When I wasn't playing Mario Bros 1985 I was playing this game on the original game boy. In some ways the difficulty of this game rivaled the NES version. I was 4 years old when Super Mario Land was introduced to me and I still pick it up every now and then on my slowly aging Gameboy Color. It was a definite must have for those long car trips (i.e. 8+ hours traveling across Montana and North Dakota in one day). Lives are fairly easy to come by with a couple per level and then at the bonus rounds at the end of the first 2 levels of each world. You can get up to 3 extra lives per bonus round. It is a short game with only 4 worlds but the length of each level helps to make up for the shortness. It has the basic power-ups: mushroom, star, fire flower (super ball instead of fireball in this version). The time limit is long enough for you to explore each level for any potential secrets but not too long that it won't challenge you to hurry to the end.