in!")
+
+That castle was actually Mario's castle that's being taken over by a suspiciously fat looking fellow called _Wario_ while Mario himself was busy smooching with Daisy in the original [Super Mario Land](/games/gameboy/super-mario-land). SML2 introduced the Wario character, but also starts off the game telling the player that it's actually Mario who's rich and owns a huge castle, before he's kicked out and has to reclaim it. That means it never is Peach's castle---it's Marios! "I'm sorry Peach, but your Mario is in a different castle?" The world you're traversing is in fact an island called _Mario Land_, giving the whole thing a Michael Jackson's Wonderland vibe?
+
+Wario himself is such a cool villain. After SML2, he'd even take over the entire series: _Super Mario Land 3_ is effectively _Wario Land 1_. The end boss battle is one of the best in the entire Mario series, and although all of Wario's world-specific minion bosses are pathetic pushovers, Wario certainly is not. In fact, the entire last level is a huge difficulty spike, with no option to hit a bell to save halfway through. I guess that's what all those extra lives I stole by gaming the bonus levels are here for.
+
+As is the case with the majority of Game Boy platformers, SML2 is very short and can easily be finished in one go. After you've booted Wario, certain circles depicting stages in the world map start flashing to indicate a yet to unlock hidden pathway, which is a great way to up the replayability of the game. 
+
+![](boss-sub.png "Left: the Tree Top boss sitting on an egg that hides one of the Golden Coins. Right: Mario is inside a submarine!")
+
+Other examples of what makes SML2 so unique in the series is its unusual enemy roster: flying slipper wearing umbrella's straight out of Japanese folklore, walking skeletons with a knife stuck in them, and even cows? Or how about the unique worlds themselves: a giant Mario-like figure depicting a toy world, a tiny world where Mario is shrunk down and has to battle ants and other bugs, or even a journey to the moon---fifteen years before that was done in _Super Mario Galaxy_ for the Nintendo Wii! The refreshing variety and creativity present in this game is simply staggering. 
+
+The best part of SML2 is that it still holds up very well in 2023, perhaps precisely because the _Mario Land_ series has always strayed a bit off the beaten Mario path. The soundtrack is excellent as well, where effort was put in to have unique tracks for each world, including several clever remixes of the main theme. _Mario Land 2_ is, simply put, one of the best 2D Mario platformers, and deserves to proudly stand next to its greater siblings _Mario Bros. 3_ and _Super Mario World_.
+
+![](map-bonus.png "Left: the world map, on a fork in the road. Right: it's very easy gain a 3UP in the bonus rounds after the stages.")
+
+After thinking really hard, the only remarks I can make are the low difficulty---except for the final stage and fight---and the unfortunate speed at which you'll face the scrolling credits. As said before, you owe it to yourself to check out _Super Mario Land 2_ if you haven't already. Feel free to skip its mediocre predecessor. 

content/games/gameboy/super-mario-land.md

@@ -8,6 +8,9 @@ game_name: 'Super Mario Land'
 game_genre: '2D Platformer'
 game_release_year: 1989
 game_developer: 'Nintendo'
+tags:
+  - '2D platformer'
+  - 'mario'
 ---
 
 

content/games/switch/bloodstained-ritual-of-the-night.md

@@ -4,6 +4,7 @@ title: "Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night Switch Review"
 tags:
     - 'bloodstained'
     - 'metroidvania'
+    - 'castlevania'
 description: "One year later, Ritual of the Night is still unplayable on the Nintendo Switch. Numerous patches later, the game still stutters and crashes, with its most popular screen being the loading one. We're off to a great start here... "
 howlongtobeat_id: 26266
 howlongtobeat_hrs: 13.5