Mario Golf: Toadstool Tour

Mario Golf debuted on the NES more than ten years ago, back in 1991. And it's latest update in the series can be found on the Cube, but before that there was Mario Golf 64. It was an instant hole in one, and Nintendo rolled in their success with another stellar party game. 4 years later, Mario Golf: Toadstool Tour hits shelves, but is it another hole in one? Or is the same old same old?

Well I’d have to say it’s a mix of both, if you’ve played the original then there’s definitely a lot in store for you, and Toadstool Tour is also very much like the 64 version, that's a good thing though.

Right off the green, you’ll notice how fine the visuals are. All the character models are crisp and smooth, and very detailed. The environments are gorgeous and alive; I even noticed grass swaying in the wind. Everything in Toadstool Tour looks amazing, but nothing stacks up to the water effects. The ripple effects are hypnotic and the water even refracts everything properly, letting different color sun rays pass through it, and distorting what’s on the other side perfectly. It’s definitely on par with Mario Sunshine’s water effects, if not exceeding them.

Mario Golf: Toadstool Tour looks just about as good as it sounds. The music is comprised of many old school jingles, with some new tunes for good use. And all characters have a variety of comments and yelps, each respectfully sounding true to their characters. And the environment ambience is excellent, you really feel like you’re playing golf in the Mushroom Kingdom.

The gameplay may be familiar, but it’s been perfected. The golf mechanics handle like any other golf game, using a three button setup. There are 2 types of swings, manual and automatic. You can choose backspins, and topspins by double tapping either A or B, and you can also set the desired location of where you want your shot to go. There are two types of swings, automatic and manual. If you want to hit the ball manually, pressing the A button will initiate your swing, pressing the B button will set the strength put into it the swing. The automatic swing handles the timing of your swing, all you have to do is aim, but the automatic swing is not as precise as the manual swing. This offers beginners an easy way to swing, but it also presents enough depth to keep more experienced players challenged and having fun.

The only area Mario Golf suffers in is its camera problems. The camera angles you can reach are very limiting, and do not show off the course very much. And when you hit the ball, the camera does a poor job to follow it and usually gives the player no perspective of where the ball is headed. This may be somewhat suspenseful, but more than often it’s only irritating. Also, when you are putting the ball, your character does not become transparent when in the way. Instead you’ll have to look around your character, this can easily result in a miss and loose if you aren’t too careful. But these camera problems are only minor, because you can get around them. But problems are still problems, and it needs to be addressed, considering it takes away from your overall experience with the game.

Toadstool Tour offers loads of different game modes including: Coin attack, Ring attack, Speed Golf, and many more. Each characters golfing ability can also be improved marginally, so tackling this is also a challenge on its own. And unlocking all the courses takes quite a while too, so Mario Golf will definitely last you some good quality time. Plus its always good to pull out if some friends are over. Its relatively easy to pick up and play.

So minor camera problems aside, Mario Golf: Toadstool Tour is a great game. It’s packed with superb value, amazing visuals, great sound, and just good old Nintendo. It does however, have a limited appeal by default, because it is a golfing game, but anyone with a taste for Nintendo should pick this up. You will be impressed.