Princess Daisy is in trouble and it’s up to Mario to rescue her! Wait…Daisy?! But where are the Toads? And Luigi? Slovenly choice of debut log aside, I must do what is right and put a stop to the evil space captain Tatanga and save the land of Sarasaland!
Previous Logs: Birabuto (World 1) – Muda (World 2)
“Welcome to World 3!”
…say a bunch of heads clearly imported from Easter Island.

Other than the new background elements, early Easton doesn’t bring much to the table. Soundtracks are recycled from World 1 and enemies and concepts are reused from World 2. However, the second level does introduce two new spider enemies; hence the title. Also, in the 3-2 cavern, I finally figured out how to get to those elusive pipes on top of the screen! Turns out certain blocks will grant a lifting magnet sort of thing. Everyone familiar with Super Mario knows the Winged ? Blocks, and that’s how this platform works, albeit with a less Mario feel, but hey, at least it led me to two lives worth of cash!
3-3 is more like the first level, plus a set of troll platforms and soundtrack dissonance (The Cave Theme plays, yet I start the level outside).

Another thing I’ve noticed more since I’ve started playing again is that the game is sometimes prone to slowdown. I know Super Mario Land was made 26 years ago, but couldn’t they have at least fixed one of the biggest red flags of showing a product’s age for the Virtual Console release?
Overall, Easton feels more like an extension of Muda than its own separate kingdom, yet toward the end I had this feeling of adventure; just me, in a lost tomb, with torches, spiders, and boulders trying to kill me everywhere. It was tough (not really), but I made it. All worth it for the precious…
