Super Mario Land 4: Stairway to Heaven
The Saga Continues
Super Mario Land 4 is Kaepora and Someguy's take on the widely accepted Super Mario Land series that appeared on the Gameboy back in it's hayday. The idea was originally pitched to Someguy by Kaepora wanted to keep the bizzare style that Someguy introduced with Thingio, but wanted to dab it with a more traditional Mario touch. The inspiration for the idea is said to have originally been thought up after a disgruntled Kaepora listened consecutively eight times to the classic rock band Boston's rock opera "Don't Look Back". The story in the album loosely told of multiple men traversing through outer space. Because of the inspiration, Super Mario Land 4 will not be based on the events occuring in the Mushroom Kingdom, but will rather be taking place on many different planets scattered throughout the universe.
The Game
Perhaps the most interesting element of Super Mario Land 4 is that unlike any other fangame, it supports a 4-player cooperative mode, which is said to almost mimmick the multiplayer mode of the Super Nintendo game Kirby Superstar. Of course, the player is not obligated to play the game with 4-players, or even more than one, but it certainly makes the experience much more enjoyable. Other than that, the game plays true to the Super Mario Land 2 form, with a mix from the recent console iterations like Super Mario 64, which allow Mario to do things like a walljump (although that move in SML4 is exclusively for Mario and Luigi to use). The other two playable characters are Halo's protagonist Master Chief, and an exaggerated and caricatured version of the late video game designer, Gunpei Yokoi. The exclusive abilities to each character as described by the creators of the game are:
Mario: Able to run "with the devil", capable of power ups. Can Wall Jump.
Luigi: Like Mario, runs slower, jumps higher, capable of power ups. Can wall jump.
Master Chief: Carries a heafty SMG. Runs slow, can walk under water to activate things like switches, obtains gun upgrades. CAN THROW GRENADES.
Yokoi: Extreme martial artist. Many combos, ability to jump somewhat high, can walk across water. Obtainable power-ups, such as a Virtual Boy visor that allows the players to see hidden blocks.
Along with exclusive abilites for each player, there are a selected amount of power-ups the player(s) can obtain on the field:
Star: You know what this does.
Allergy Hat: Much like the superball in Super Mario Land - gives Mario and Luigi the ability to shoot a "super booger" out of their nose.
Bunny hat: Allows you to hover over gaps. Works as it does in Super Mario Land 2.
Flamethrower helmet: A small pipe grows out of Mario or Luigi's hat, shooting fire across a small distance. Works like the Dragon Hat in Wario Land.
The game will also mark the return of the "Sky-Pop" and "Sub-Pop" which are two vital variables of Super Mario Land (although they did not appear in the two subsequent games). The Sky and Sub-Pop levels are also set to utilize MMF's Mode 7 extension, allowing a Starfox-like flight game. It is unknown how the multiplayer aspect will be utilized in these levels.
Media
As of this time, along with a barrage of screenshots, Kaepora and Someguy have released an official trailer along with Cloakbass having released a fanmade trailer.
