Super Mario Land is remembered for its miniaturized Super Mario elements and " twist on just about every Mario mainstay imaginable " . Many of its new elements did not recur later in the series , making Super Mario Land strange compared to the rest of the series , or what IGN 's Thomas described as a " singular oddball " . IGN 's Marc Nix felt retrospectively that Super Mario Land was the only uninspired Mario game , with " funky voids of white " and UFOs instead of the " strikingly original " Mushroom Kingdom . Mean Machines was also put off by the alien theme , easy difficulty , and dot matrix screen blur . IGN 's Travis Fahs wrote that the game was comparatively not as " ambitious " as Super Mario Bros. 3 . Mean Machines felt as if it was not " a true Mario game " , not worth its originally high review score , and " in retrospect , not really a classic " .