As played twenty-one years later!
Like the previous Super Mario Land game, the basic idea of each level is to continue from left to right on a 2D plain until you reach a door proving your completion on the other side. Unlike in the previous game, however, you are not tasked with rescuing Princess Daisy or, for that matter, any Princess. Instead, the nefarious Wario has stolen the six golden coins, and it's up to Mario to retrieve them from each world by going through the levels each world contains. While there are still usually only four levels per world, the fact that this game had six worlds versus the originals four was a welcome boost in the length, even if it still made for a rather short game. According to my 3DS, it took me about four hours, and a straight play-through could probably be done in two or three hours fairly easily. While maybe impressive when the game originally released, the length now seems incredibly short compared to many other handheld offerings.
One welcome change is that you are now able to backtrack within levels if you feel you've missed a secret area you want to try and find or a certain power-up you think you'll need. Furthermore, Mario no longer has only the fire flower to rely on in his adventures, adding a rabbit hat of sorts to his arsenal this time around. The hat especially bears mentioning as it makes getting through certain levels of the game much easier than they'd otherwise be, though it is at times necessary. Whether or not it makes the game too easy is up for debate, as it is very possible to just ride over the obstacles found in many levels using it, but I found in playing the game that simply riding around with his new hat was quite a bit of fun. Nevertheless, once you have enough coins, getting the rabbit hat via a slot machine in the world map is a bit too easy, and can really remove much of the challenge in some levels.
The level variety found in this game also helps in keeping the player involved throughout. While admittedly not as bizarre as some of the places found in the previous game, each world's theme in this game has its own quirks and hazards to worry about, from a world found at the bottom of the sea to another up in space. Whether or not the worlds' themes catch your fancy, the levels themselves are all quite enjoyable, with the platforming being fun and deaths rarely feeling cheap or unavoidable (except maybe in Wario's final castle... hated that place).
The music is enjoyable as well, with each tune being well-suited to whichever level you happen to be playing on. That said, a couple themes can become a bit repetitive in the longer levels, and the songs don't necessarily have the catchy feel that many tunes in the original Super Mario Land held. While I did enjoy them, and a few managed to stick in my head for a bit afterward too, most of them struck me as somewhat forgettable compared to the music of other Mario games I've played.
Still, if you enjoy Mario games, than you owe it to yourself to give this game a shot. Even with a few shortcomings, it's a ton of fun to play, and being only $3.99 on the eshop, there's very little reason to ignore if you've yet to try it.