The Super Mario Galaxy Movie reached cinemas last week, offering a love letter to an enduring game franchise that has spanned four decades. But while Mario celebrated its fortieth anniversary last year some still wonder why one game felt so different from the others.
In 1989, Super Mario Land was one of four launch titles for the Game Boy. The game felt different from the preceding trilogy of games (only two of which had been released outside of Japan at that point), and not only because of the handheld console's green-tinted monochrome palette and lower resolution.
