Mario Golf: World Tour

Mario Golf: World Tour is a sport title for the Nintendo 3DS. It is the fifth installment of the Mario Golf series, and the third handheld instalment in the series. The game also features gyroscope support and Wi-Fi capabilities.

Gameplay
The gameplay is similar to past installments of the Mario Golf series. Players have to hit shots while taking into account character attributes, wind, weather, and course topography. The power, accuracy, and spin of shots are determined by the timing when the player taps buttons on the touch screen as a target line slides up and down the power meter. A simplified control system, like the Auto control system from Mario Golf: Toadstool Tour, returns where the player has to worry only about the power of the shot. The touch screen can now be used for selecting clubs, initiating shots, and adding spin. Plus, the trajectory of the shot can be altered by moving the control stick or by using the touch screen as the character winds the shot; this is similar to the impact zone feature of past games. A new feature, known as Item Shots, allows players to hit shots with different effects via items. These include burning through trees with a Fire Flower, creating Jump Blocks over water hazards, ignoring wind via Bullet Bill, increasing draw or fade by Boomerang, and freezing the terrain with an Ice Flower. These items can be collected by hitting ? Blocks on the course, although players sometimes start holes with items.

There is two main modes of play: Castle Club and Quick Round. Castle Club is a story mode where the player's Mii tackles different tournaments (similar to the story modes from previous handheld Mario Golf games). Using coins, the player's Mii is able to buy its equipment that will affects stats, such as drive distance and shot trajectory, similar to the Mii customization feature in Mario Tennis Open. Quick Round is similar to past Mario Golf games, where the player can select a Mario character or a customized Mii. Quick Round features a variety of modes such as Single Player, Match Play, Speed Golf, and Point Play. All of these modes provide coins for the player.

Other modes
Other modes are included like previous games and will reward the player with Coins and Star Coins, which, when enough are collected, unlock new courses.


 * Ring Master - Similar to the previous games, players try to collect all the rings in a course while making it under par.
 * Star Coin Collector - Collect Star Coins and achieve a par or less.
 * Point Challenge - Like Club Slots, the player plays with a limited set of clubs while aiming for the best score possible.

Multiplayer
This game features various types of multiplayer. Local play is available for up to four players, but it does not support download play. During multiplayer, all players play at the same time, which will speed play up significantly because players will not have to wait until it is their turn to play. However, all players must finish the hole before they are allowed to move on. Players can see the ghost shots of other players and on-screen icons will also show how the player's shots measure with the other players' in terms of distance. Players can send taunts or cheers to each other by pressing icons, as well as emoticons.

Tournaments
Mario Golf: World Tour also features pre-made tournaments made by Nintendo. Winners of tournaments receive coins to buy gear from the Toad Shop. When a new tournament is about to begin, the player will receive Spotpass notifications. There are also tournaments which can be created, similar to the communities in Mario Kart 7, or players can be matched with opponents of a similar skill level, like in Mario Tennis Open. | Callaway Golf has also teamed up with Nintendo to produce Callaway-based tournaments, which will give the players sponsored Callaway Gear for the Mii to equip. Below is a table of some of the current confirmed tournaments:

Playable
At least 21 playable characters are in the game: there are 13 default characters as well as 4 unlockable characters. Additionally, 4 more characters will be available as downloadable content. Overall stronger Star variations of these characters are unlocked by beating the character on their respective character match in Challenges mode.

Non-playable

 * Mega Goomba
 * Monty Mole
 * Toads
 * Shy Guys
 * Hammer Bro.
 * Koopa Troopa
 * Cheep Cheeps
 * Mega Urchins
 * Bob-omb
 * Wiggler
 * Piranhacus Gigantici
 * Bullet Bill
 * Butterflies
 * Boos
 * King Boo
 * Para-Beetles
 * Spike
 * Spiny
 * Koopa Paratroopa
 * Lumas
 * Urchins
 * Thwomp
 * Chain Chomps
 * Heavy Para-Beetles
 * Dolphins
 * Jumbo Rays
 * Fishin' Lakitu

Items
Various items can be used during gameplay to affect the player's shots.
 * Mushroom - Makes the ball roll further. Also comes in the Triple variety.
 * Fire Flower - Increases the shot distance and burns through trees and obstacles.
 * Ice Flower - Freezes terrain to allow the ball to bounce multiple times.
 * Bullet Bill - Ignores wind and increases maximum distance.
 * Bob-omb - Causes the ball to fly high into the air.
 * Boomerang Flower - Increases the draw or fade of the shot.
 * Note Block - Creates a Jump Block in midair, letting the ball avoid water hazards.
 * Tornado - A tornado that sucks up nearby coins.
 * Kab-omb - Explodes mid air to drop the ball straight down.
 * Gold Flower - Gives the player coins for every yard the ball travels.

Customizable gear
There is a variety of purchasable gear that can be used to customize the player's Mii that will affect their stats. . The game will have 500 customizable gear items. If a player equips a Mii with a full character gear set the Mii will play similarly to that character.

Golf clubs

 * Normal Clubs
 * Mario Clubs
 * Luigi Clubs
 * Wario Clubs
 * Waluigi Clubs
 * Yoshi Clubs
 * Peach Clubs
 * Daisy Clubs
 * Birdo Clubs
 * Mushroom Clubs
 * Goomba Clubs
 * Banana Clubs
 * Cheep Cheep Clubs
 * Baby Yoshi Clubs
 * Blooper Clubs
 * Luma Clubs
 * Green Shell Clubs
 * Mechakoopa Clubs

Clothing combos

 * Normal Combo
 * Green Shell Combo
 * Banana Combo
 * Thwomp Combo
 * Chain Chomp Combo
 * Blooper Combo
 * Lakitu Combo
 * Game Boy Combo
 * Pokey Combo
 * Wii U Combo
 * Wii Combo
 * Castle Tournament Combo

Golf balls

 * Normal Ball
 * Wario Ball
 * Mario Ball
 * Boo Ball
 * Peach Ball
 * Thwomp Ball
 * Mushroom Ball
 * Toad Ball

Headgear

 * Normal Cap
 * Yoshi Cap
 * Green Shell Visor
 * Banana Visor
 * Chain Chomp Visor
 * Peach Visor
 * Mario Visor
 * Game Boy Visor
 * Hammer Bro Visor
 * Lakitu Cowlick

Shirts

 * Normal Shirt
 * A black shirt with white spots
 * White Sweet-Spot Shirt
 * Dotted Sweet-Spot Shirt

Gloves

 * Yoshi Gloves
 * Peach Gloves
 * Mario Gloves

Pants

 * Normal Pants
 * Black pants with white spots

Shoes

 * Yoshi Shoes
 * Green Shell Shoes
 * Banana Shoes
 * ? Block Shoes
 * Peach Shoes
 * Mario Shoes
 * Thwomp Shoes

Costumes
Like in Mario Tennis Open, costumes are unlocked by achieving special criteria.
 * Mario Costume
 * Luigi Costume
 * Donkey Kong Costume
 * Wario Costume
 * Waluigi Costume
 * Daisy Costume
 * Bowser Costume

Courses

 * Forest Course: a forest-themed course where multi-colored hills can be seen in the distance.
 * Seaside Course: a beach-themed course with a similar appearance to Blooper Bay.
 * Mountain Course : a desert-themed course with multi-colored cacti.
 * Cheep Cheep Lagoon: an underwater course with Cheep Cheeps and and other marine creatures. (Unlocked by collecting 21 Star Coins in Challenges)
 * Wiggler Park: a flower garden course with a Mega Goomba and other giant characters.
 * Yoshi Lake : a course with many water hazards and a Yarn Yoshi theme.
 * Peach Gardens : a Peach's Castle-themed course.
 * DK Jungle: a Donkey Kong Country Returns themed course.
 * Bowser's Castle: a Bowser-themed course
 * Sky Island : a course set in the sky, where clouds and Para-Beetles can be seen.

Demo
On the 17th of April, a demo of the game was released on the Nintendo eShop for Europe, making this strictly the second Mario game (preceded by Mario & Luigi: Dream Team) to have a publicly released demo for download. The demo was later released in North America on April 24. It uses 873 blocks when downloaded and offers fifteen uses (ten for the European demo).

The demo lets the player go through a tutorial covering camera and shot control or play through either holes 1, 2, and 3 of Seaside Course, holes 1, 2, and 6 of Wiggler Park, and holes 1, 5, and 6 of Yoshi Lake. The demo also allows the player to play the Star Coin Collector mode on hole 9 of Peach Gardens, and the Ring Master mode on hole 14 of Mountain Course. The only playable characters available are Mario, Peach, Yoshi, and Bowser.

References to other games

 * Super Mario Bros.: The loading screens portray various golf scenes that use sprites from this game. The music used in Cheep Cheep Lagoon is a cover of the underwater theme.
 * Mario Golf (Nintendo 64): All the courses from this game reappear with updated appearances.
 * Yoshi Story: Yoshi Lake appears based off of this game, even using a cover of the title screen as the music.
 * Mario Golf: Toadstool Tour: The Bowser's Castle course in this game appears similar to the one in Mario Golf: Toadstool Tour.
 * Mario Kart DS: Peach Gardens' music is a cover of the theme used in this game's Peach Gardens.
 * Donkey Kong Country Returns: The DK Jungle course is heavily based off of this game.
 * New Super Mario Bros. U: Layer Cake Desert, Sparkling Waters, and Rock Candy Mines are downloadable golf courses of places that originated in this game.

Critical reception
Mario Golf: World Tour has recieved generally positive reviews amongst critics. IGN gave the game a score of 8.6/10 (a "great" rating). They praised the game's learning curve, training options, large quantity of unlockables, and multiplayer, but criticised the map in Castle Club, saying it was "confusing". Joystiq gave 3 stars out of 5. Nintendo Life gave the game a score of 9/10. Mario Golf: World Tour currently averages a score of 78 out of a possible 100 on Metacritic.