Mario Golf
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| Released on July 26, 1999 for the Nintendo 64 by Nintendo, and developed by Camelot Software, Mario Golf introduces a cast of classic Nintendo characters to the 3D world of golf |
In the late summer of 1999, the money I'd saved from my Winn Dixie paychecks after paying car insurance bills was burning a hole in my pocket. I HAD to get a new video game. Despite having no interest in golf whatsoever, I'd loved playing Tiger Woods 99 PGA Tour Golf on my PC the year before, so I figured the new Mario Golf game for my beloved Nintendo 64 was a safe bet. I played through the early courses of the game and enjoyed it a lot, but my senior year of high school started just a few weeks later, and between that and work, I found little time for video games. I loaned Mario Golf to my cousin, Adrian, who played through the game's middle courses, but by the time I'd found some work/school/life balance that fall, and Adrian had given the game back, I had a Sega Dreamcast and Sonic Adventure. I never revisited Mario Golf again...until now. For its 25th anniversary this month, I've pulled the game out of storage, played through until I've completed it 100%, and now happily present this review.
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| Oh, I did more than PRESS START! |
For Mario Golf, Nintendo employed the relatively unknown development house, Camelot Software. Well, "unknown" unless the player was a big fan of the Shining Force RPG series for the Sega Genesis. Camelot were certainly unknown for creating sports games, which makes Mario Golf's fine-tuned, tightly-honed gameplay so surprising. But before the gameplay, the player is greeted by the game's excellent presentation, as Motoi Sakuraba's lovely, peaceful music pours out of the speakers, along with birdsong in the charming introductory (and if the player desires, skippable) cutscene. Then it's off to the options.
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| Shoot thro |
The most robust gameplay mode offered is "Tournament," where the player is given one course with 18 holes to master, before unlocking a total of six glorious courses of increasing difficulty. Only a few characters are available from the go, new characters created strictly for the game. The player will have to earn the mountain of Nintendo characters available here, from Mario to Luigi, Peach to Bowser, to Wario and Donkey Kong. There are a total of 14 characters, but I am particularly partial to Metal Mario, as is obvious from the photos for this review. Metal Mario can hit the ball further than every other character in the game (the harder to unlock, the generally "better" the character is at hitting the ball). The character models are 64-bit perfection, and each character even has several variant color schemes the player can choose from.
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| I unlocked them all! The final four slots are for four characters who can only be obtained through the Game Boy Color version of the game, which I am now sorely tempted to play. |
The courses themselves look just fine, not particularly visually complex, but not eyesores either, not even when 2D sprite objects are integrated into them. The courses are bright, colorful, each with a prominent theme, and contain a lot of great Nintendo detail. There are even some nice weather effects when it gets stormy. As stated above, Sakuraba's music for this game is excellent, relaxing while still upbeat and energetic, with distinct, lovely themes for just about every mode and course in Mario Golf. There's even some delightful bird and wildlife noises thrown in for good measure. The trademarked character voices one expects from a Mario game are also spot on.
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| The later courses feature some significant obstacles |
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| The fiery sunset reflected off Metal Mario is a nice touch! |
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| The final, quite challenging course, features holes designed after Mario characters |
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| The dynamic angles that follow the ball after you hit it are quite fun! |
But back to that gameplay. Mario Golf utilizes the classes power/distance/direction bar that seems to work best in this type of game (and in kicking field goals in football games). The player needs to tap a button when the power bar is at the distance level they want, then again at the perfect time to determine whether they'll hit the ball straight, or to the left or right. Before taking a shot, the player can also aim for any spot the character they are using can reach on the course, and even where on the ball the character will strike. Mario Golf's gameplay goes surprisingly deep here, as direction and weather conditions play a big part in shot strategy, as well as each character's tendencies (shown on the character select screen), like pulling the ball a little to the left or to the right. Of course, the terrain is important too, as a shot from the fairway is going to soar quite farther than one from the sand bunker. The choice of club to each shot is important as well, though the game does offer an estimated trajectory for each club as the player cycles through. Again, the depth here for a golf game starring a cartoon mustached plumber who spends most games eating mushrooms to get bigger so he can better jump on hapless, anthropomorphic turtles is pretty staggering.
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| I'm aiming this shot right of the side of the pyramid, nothing but net! |
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| But why are there suddenly rings all over the course? I'm about to get to that. |
The Tournament mode is fun and challenging, as the latter courses can be quite difficult, and require a mastery of the gameplay systems. Playing 18 holes of golf for a couple hours, only to lose on the final couple of holes could be maddening. Thankfully, Mario Golf's cartridge has a battery-backed memory system and allows for mid-course saving. If a player shoots badly on a particular hole, they can save, quit, and restart back at the start of the same hole, ready to do better (that came out more suggestively than I intended). This makes progressing through the game far less frustrating than it could have been, and also far less time consuming, as there is already hours upon hours of content here that doesn't have to be inflated by forcing the player to play 18 holes of the same course again and again and again before they can progress, with no option to save. The latter holes are so challenging, the option to save and retry them feels fair, and not like a cheat, as each hole is essentially a level unto itself.
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| Wish I could do that in real life |
108 holes of golf against CPU bots or up to four of your friends is a lot of gameplay, but Mario Golf offers so much more. Perhaps the most fun of the additional gameplay modes is "Ring Shot." Ring Shot features six courses, which correspond with the design of the six courses from Tournament mode. Each course features six different holes, with large golden rings strewn across. The player must hit the ball through each of the rings before then getting the ball into the cup, all in a certain number of strokes. This makes for an incredibly fun challenge. The game also includes a "Mini-Golf" mode, which features two 18-hole courses of Putt Putt action! This is not only a fun mode of gameplay, but a great way for the player to work on their putting. That's not all, though! There's also a "Speed Golf" mode where going fast is key...the amount of Gameplay here is just enormous, and the ability to unlock characters, courses, and win trophies adds to the fun and sense of accomplishment.
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| Is what this game hits |
There's one final thing here that's important to note. Future games in the Mario Golf series would add elements like special attacks, and other arcade-like features. While Mario Golf on the Nintendo 64 features some fanciful, cartoonish touches, like the ball catching on fire when the player lines up the perfect shot, the gameplay in the Tournament mode (and truthfully, all of the modes) is geared toward the realistic. This is essentially a serious, thoughtful, fairly deep golf simulation, under the aesthetic trappings of a Mario game. If that's not what you're looking for, this game isn't for you. However, this is exactly what I'm looking for. Between the high production values, outrageously fine-tuned and bountiful gameplay, and the generally perfect immersive Nintendo 64 atmosphere, Mario Golf is one of the finest games, not only in the Nintendo 64 sports catalogue, but for the console in general.
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| No, Mario Golf, congratulations to you! |
SCORE BREAKDOWN
Music and Sound: 9.0/10 -- Calming, yet fun and energetic soundtrack, coupled with great sound effects and character voices. Again, classic N64.
Gameplay: 9.6/10 -- Surprisingly deep, realistic, and varied golf gameplay, wrapped within the wonderful trappings of 64-bit Mario
Lasting Value: 9.5/10 -- Six great, distinct, and challenging courses, along with multiple excellent additional modes and multiplayer for it all.
Final Score (Not an Average): 9.5/10
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