Editing Super Mario Land (section)

== Reception ==
=== Contemporary reviews ===
{{Video game reviews
| title = Contemporary reception
| CVG = 93%<ref name=CVG />
| EGM = 31/40<ref name="EGM review" />
| PO = 98%<ref name="Player One" />
| TGM = 94%<ref name="Games Machine" />
| rev1 = ''[[Mean Machines]]''
| rev1Score = 90%<ref name=MM />
}}

Many critics saw ''Super Mario Land'' as a "smaller" and shorter version of ''[[Super Mario Bros.]]''<ref name="IGN review" /><ref name=CVG /><ref name="EGM review" /><ref name="Eurogamer: eStore" /><ref name=MM /> At the time of its release in 1989, reviewers were excited to have a portable ''Mario'' game.<ref name="Eurogamer: eStore" /> Paul Rand of ''[[Computer and Video Games]]'' called the game "an [[arcade machine]] in your pocket" and the graphics "remarkable" for their size.<ref name=CVG /> French games magazine ''[[:fr:Player One|Player One]]'' said that ''Super Mario Land'' adequately compromised where necessary to bring Mario to a portable device.<ref name="Player One" /> [[Electronic Gaming Monthly|''Electronic Gaming Monthly''{{'}}s]] Steve Harris considered the game "fantastic" and "very fun to play", though short.<ref name="EGM review" /> Ed Semrad and Donn Nauert of the same outlet both declared ''Super Mario Land'' "easily the best Game Boy cart" of the time.<ref name="EGM review" />

Tony Mott of ''Superplay'' said the game proved that Nintendo's Game Boy "had playability to match" its competitors.<ref name=Superplay /> Matt Regan of ''Mean Machines'' agreed: "Playability to the nth degree!".<ref name=MM /> British magazines ''Mean Machines'' and ''[[The Games Machine]]'' both commented on the many secrets to find.<ref name=MM /><ref name="Games Machine" /> ''Player One'' too complimented the music.<ref name="Player One" /> ''Player One'' further pronounced ''Super Mario Land'' a "masterpiece", "the pinnacle of portable video gaming".<ref name="Player One" />

=== Retrospective reviews ===
{{Video game reviews
| title = Retrospective reception
| GR = 78% (8 reviews)<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.gamerankings.com/gameboy/585933-super-mario-land/index.html|title=Super Mario Land Review Score|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190504101728/https://www.gamerankings.com/gameboy/585933-super-mario-land/index.html|archive-date=May 4, 2019}}</ref>
| EuroG = 3DS: 7/10<ref name="Eurogamer: eStore" />
| IGN = 3DS: 7.5/10<ref name="IGN review" />
}}

''IGN''{{'}}s Lucas Thomas wrote that the protagonist, enemies, and overall game were shorter, and noted that Mario himself was just 12 pixels in height on the Game Boy's small screen. With this in mind, Thomas was concerned about player "eyestrain" in rereleases of the game.<ref name="IGN review" /> Still, ''IGN''{{'}}s Levi Buchanan thought the game made no compromises in its size reduction.<ref name="IGN: Bad" /> ''Complex''{{'}}s Gus Turner wrote that the graphics were "simple",<ref name="Complex: best" /> and ''[[Official Nintendo Magazine]]'' said the game was "ridiculously short".<ref name="ONM: 100 Best" /> ''Eurogamer'' reported that the game could be finished in under an hour.<ref name="Eurogamer: eStore" />

''Complex''{{'}}s Gus Turner wrote that the game had the fun, intuitiveness, and difficulty associated with the series.<ref name="Complex: best" /> [[Eurogamer|''Eurogamer''{{'}}s]] Chris Schilling called [[Hirokazu Tanaka]]'s soundtrack "surely one of the all-time greats",<ref name="Eurogamer: retrospective" /> and ''[[Official Nintendo Magazine]]'' said it was among the "greatest videogame music ever composed".<ref name="ONM: 100 Best" /> ''Eurogamer'' and ''Complex'' too complimented the music.<ref name="Eurogamer: eStore" /><ref name="Complex: best" />

=== Sales ===
Following the Game Boy's "overnight success",<ref name="IGN: GB history" /> ''Super Mario Land'' became the second best-selling [[1989 in video games|1989 release]] in North America (behind the bundled ''Tetris'').<ref name="Famitsu83">{{cite magazine |title=Count Down Hot 100: USA Hot 10! |magazine=[[Famicom Tsūshin]] |date=16 April 1993 |issue=226 |page=83 |lang=ja |url=https://archive.org/details/famitsu-issue-226-apr-1993/page/83}}</ref> In the United States, the game topped [[Babbage's]] Game Boy sales charts for two months [[1992 in video games|in 1992]], from August to September.<ref name="EGMOct1992">{{cite magazine |date=October 1992 |title=EGM Top Ten |url=https://archive.org/details/Electronic_Gaming_Monthly_Issue_039_October_1992/page/n43/mode/2up |magazine=[[Electronic Gaming Monthly]] |pages=44–45 |issue=39}}</ref><ref name="EGMNov1992">{{cite magazine |date=November 1992 |title=EGM Top Ten |url=https://archive.org/details/ElectronicGamingMonthly_201902/Electronic%20Gaming%20Monthly%20Issue%20040%20%28November%201992%29/page/n39/mode/2up |magazine=[[Electronic Gaming Monthly]] |pages=40–41 |issue=40}}</ref>

''Super Mario Land'' went on to sell more than 25 million copies, making it the [[List of best-selling Game Boy video games|fourth best-selling game]] on the console.<ref name="Sales" /> The game also outsold ''[[Super Mario Bros. 3]]'' (1988), the best-selling stand-alone (non-bundled) game on the NES home console.<ref name="IGN: history3" />