Mario Golf: Toadstool Tour

Jul 29, 2003

"Fore!" a voice calls out and a grooved, white ball soars through the air long enough to sparkle in the sunlight. It drops down, lands inside a green warp pipe, travels safely under ground, pops out of another pipe and bounces to its temporary resting place underneath a gigantic, mutated mushroom. Welcome to Mario Golf, a purely Nintendo take on the sport which has over the years become more and more popular among videogame players. Japanese developer Camelot Software Planning (Mario Tennis, Golden Sun) has for the last several years worked closely with the Big 'N' on the franchise, first turning out a well-balanced, well-received golf outing for Nintendo 64. Now it's back with Mario Golf: Toadstool Tour for GameCube, and the sequel is packed with more golfing goodness than ever before. But is it enough to sway gamers recently treated by the simulation-heavy Tiger Woods PGA Tour series? Keep reading.

The Facts

Play as classic Nintendo mascots in a brand new Mario Golf game
Game includes a combination of traditional and fantasy courses
Automatic and manual control setups allow for maximum flexibility
Send golf balls soaring into warp pipes and avoid vicious obstacles like Chain Chomps
Participate in several different game modes including Tournament and Match golf
Four-player (alternating) compatible
Runs in progressive scan
Dolby Pro Logic II compatible
Requires 13 memory blocks for saves

Gameplay
Before Mario Golf there was Hot Shots Golf, a cute, well-rounded, if simplistic offering developed (not coincidentally) by Camelot Software Planning for Sony's old console. Mario Golf 64 played a lot like it, but incorporated all sorts of Nintendo characters into the mix. GameCube's Toadstool Tour continues the series' tradition of basic, intuitive controls and brings even more courses and play modes, not to mention recognizable characters and new fantasy obstacles, to the table. Indeed, this latest version oozes with color and, well, character -- a point that is illustrated from the moment the title is booted; a full-motion video sequence, crisp and clean and gorgeous, showcases many of the mascots in the game as they head out for a few rounds of golf and the cinema spills with classic Nintendo comedy. It sets the pace for the easy-going mechanics of the in-game matches to follow.

There are several modes of play, most of them entertaining in their own right. Side Games serves up a selection of mini-challenges -- one might have to score a certain number of birdies through a series of holes. Near Pin challenges players to land their golf ball closer to the pin in just one swing than competitors and it simultaneously -- perhaps unwittingly -- teaches one to be more calculative about where they send the ball. In Speed Golf, gamers must make it through holes in shorter time than their adversaries. Meanwhile, players are asked to amass the most coins (which float about levels) in Coin Attack. There is a similar Ring Attack in which rings hover in the air and it's up to players to aim their shots through them. In Club Slots gamers compete with a limited selection of clubs chosen by slots. In Stroke Play, the person with the lowest number of strokes wins. And in Character Match, gamers choose their mascot foe and compete against him or her in a full bout of golf. No doubt the sheer selection is impressive, but the Tournament Mode could be called the main draw as ultimately gamers will need to go through it to unlock all of the courses that can then be accessed in the other areas.

The Tournament Mode starts off slow and may disappoint gamers who measure themselves immediately ready for the warp pipe and Piranha Plant-filled challenges of the fantasy locales. Unfortunately, these types of obstacles aren't opened up until players journey deeper into Tournament Mode, well past several decidedly routine 18-hole matches. We found this truth to be both odd and unfortunate. However, once Peach's Invitational -- the fifth tournament in the game -- is unlocked, the mushroom-clogged kingdoms gamers have come to expect from any game branded with the 'Mario' title make themselves present in full, and they do indeed separate Mario Golf from the competition. Gamers will be both tempted and turned off by the simple shortcut of the warp path, which simultaneously promises to deliver golf balls safely across a warp path or bouncing off the top of the pipe if the shots are miscalculated. Real strategy and precision goes into each successful warp and the same can be said about avoiding such obstacles as lava, fast fair, Piranha Plants and Chain Chomps, the latter of which can act as an "out of bounds" on balls. As a result, the title really only starts to pick up after these challenges are fully accessed.

Mario Golf's play mechanics are basic all around and for the most part unevolved from the N64 incarnation. To its credit, the simplistic setup is intuitive and quickly mastered. More, Camelot has included both automatic and manual swing styles, the first of which limits the entire swing process to a mere two button taps while the latter opens up a greater degree of control with more button taps (that enable gamers to add backspin, forward spin and power to shots).

It works well, but it also fails to compare to the tighter analog-stick control mechanics of the Tiger Woods franchise. In fact, going from Tiger Woods back to the mechanics of Mario Golf feels like going from car to horse. There are other refinements in EA's simulation-heavy golfer that seem less polished in Mario Golf. The game's camera system, for instance, is less flexible and occasionally catches on in-course obstacles such as trees.

Still, for arcadists and Nintendo fans alike, it doesn't get much better than Toadstool Tour and this point seems to be pounded home all the more thanks to the game's fun multiplayer modes, in which up to four players can compete against each other in an alternating fashion. The end result is highly enjoyable, particularly once the fantasy locales are available for competition.

Graphics
Early versions of Mario Golf didn't look promising from a visual standpoint, but believe it or not Camelot has come through: the end product is a pretty, stylized Mario-esque take on the game of golf. From the untraditional stunning FMV sequences, crisp and beautifully animated, to the wide assortment of varied courses, fantasy locales, detailed character models and animation, not to mention solid particle effects, the game is overall a looker. Camelot has even gone the extra mile in some cases. For example, some of the courses are littered in grass with individual blades (we're not talking shader quality, but not bad either) and environments even feature transparent, reflective water. The selection of some 16 characters including everybody from Mario to Waluigi, Donkey Kong and Wario is almost impressive as the models themselves, which all feature distinct, compelling animations. Some of the textures in the game are highly detailed while others come off on the blurry side. On the downside, the camera system occasionally gets in the way and the framerate ever so often hiccups, especially when players attempt to look around the environments. All in all, a stylized golfing experience. Of course, the game runs in progressive scan mode for those with high-definition television sets.

Sound
The audio side of Mario Golf is well done. The game's selection of music is perfectly suited to the environments, a blend of tropical themes and all-around cheery tunes (and one might even recognize a song or two). Meanwhile, every single character in the game comes complete with humorous voice work, including our favorite, the muttering, complaining Waluigi, who never fails to bring a smile to our faces. Players can even taunt their computer-controller or human competition in the game, at which point their selected character will deliver one-liners as their opponent tries to swing in hopes that it throws them off. Gamers with the right stereo setup will also be happy to know that Mario Golf runs in Dolby Pro Logic II, always a plus.