Collection essentials #412: Mario Golf (N64)

Mario had previously been spotted in sports games in the past, perhaps most notable in NES Open Tournament Golf which featured him on the front cover and as a playable character. But the release of Mario Golf in 1999 marked the start of a brand new era, one where Mario and his friends (and enemies) would routinely star in various sports games on a regular basis.

This game was not actually developed by Nintendo, but by Camelot Software Planning. Previously, they had made the successful “Hot Shots Golf” (a.k.a. “Everybody’s Golf”) on the PlayStation which went on to spawn its own series (despite Camelot not being involved in the sequels). Previously, Camelot had primarily helped develop Sega’s “Shining” series of RPGs which I have talked about in the past. 

Mario Golf strikes a good balance of being easy to understand and enjoy, while also providing enough depth and challenge for serious players. Performing a shot is rather straightforward. There is a meter at the bottom of the screen that “fills up” from right to left, and when starting your shot you want to press the A button to stop the meter at the very end for maximum power. And then the meter will start to “empty”, and the player must hit the “A” button precisely when it reaches its original starting point in order for the shot to be accurate. A golfer has a limited supply of “power shots” that they can use each game for extra distance, but executing a perfect shot means that the power shot will NOT be consumed, rewarding good execution. There are of course other factors to consider too such as wind. An advanced player may pay attention to even more factors and mechanics such as ball spin.

One thing that kind of sticks out about this game is that Camelot included some generic-looking human characters among the cast. They kind of stick out like a sore thumb among the likes of the colorful Mario cast. I don’t think them being there necessarily takes anything away from this game, but who would ever want to pick those characters? Beats me.

Another interesting quirk about this game is that Mario himself is not available to play as from the start, and has to be “unlocked”. As of this moment, I can’t think of any other game of any kind where this is the case. He’s not even one of the first people you unlock, either, and Luigi gets unlocked before him. Okay, well, technically “Baby Mario” is playable from the start (what an odd choice), but Baby Mario is often seemingly considered his own character.

There are a good number of modes to play, with “Tournament” mode representing the main single player campaign. You can of course opt to simply jump into a customized round of golf with your choice of rules, such as stroke or skins. There’s a mini golf mode, which is cool, although you may be disappointed to find out that all the mini golf holes are in the shapes of letters, numbers or punctuation rather than fun and quirky stuff that you might find in real-life mini golf. There are also some creative modes such as “Ring Shot”, which requires players to shoot the ball through a few large rings (which usually float in the air) and still finish par for the hole. There’s also “Club slots” which restricts players to using a randomized and limited set of clubs for a special challenge.

For better or worse, there aren’t really gameplay elements here inspired by the Mario series, which mostly just provides a familiar aesthetic and theme, with voice clips for each character to give them personality. There is an unlockable course called “Mario’s Star” in which every hole is the shape of a character from the series, so that’s pretty cool. 

There was also a Game Boy rendition of Mario Golf (which won’t be making my list) that can be linked to this version using something called the Transfer Pak. That version of Mario Golf is quite different from the Nintendo 64 Mario Golf, as it has RPG elements to gradually increase the skills of your players in the game’s campaign. What’s neat is that you can transfer over your characters with all their built-up skills for use on the Nintendo 64, and playing as them in the Nintendo 64 game will net them additional experience points too.

Sadly I did own Mario Golf growing up, but my cousins PJ and Eric down the street owned it for a time so I got a chance to play it sometimes. I got the game as a young adult, in 2013. It’s one of those games that I certainly would have played a lot in my younger years if I did own it. 

There have been sequels to Mario Golf that are probably better overall, but this original game is still a quality experience and may be worth a try. Due to catapult a new era of quality Mario sports games, as well as just being a timelessly good game in general, Mario Golf is definitely worth of being labeled an essential.