Super Mario Land DX (Game Boy Color) Playthrough – NintendoComplete

This version of the game is running a patch that updates the game to support full color on a Game Boy Color system and modifies many of the game’s sprites to make the graphics more closely resemble the more modern Mario games. It also works just fine on a real Game Boy Color with a flashcart! For more information on the patch, check out

The updates are all the work of a guy that goes by the name “toruzz” on romhacking.net. He’s the same guy behind the similarly excellent Super Mario Land 2 DX upgrade patch. You can check out my video of that one here:

I’ve always loved this game. I first got it when I got my Game Boy for Christmas back in 1989, and have played it so many times in the years since.

In all honesty, this patch is a pretty amazing piece of work. The game’s palettes have all been custom-rebuilt, and it doesn’t look like a hack at all – it all looks like how you’d imagine Super Mario Land would have looked if it had been made for the NES instead of the Game Boy. There have been a number of changes made to the enemy sprites to improve their detail and color definition which look awesome, as do the backgrounds – especially in the caves with the animated water. It’s a much cooler effect when it’s blue instead of olive green. I’m not so much a fan of the new Mario sprite, though. It looks great, but I can’t help but get distracted by how big he is. He doesn’t really feel true to the scale of the backgrounds and enemies anymore, and Big Mario’s running animation looks a little goofy. Still, I feel like a jerk mentioning something so minor when it’s clear so much work has been put into this, and for how excellent the overall package really is.

This is the OG-style Mario game that I wish Nintendo had released on the Game Boy Color – I mean, yeah, Super Mario Bros. Deluxe was awesome, but Super Mario Land needed more love than it got!

But if it’s any consolation, now that Game Boy is officially thirty years old, the system’s well-loved Mario launch-title has finally been given as good, if not better, a round of TL&C than Nintendo would’ve likely done for it themselves.

I’m sure Gunpei Yokoi would love it if he were still around. His baby has all grown up, and had babies of its own. Cue Elton John singing Circle of Life.

*The video was recorded using the GBC LCD shader in Retroarch to give it that classic old-school hardware look that we all remember so well.*
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No cheats were used during the recording of this video.

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