Released: 19990627 Publisher: Nintendo of America Developer: Camelot Software Planning Genre: Sports

Review by: Viper

Those of us who own Nintendo's 64-bit system are limited as it is to what games we can purchase (most of them not being worth a purchase), but with only one golf game available on the system, us golf fans are REALLY limited as to what we can use to satisfy our hunger to stroke our clubs and get our balls in the hole. Back on the NES and SNES there was a wide variety of golf games to choose from, including a golf game with Mario and Luigi as the main characters. Knowing Nintendo, and how they like to revive their games from the past, introduce yourself to Mario Golf for the Nintendo 64. Created by the same group of developers that did the cartoony hit, Hot Shots Golf, on the Sony Playstation, Mario Golf really shines as a golf simulation and an overall fun game, want to know why?

Any game that features the classic Nintendo characters will sell, we all know this, Nintendo knows this, but does Nintendo take advantage of that fact? Ok, so some people thought that Mario Party was a game selling on the Nintendo license alone, hell, you may even be able to find people who feel the same way about Super Smash Brothers (cheers Eva00). Mario Golf is different, it truly is a good game, whether or not the characters are Mario and Luigi, or Plum and Maple. Of course, having the Nintendo license doesn't hurt either.

Mario Golf is a true golf simulation at heart, so you avid Golf fans should be able to enjoy this as well, if you can step away from the cartoon graphics and sounds. Since the game is a true golf sim, getting used to the physics of the game can take some time, but luckily there is a wonderful tutorial included with the game. This tutorial will show you all the basics of driving, approaching, chipping, and putting. Plus, for you advanced videogame golfers, you may learn a few new tricks with the tutorial. I know that a lot of you out there are the type of people that will assemble that new computer desk you bought without reading the instructions, if you fit this description, don't worry, Mario Golf is easy to learn without the tutorial, especially if you have any experience playing any golf game of any kind. I still suggest looking at the tutorial, but hey, that's just me.

With 18 characters to choose from, and 6 courses to play on, you already have a ton of variety and replay value, but, to add more replay to this title, Nintendo didn't make it easy to get all those courses and characters. In the multiplayer modes you start out with 10 of the 18 characters, with Mario being the strongest, but not necessarily the best of the eight. In the single player mode you only have four characters to start with, Baby Mario being the better of these 4. To unlock the rest of the characters for single AND multi player you'll have to overcome various challenges. The Get Character mode allows you to play a match game against the character that you can unlock, if you win, you get the character, and some experience points. You can continue challenging characters, but you can't get all the characters doing this. Some you will have to complete other modes of play, like the Ring Game, to acquire. You may have done everything in Mario Golf and will still be missing 4 of the 18 characters, the only way to get these last 4 is to purchase a Game Boy Color, Mario Golf for the Game Boy Color, and a 64GB Pak to import the characters into your N64 version of the game, aren't they tricky in making you spend more money? Unlocking all of the courses is no easy feat either, notice how I mentioned experience points above? See where this is leading? That's right, the more experience points you collect, the more courses you will be able to whack around on. THe final course will require in excess of 2000 experience points, yes you will be playing a lot of golf to get that course.

If that isn't enough replay value for you, you may want to look at all of the game modes, multi and single (all modes can be played by yourself, since you can choose to have a computer opponent or opponents):
Stroke Play - Single and Multi, basic golf, you play 9 or 18 holes and the person with the lowest score wins.
Match Play - Single and Multi, whoever has the lowest score for that particular hole, wins the hole, whoever wins the most holes, wins the match.
Skins Match - Single and Multi, match play with bets, person who wins the most "skins" wins the match.
Miniature Golf - Single and Multi, exactly what it sounds like, test your putting skills on not-your-average greens.
Club Slots - Single and Multi, pull the handle on the slot machine, and pick your clubs on the spinning wheels, sometimes you'll end up with only 2 clubs, but if you're lucky you can get a full bag.
Get Character - Single, play a match game against a computer opponent, if you win, you unlock that character.
Tournament - Single, Play a stroke play tournament against 30 other people. If you have the lowest score at the end of the tournament, you win a trophy.
Ring Shot - Single, really put your golf skills to the test by getting par or better on every hole, while hitting your ball through a set number of rings placed on that hole.
Speed Golf - Single, golf against the clock, try to get the fastest time, and lowest score that you can.
In nearly all of the multiplayer modes you can get more points by winning the longest drive, and closest to the pin contests, as well as other bets that you can set at the beginning of the game.

Now you've unlocked all characters, how do you decide which is the best. Well, in Mario Golf, each character is different. Some can crank that little white ball over 250 yards, but in doing so they sacrifice accuracy. Each golfer has a given maximum range that they can drive (not including the power shot), but some of the golfers have a nasty draw or fade, which will force you to rethink some of your shots. Yes, there are some powerful and straight hitters, but you'll have to discover who they are. Speaking of the power shot, during each round of play you are given 6 power shots, pressing the B button will activate this shot. As you may have guessed, the power shot will allow you to crank the ball farther than the maximum range of your character. If done correctly you can actually savior these power shots, and go through a whole 18 holes of golf, using the power shot on every drive, or approach shots if you like. But if done incorrectly, you'll lose 1 power shot every time you use it, limiting yourself to only 6.

As expected the sounds in Mario Golf are very Marioesque, if you expected something else, you are retarded. Yoshi is there with his trademark noises, Mario says his "mama mia" and the other characters follow suit. To make this even more annoying, each character has taunts, up to 8 of them. On the C buttons you can yell FORE! (with Wario's being the best) or tell your opponent to hurry up, while on the D-pad you have the congratulatory remarks, like Nice Shot, and WoW! This can be very amusing at first, but if you have a group of friends that do nothing but press the taunts while you are trying to line up your shot, you may wish that Nintendo and Camelot had never included this feature, but there is sweet revenge, and how sweet it can be. The music is subtle, and you can disable it, which is recommended, as golf should be quiet, only hearing the birds chirp, the crowd clap, and your opponents taunt.

As I look at this lengthy review, I hope that I didn't miss any of the great things that Mario Golf has to offer. Anyhow, I suggest that YOU buy this game, if you are afraid that a golf game won't keep you interested, I suggest you at least rent this game for 5 days at your local BlockBuster to hinder those fears, and then go buy it. As Nintendo has done many times before, they prove that the N64 is the best multiplayer console on the market, if nothing else.

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