John Coulter
Art & Games University
Super Mario Land 1
January 2026
Super Mario Land: Myths of Sarasaland
Video games are art. They feature a narrative, visual style, and settings echoing the aesthetic depth of traditional art forms like films or paintings. Every detail, from background foliage to main characters, is crafted by skilled creators. Art & Games University explores the art and cultural content found in video games and has collected data from a diverse pool of games, from AAA to indie, with many systems sampled and decades of content scoured. To do so, over three hundred games have been documented through one hundred percent exploration and completion, and then the data was carefully compiled for fifty of these: with the list of documented and dissected games growing regularly. The research found the data and evaluation of art objects in games are under-studied. This research is important to document. Many focused hours were invested in locating the artwork, researching the cultures that inspired the objects and settings, and calculating the vast numbers of artwork found in video games.
The art found in Princess Daisy’s homeland from Super Mario Land 1 (1989) for the Game Boy is the subject of this study. Mario’s first full-length portable 2D side-scrolling adventure on the Game Boy is far from the Mushroom Kingdom, set in Sarasaland, where Princess Daisy has been kidnapped by the alien Tatanga. Mario must search Sarasaland’s four Kingdoms, Birabuto, Muda, Easton and Chai to save the Princess. With Mario standing just twelve pixels tall, Super Mario Land 1 (1989) for the Game Boy is one of Mario’s tiniest adventures. However, this game is packed with unique ancient art and culture sites, many of which never again appear in the Mario franchise.
Developed by Nintendo R&D1 and published by Nintendo, Super Mario Land 1 (1989) was released as a launch title for the insanely successful Game Boy in 1989. Mario Land was snubbed for inclusion as a bundle with the Game Boy hardware in favor of Tetris (1989). This report will review the art in the original Game Boy version; however, there are several alternative versions of this game, including some excellent fan remakes for the Game Boy Color and Super Nintendo System, that shed new light and details on the game through the lens of passionate new artists reinterpreting the stages.
Shigeru Miyamoto and Nintendo EAD division originally developed Super Mario for the NES (1985), however Gunpei Yokoi, the designer of the Game Boy, and Satoru Okada, of Metroid (1986) and Famicom Wars (2005) success, were entrusted to lead the direction of Super Mario Land 1 (1989) for Game Boy. Under Yokoi and Okada’s lead, programmers Takahiro Harada and Masao Yamamoto worked alongside designers Hirofumi Matsuoaka and Masahiko Mashimo to bring Super Mario Land 1 to life. Matsuoaka and Mashimo have each worked as background and character artists for multiple Mario, Wario, and Metroid titles. This team created many art and cultural objects throughout Mario Land 1.
Sarasaland is filled with pyramids, sphinxes, hieroglyphics, Moai sculptures, and more, with each of the four kingdoms being inspired by a different ancient and mysterious real-world culture and theme. Birabuto is inspired by ancient Egypt, Muda is inspired by ancient Greek concepts of Atlantis or the Bermuda Triangle, Easton is based on Easter Island in the Pacific, and the Chai Kingdom is based on ancient Chinese mythology.
For the Art & Games University study, Super Mario Land 1 (1989) has a total of seventy art examples in game, with seventy-four percent being sculptural and fourteen percent being architectural, the remainder of the art being miscellaneous. Super Mario Land 1 came in thirty-second for total art, just ahead of Mega Man 3 (1990) for the NES and has well below the average amount of art per game in season one of 188.8 art objects.
The different kingdoms included in Mario Land 1 (1989) each offer different cultural art influences, and some of the enemy non-player characters were inspired by traditional cultures or myths. The Birabuto Kingdom is based on ancient Egyptian culture. The first two stages are set above ground, in a sunny sandy desert landscape dotted with pyramids, while the third stage is set deep inside a dark pyramid tomb. The pyramids in Birabuto most similarly resemble the iconic Great Pyramids of Giza, in Memphis. The first Egyptian Dynasties began just after the Neolithic Age or last Stone Age. The Necropolis was built around 2600 BC. Prince Hemiunu is believed to be the architect. Khufu is the King credited as being buried there. The Pyramid is built on a natural hill and bedrock base and was once covered in bright smooth limestone. The Great Pyramid is four hundred and fifty-five feet tall, where the tallest pyramid in Birabuto is seventy-two pixels tall.
Sphinxes appear in Birabuto as both stone statues and living, fire-breathing enemy guards of the pyramids, as well as a dungeon boss. A sphinx is mythological creature with the face of a human and body of a lion, (or sometimes a ram or bird). In Egypt, they are often found guarding tombs and palaces. Though most often associated with Egypt, various forms of sphinxes are found throughout the Mediterranean and Middle East. The most famous sphinx sculpture is also from Giza. The Great Sphinx was created around 2500 BC for the Pharaoh Khafre, shortly after the Great Pyramid and Second Pyramid at Giza and faces West to East near the Nile River. The Great Sphinx is carved from bedrock and plated with limestone blocks on the exterior.
Additionally, there are thirteen different symbols or glyphs found in Stage 3. Some of the designs include Horus, an hourglass, an eye, and an Ankh. Hieroglyphs were used from 3000 BC to 400 AD. In Latin, “heiro” means sacred and “glyph” means carving (alternatively God’s Words). They are an organized pictographic language and written script. With many hieroglyphics and sphinxes, the third stage of the Birabuto Kingdom has the most art in Super Mario Land 1 (1989).
There aren’t a lot of art examples to examine in stages four through six. The underwater ruins of the Muda Kingdom contain UFO type objects and underwater stone columns. The stone columns are made of crumbling square blocks and have bases and capitals. They have no other decorative details, and appear Doric, or even more ancient. If they allude to Plato’s Atlantis, their Greek features make stylistic sense.
There are several mythical sunken islands famous throughout history including Atlantis, Mu, Lemuria and others. The name of the Muda Kingdom is a play on the words Mu and Bermuda but has little to do with these fictional and real locations stylistically. Atlantis was originally mentioned by Plato as an allegorical island state that sunk into the sea. One hypothesis for the pseudo-archeological island includes islands destroyed by volcanos in the Mediterranean, such as the 1600 BC, Minoan eruption. Mario can savagely blast his way through these destructible ancient columns in the underwater stage.
Charging ahead, the cultural reference and inspiration are obvious in both name and design throughout the sculpture-filled Easton Kingdom. In analyzing the real work that inspired the sculptures in these levels, gamers will find that there are many Moai sculptures on the island as well as Moai inspired enemies stomping about. The Moai stone sculptures of Easter Island are well known, and their mysteries have fascinated many. Easter Island is situated off the coast of Chile and has a unique cultural history due to having an isolated location. Many islands that developed in isolation, formed unique cultures, including, Japan, and Hawaii. The island is known for many monolithic stone sculptures, or Moai. Smaller wooden figures of similar design, as well as an abundance of pictographic cave carvings also appear on the island. Over eight hundred Moai have been documented.
The giant monolithic stone human figures with prominent heads were carved by the Rapa Nui people of Easter Island between the years 1250-1500 AD. They are meant to hold the spirits of ancestors, and a majority face inland to watch over their people. Many are made of a volcanic ash stone known as “Tuff” and have coral and obsidian eyes, as well as headwear known as “Pukao” made of red scoria stone. The Pukao are a topknot type headdress of important chieftains. Some Moai have tattoo like designs and text carved into their backs. With similar disproportions to Mario’s blocky body, Moai are frequently mistaken to be only faces or heads. The heads are unusually large, but they have bodies which have often been buried. Though restorations have occurred, almost all of the Moai statues were toppled, or destroyed at some point.
As famous and alluring icons, the Moai have appeared in many pop-culture references and video games including Castlevania 1 (1988), Horizon Chase 1 (2018), Gradius (1985) and Pokémon Diamond and Pearl (2006). To learn more about the Moai’s appearances in video games there is a great ongoing collection of data at moai.games website (2024) by Matt Sephton.
Moving into the final three stages of Super Mario Land 1 (1989), the levels are set in the Chai Kingdom inspired by ancient China. The first example is the spiral motif found at the top of the stage is known as a “Xiangyun” or “Yunleiwen” pattern. These mean auspicious clouds, or thunder clouds. In ancient Greek architecture the motif is known as meander, or Greek fret or Greek key design. The swirling cloud imagery dates back to prehistory and is found on clay pots prior to regular use in the Zhou and Shang dynasties. Auspicious clouds are frequently on ancient bronzeware, architecture and fashion. In agricultural societies, the rain and clouds are associated with good fortune.
Also included in game is the Jiangshi, or the Chinese Hopping Vampire, a myth from Chinese folklore. A Jiangshi is a reanimated corpse that travels by hopping to visit their living relatives. This tale dates back in written records to the Qing Dynasty. The myth has spawned a popular genre of literature and campy horror films in China and Hong Kong, similar to Western vampire films, such as Encounters of the Spooky Kind (1980) and the Mr. Vampire (1985) franchise.
The aforementioned individual subjects paint a larger cultural landscape of the broader logic behind the design of Daisy’s Kingdom. Sarasaland exudes exoticness. A Sarasa is a style of floral pattern found on Indian textiles imported to Japan since the 1600s. The name Sarasaland itself reflects this intent, signalling a world defined by distance, that is foriegn and far removed from both Japan and the familiar Mushroom Kingdom. Sarasaland is filled with far-off stone ruins in stark contrast to the fungi-filled Mushroom Kingdom’s castles, and Dinosaur Land’s hills, forests and fortresses. The unique settings may have been chosen to set the handheld games apart from Super Mario Bros. (1985), and the upcoming Super Mario World’s (1990) locations. Mario would later visit the actual lands of Egypt, China, and Greece in both educational style games Mario is Missing (1993) and Mario’s Time Machine (1993); however, these educational games were developed by Toolworks.
Sarasaland is ruled by Princess Daisy. Player number one, Mario has courted many princesses. Pauline was introduced in Donkey Kong 1 (1994), Peach in Super Mario Bros. 1 (1985), Daisy in Super Mario Land 1 (1989), and Rosalina in Super Mario Galaxy (2007). Daisy and Luigi are now rumored to be in a relationship, with statues of them dancing together appearing in Mario Kart Wii (2008).
Local inhabitants and wildlife of Sarasaland include sphinxes, spiders, flies, snakes and chickens. Flora include the Piranha Plant and the endemic Pompon Flower. The region’s Goombos, and Bombshell Koopas could be convergent or divergent evolutions of the Goombas and Koopas.
Sarasaland has been largely reduced to flavor text in a few games and rarely seen again. Tatanga returns in Super Mario Land 2: 6 Golden Coins (1992), along with Bombshell Koopas (now the Noko Bombette), and Daisy regularly appears in Mario Kart (2001-2008) games and other sporting spin-offs.
36 years after Super Mario Land’s release, in 2025, elements of Sarasaland would directly reappear when incorporated into Mario Kart World’s (2025) large map. In Mario Kart World for the Switch 2, Daisy can don a Bedlah style Oasis outfit and ride the Carpet Flyer, a magic carpet themed kart. The Desert Hills and Shy Guy Bazaar tracks are retconned and reimagined to include designs from Sarasaland. The central palace of Shy Guy Bazaar is decorated with Daisy emblems and tiles and additionally has prominent Gao, or Sphinx, fountains. In the area surrounding the Desert Hills track, Tokoto, or stone Moai, enemies and relief carvings of Moai can both be found. There are also UFOs that possibly belong to Tatanga. These references to Sarasaland are not present in past appearances of these Mario Kart courses.
Together, the four kingdoms of Sarasaland included in Mario Land 1 (1989) form a compact but surprisingly dense archive of ancient art and cultural imagery embedded within a 1989 handheld game. Mario Land 1 is full of direct real-world cultural references with fun and unique settings to explore within the Mario series.
Works Cited
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