PixlBit

One of Mario's strangest adventures is Super Mario Land for the Game Boy. It takes him far afield from the Mushroom Kingdom into Sarasaland as he tries to stop an alien, of all things, who kidnapped Princess Daisy. I suppose Luigi ought to have been the one to save her but he must have been busy. Maybe they hadn't met yet? Oh well. Mario's first stop is the Birabuto Kingdom and it has a very upbeat, gamey sound to it.

The Muda Kingdom is very similar in sound. In fact, the two songs go very well together. Check out this remix if you love catchy music.

The Easton Kingdom has a very different sound, something a little darker, perhaps reminiscent of India. It makes me think of snake charmers anyway.

The Chai Kingdom is all Asian and also brings back that upbeat feeling.

The only other noteworthy song in the soundtrack it also my favorite. Rocket Ship Ride starts with Daisy's brief theme the game established earlier but then takes off (pun intended) into something with more motion and seems almost wistful to me. And like all the songs in this game, it's just too short. I wish there was more.

The composer of Super Mario Land was Hip Tanaka who was also responsible for a lot of early NES soundtracks like Duck Hunt, Balloon Fight, Metroid, Kid Icarus, and Dr. Mario. He certainly knows how to write a catchy little theme! He rarely writes music anymore, though, and is currently the president of Creatures, Inc.