 As the foremost property in gaming, Nintendo’s Mario makes it into all sorts of games. He’s in educational games
(Mario Is Missing, Mario Teaches Typing), stays at home for stranger exploits
(Super Smash Bros., Mario Party). Now, Mario and his pals hit the links for some golfing fun.
Mario Golf is the spiritual descendant of Hot Shots Golf for
the PlayStation. Developed by Camelot, it was judged by many to be the best golf game
on that system. Mario Golf is a joint collaboration with Nintendo.
It shares the overall feel of its predecessor, but it also improves on
it in many areas -- always for the better.
The first thing you notice about Mario Golf (especially if you’ve played
Hot Shots) are the graphics. The real time graphics are a marked step up from it’s
PlayStation cousin, dropping the character sprites. The course graphics are crisp, and the camera work is great. Effects are used sparingly, and are never abused as
they are in so many other games. From a graphics perspective Mario Golf is a winner. Music is largely a collection of non-intrusive calypso tunes with
that special Mario flavor.
 As with any golf game, options and more options are vital to the enjoyment.
Mario Golf passes the course here, and does so under par, so to speak.
The game includes stroke play, tourney, match play, skins, ring golf (more on that later)
mini golf and slots (more on that later too).
Mario Golf boasts
an initial roster of 4 playable characters, which can eventually be expanded a variety of ways.
There are 6 traditional golf courses; 5 of which must be unlocked through play, and 2 mini golf courses.
Stroke play is for traditional golf. Play an 18 hole round of golf and try
for par (or lower). Tournament play places you into an 18 hole battle against a host of other golfers, many of which will be familiar to Nintendo fans.
Match play is one-on-one battle for holes against a opponent, a special mode of match is also available for unlocking extra characters. Skins is the traditional skins match in which a “skin” is awarded to the winner of
each hole. If there is a tie, that skin carries over to the winner of the next hole. The winner of the match is determined by the number of skins.
Ring golf is a fairly novel concept. Each ring golf challenge places a ring that is approximately 30 ft in diameter on a particular hole. The object is to put your ball through the ring, and still par the course. Not an easy task, as it requires you to rethink your approach.
Mini Golf is your standard miniature golf, all par threes. Slots is a unique mode in which all competitors must use a slot machine before each hole. The slot machine gives the players their clubs for the upcoming hole. The first slot picks woods, second high irons, third low irons. Get 3 stars, and you get the whole bag of clubs. Get a
star and there's no clubs for that selection.
Mario Golf’s interface is almost exactly like Hot Shots, which means it’s excellent. The game really excels in the club/shot
interface. It gives the player lots of info and lots of ways to adjust for the shot. You can use the in-game camera to view the holes from a variety of angles, and bring up a grid to catch the actual
slope of the fairway.
An interesting future feature of Mario Golf is Game Boy interconnectivity. When
Mario Golf is released for the Game Boy, it will be able to interact with the
Nintendo 64 version. Mario Golf on the Game Boy features a create-a-golfer mode in which you can create a golfer and train him/her. Your character can then be uploaded to the
N64 version.
 As with many other Nintendo-published titles,
four player mayhem is
part of the fun in Mario Golf. The multiplayer roster allows access to the first 8 characters, and any others that have been accessed. Multiplay options include
the slots mode, skins mode, and stroke mode. The game has options for setting
bets as well as heckling. Heckling is one of the best features in the
multiplayer game. Each character has 8 sayings, positives are on the cross pad, and negatives are on the “C” buttons.
These can really jar an
opponent's shot, and it makes for some nice comic relief.
I went into Mario Golf with a wishy-washy feeling.
I love Mario, but golf is less-than-appealing to me. I’m happy to say that
Mario Golf is a great game, even if you aren't a golfing fan. |
