NES Open Tournament Golf

NES Open Tournament Golf (known as Mario Open Golf in Japan) is a Nintendo Entertainment System golf game featuring Mario characters. As the name of the game implies, it is a golf game and was one of the first golfing games in the Mario series. In the American version of the game, the graphics and soundtrack have slightly changed. The Japanese version of the game features different playable courses and fewer characters. Although the Japan and UK courses are also playable courses in the American version, they do not contain the same holes. For example, hole 5 in the Australia Course is hole 15 in the US Course. The game does not take place in the Mushroom Kingdom and instead takes place on Earth, or the "real world." The levels are Japan, Australia, France, the United Kingdom, and the United States of America.

A version of this game was developed for the Nintendo PlayChoice-10 arcade machine in the Americas, called Mario's Open Golf.

NES Open Tournament Golf has also been released on the Virtual Console for the Wii for 500 Wii Points, as well as for the Nintendo 3DS's Virtual Console in 2011-2012 and the Wii U's Virtual Console in 2014. The original Famicom game is also one of the 30 titles included in the Japan-exclusive Nintendo Classic Mini: Family Computer. The game was also made available for Nintendo Switch Online members on October 10, 2018. In Family Computer - Nintendo Switch Online, apart from the standard version, a special version titled "マリオオープンゴルフ フルオープンバージョン" (Mario Open Golf: Full Open Version), where all courses are unlocked, was also released on November 14, 2018.

Playable

 * Mario - Player 1's character
 * Luigi - Player 2's character. In 1 player match mode, he is the easiest computer opponent.

Non-playable

 * Princess Toadstool is Mario's caddie.
 * Princess Daisy is Luigi's caddie.
 * Toad appears whenever a player hits their ball out of bounds, holding with a blue flag with "O.B." written on it.
 * Donkey Kong tells the player how much money they have, and he keeps it. He will also make comments based on certain milestones achieved, such as when $1,000,000 has been obtained. He is absent from the Japanese and arcade versions due to their lack of a tournament mode.
 * Steve is a more difficult computer opponent than Luigi in 1 player match mode. He is absent from the Japanese version.
 * Mark is more difficult than Steve. He is also absent from the Japanese version.
 * Tony is more difficult than Mark.
 * Billy is the most difficult opponent.

Cameos

 * Monty Mole (on cover art)

Japanese version

 * Japan Course
 * Australia Course
 * France Course
 * Hawaii Course
 * UK Course
 * Extra Course

Western versions

 * US Course
 * Japan Course
 * UK Course

Hole appearances between versions
The hole on the left is from the Japanese version, while the one on the right is from western versions. This list is done in course order and hole order. The holes that do not appear in western versions are not listed here.

Differences in the arcade version

 * There is no ability to save progress.
 * The only available modes are Stroke Play and Match Play.
 * Donkey Kong is absent from the arcade version.

Differences in the Japanese version

 * Due to the lack of the tournament mode, the plot is different. Instead of trying to win $1,000,000, Mario must instead finish all five courses in Stroke Play mode.
 * A scoring limit is introduced for stroke play; if the player goes over the scoring limit, they must restart the course from the beginning.
 * Donkey Kong, Mark, and Steve are absent from the Japanese version.
 * The title music is different, and both the Options menu and cutscene themes play at different pitches within the same octave.
 * "Hall of Fame Holes" are called "Memorial Holes".
 * Not only are there more courses, shared holes are often more difficult in the Japanese version due to more obstacles and traps, although some are made less so due to the removal of certain hazards on them. For example, the Japanese hole 5 of the Japan course has an extra strip of fairway attached to the upper-left corner of the green, while in the NES version, said strip is replaced with a water hazard.
 * The ranks (Semi Pro, Beginner, etc.) are unlocked after completing certain courses past the second one. The default rank is none at all.
 * Not all courses are available at the beginning; instead, the courses after the first one (Japan) must be unlocked by beating the previous one. The extra course is a compilation of all holes the player has unlocked, and there is no reward for completing it. In the Full Open Version, all courses are unlocked from the start.

Tournament Roster
In the Club House mode in the game, there is a setting called the Tournament Roster. Here the player can change all of the player's names, just like they'd change their own name (which is Mario by default). Here are all the 36 default names on the Tournament Roster. The player cannot change the roster in the Japanese version due to a lack of a tournament mode.

All of the names starting from Miki to Uemura are names of the people who developed and produced the game, while Steve and Tony are names of two people who localized it for North America.

Staff
NES Open Tournament Golf was a coproduction between Nintendo R&D2 and HAL Laboratory. Kenji Miki (director of the original Golf) was the director. The game was Satoru Iwata's first experience in developing a game "from start to finish". The title was also Eiji Aonuma's (credited as a sprite designer) very first work in the video game industry.

References to other games

 * Family Computer Golf: U.S. Course: Mario's outfit originated from this game.

References in later games

 * WarioWare: Twisted!: A microgame appears based off of this game.
 * NES Remix 2: Several challenges are based off of this game.
 * Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS / Wii U: One of Mario's alternate colors resembles the clothes he wears this game.
 * Super Mario Odyssey: Mario can wear an outfit identical to the one he is depicted as wearing in this game.
 * WarioWare Gold: The NES Open Tournament Golf microgame from WarioWare: Twisted! returns in this game.
 * Super Smash Bros. Ultimate: Mario's alternate color, resembling the clothes from this game, returns from Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS / Wii U.

Trivia

 * Dummied data for the game Animal Forest + indicated that Super Mario Bros.: The Lost Levels (or, more accurately, Super Mario Bros. 2) as well as NES Open Tournament Golf would have been included as a playable Famicom game, but it ultimately was cut, with not even a ROM or models available inside.