Super Mario Land
Many critics saw "Super Mario Land" as a "smaller" and shorter version of "Super Mario Bros.". 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. Still, IGN's Levi Buchanan thought the game made no compromises in its size reduction. At the time of its release in 1989, reviewers were excited to have a portable "Mario" game. Paul Rand of "Computer and Video Games" called the game "an arcade machine in your pocket" and the graphics "remarkable" for their size. French games magazine "" said that "Super Mario Land" adequately compromised where necessary to bring Mario to a portable device. "Electronic Gaming Monthly"s Steve Harris considered the game "fantastic" and "very fun to play", though short. Ed Semrad and Donn Nauert of the same outlet both declared "Super Mario Land" "easily the best Game Boy cart" of the time. "Complex"s Gus Turner wrote that the graphics were "simple", and "Official Nintendo Magazine" said the game was "ridiculously short". "Eurogamer" reported that the game could be finished in under an hour.