Golf is, quite possibly, the worst sport in the world. Golf on the Game Boy was alright though when I used it as a break from other, better games that were frustrating me or boring me or whatever. This isn't Golf, but Mario Golf, and it's a sort of sequel full of colour and RPG elements on the Game Boy Color.
Will it drive a bigger wedge between me and golf, or will it help improve my game?
Fond Memories
I've got issues with that statement, but as mentioned in the intro, I did play a fair bit of Golf on the Game Boy. I wasn't any good, but the controls were simple enough to get into and play. While there was the club selection element for the experts, there was an arcade-style timing bar for your swings that anyone could follow along with. The more you play, the more attuned you'd be to the little details.
It was a simple little game, perfect for pick-up-and-play on a simple little handheld. Can Mario Golf do it all over again?
Fun Times
While there are plenty of modes to play in Mario Golf, the game is actually an RPG, where you progress through the ranks of the golf club aiming to become the best player.
It's a little weird to think of Mario being 'the idol of all golfers', but it is his golfing game, so we'll let the plumber slide past. We could play as him, but we're instead going to be some level one kid who needs to learn a few things.
There are a number of ways to do so, but running around the golf club asking other golfers for tips is your starting point. Some of them don't make a lot of sense until you learn the lingo, but there are characters who can dish that out too.
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| I said no! |
Soon enough, we're into our first tournament to find our place in the golfing world.
And we're golfing, and it's colourful, and it's accompanied by all kinds of Mario music. It's exactly how you'd imagine a handheld golf game to be: overhead and simple.
To slap the ball down the field you'll need to pick a club - perhaps based on the wind information or the distance to the hole - and then time a couple of button presses on the slider at the bottom. The first sets your power, the second determines how well you hit it, with flashy graphical cues if you manage the perfect timing to help you get better in the future.
You don't have to wait for any other player ahead of you to get out of the way, so you're free to focus on every shot you take. Point where you want it to land, time your buttons to hope to get it there, watch as the ball flies into the distance and see where you end up.
The game will automatically select the type of club you probably want to use in any given situation, which is great for those of us who just don't care. After bouncing it off the pin, I'm finally in a position to putt my first ball in Mario Golf.
Liking this game so far - though I'd prefer it as a time waster more than an RPG - I hope to finish somewhere in the middle. A respectable finish for a complete novice.
Frustrations
Well, this isn't looking good. Golf can be like this, I suppose, having shots go far and wide and further and wider with each misplaced attempt. While there is a marker for where the ball will land if you give it maximum wellies and wallop it dead centre, there's no guide for how much strength you should actually put into a shot.
You might be in the right direction, but get the power wrong and you're all the way across the other side of the green in a worse place than when you started. Get it wrong a few times in a row and down the scoreboard you fall...
Consistency is the key. Consistency and knowing all about golf, I suppose. After 18 holes, I finished... well, yeah, I finished. Didn't drop out. Ended the tournament like a professional. A professional finishing last.
All of that for two extra yards on my drive state. This is going to be a long journey to the top...
Final Word
Mario Golf is, as I thought it would be, a well-developed game that you could sink plenty of time into, either casually playing a course or two at a time or investing in a character and turning them into the best golfer they can be.
As far as my interest in golf goes, Mario Golf hasn't helped it, but, like Golf before it, titles like this shouldn't be ignored. They take the boring sport of golf and make it accessible to everyone, which is worth recognising.
While I'm unlikely to dive into it to any degree, playing a quick game of it here and there, if it crosses my path, will be time well spent. Unless I end up with yet another Double bloody Bogey. Or worse.
Practice makes perfect, I suppose.
Fun Facts
Developed alongside the Nintendo 64 version, you can upload your (hopefully not useless) character via the Transfer Pak and see them play golf in three dimensions. Technology!
Mario Golf, developed by Camelot Software Planning, first released in 1999.
Version played: Game Boy Color, 1999, via emulation.