PixlBit

Chillin' with Mario and friends over a game of golf

Developed by Camelot and published by Nintendo, Mario Golf was released for the Nintendo 64 in 1999, and is a sports game in which you play golf using your favorite Mario characters. Most notably, this game was just released last week on the Nintendo Switch Online N64 collection. It's also notable for being the first of the modern Mario sports games, opening the floodgates for all the Mario sports titles to follow. Believe it or not, Camelot has consistently been putting out Mario Golf and Mario Tennis games for over 20 years now! Most of these games are excellent, and it all started right here. 

Mario Golf has an impressive amount of content. Modes include Tournament, Get Character, Speed Golf, Ring Shot, Stroke Play, Match Play, Mini-Golf, Skins Match, and Club Slots. Certain of these modes are one player only while others are two players and some are up to four players. The game has 8 different courses (18 holes each), but you will only start out with one. You will have to successfully complete tournaments in order to get points and unlock new courses. 

At the start of the game, you will only have access to four playable characters. These are Peach, Baby Mario, and two characters created by Camelot, Charlie and Plum (you have to wonder if she’s related to Peach). That’s right, you can’t even play as Mario at the outset! There are 14 total characters, and the only way to unlock them is to play “Get Character.” You will have to compete against them and out-perform them by getting more medals than they get. This can take a long time. To make things worse, the CPU is really good, often hitting perfect shots. This will force you to quickly master the controls. Thankfully, if you’re playing on NSO, you can use save states (don’t feel bad, I used them constantly). 

The playable characters are Mario, Luigi, Peach, Yoshi, Baby Mario, Wario, Donkey Kong, Bowser, and Metal Mario. The remaining characters are those created by Camelot: Plum, Charlie, Sonny, Harry, and Maple. I have no idea why you would want to play as these new characters over the Nintendo characters which we have come to love, but as they say, “Different strokes for different folks.” One cool feature is that every character has four voice clips that you can play when someone else is golfing. These clips will include them saying things like “good job” or “hurry up” lol. 

The gameplay here is pretty solid. As you get ready to take a swing, the screen will display everything you need to see: the distance to the hole, the amount of wind and which way it’s blowing, the club you’re using, and the kind of terrain ahead of you. After choosing your club, press the button to start a gauge that moves to the left. You want to press the button when the cursor is the furthest to the left for the most powerful hit, then press the button again when the gauge is lined up on the right side. For some reason, there is a slight delay, so you will have to press the button just a split-second before the spot where you want the gauge. It takes a little getting used to, but you’ll be getting it spot-on before long. Suffice to say, hitting the ball feels satisfying and is enjoyable to watch. You can also enter a “camera mode” that lets you view the course and see where you need to go. 

When you hit those “nice shots,” it feels good. However, when you’re on the green, putting the ball into the hole can be troublesome. This is because your hit doesn’t always register the same way. Sometimes the ball would go to the left of the hole, and sometimes it would go to the right, and I hit it the exact same! So the game certainly has plenty of trial and error, so be sure to use save states (if you’re playing on original hardware, good luck). 

The game’s courses are very good. You’ll start on Toad Highlands, which is a simple beginner’s course. There’s your standard stuff here: green hills, trees, small bodies of water, and a few bunkers. What’s neat is that the weather can change from hole to hole. It could be very windy, or cloudy, or even raining. Later courses include Koopa Park, Yoshi’s Island, and Peach’s Castle, among others. The graphics must have been very nice for the time, but you’ll quickly notice that trees and other objects on the courses are flat. It doesn’t look good. However, the courses still look very nice, but you graphics snobs will probably poo-poo them anyways (c’mon, it’s early 3D). 

“Tournament” and “Get Character” will be the modes you’ll want to play. The other modes are pretty basic. I was interested in mini-golf, but was very disappointed as you just play on courses that are shaped like numbers. These are actually confusing as you might not be sure which direction to hit the ball, and the flat angles of the numbers can make it difficult to get to the hole. What a shame. 

The music here is very good, being composed by Motoi Sakuraba (composed music for the “Tales of” games), who has done the music for ALL of Camelot’s sports games, even the most recent ones. The themes here are very enjoyable to listen to, and the sounds are excellent too (plenty of nature sounds like birds chirping). Mario Golf is also special because it used the N64 transfer pak, which could connect to your GBA in order to transfer characters and data between the two versions. That’s pretty cool! 

Final Verdict—4 Stars: Recommended 

Mario Golf has a lot to offer. If you want to unlock all the characters, it will take awhile. Also, if you want to play through all the tournaments and unlock all eight courses, it will be challenging. Also, I didn’t mention the multiplayer (because I didn’t play any multiplayer), but I’m sure that playing with friends can be quite fun. Camelot kept this game mostly realistic, as future games would introduce more arcade-like shots and themes. But it’s a solid game. Be sure to use save states if you can, but if you want to just play a relaxing round of golf, you can’t go wrong with Camelot’s very first Mario sports game.