Golf

Golf is a game for the NES released in 1984. It is based on the. The golfer has been identified as Mario in supplemental material, albeit not wearing his traditional shirt and overalls. However, the game Captain Rainbow would instead identify the golfer as Ossan, which happens to be a generic internal name Mario had during the development of Donkey Kong. Additionally, the Game Boy conversion of this game would feature Mario on the Western cover art but not the Japanese version, though the in-game sprite still appears to depict him.

, developed by and published by that company in Japan and Nintendo in America, was released for the Virtual Boy in 1995. In it, Mario is replaced by a generic golfer lacking a mustache. This version was titled T&E Virtual Golf in Japan, Golf* in America, and Nintendo Golf on the in-game loading screen. Aspects of its gameplay would be incorporated into Mario Golf for the Nintendo 64.

A copy of the original game was embedded in Nintendo Switch firmware. Activating it required the internal system clock to be set to July 11—Satoru Iwata's —and performing his iconic "" hand gesture with both Joy-Con controllers on the HOME Menu. If successful, a voice clip of Iwata from a Japanese 2012 presentation would confirm the input, and an emulator of Golf with added motion control support would promptly boot up. Golf has significance as one of the first video games Iwata programmed himself for Nintendo while working at HAL Laboratory. This version of Golf was overwritten as of the 4.0.0 update, making it unplayable. Aside from the NES game's inclusion on the Switch, the international version of VS. Golf was later included on Arcade Archives.

Gameplay
The gameplay of Golf is relatively simple. The player is given a ball, and a map on the right side of the screen shows the hole that they must hit the ball into. The obstacles on the way are also displayed on the map. The player gets more points depending on how many times they hit the ball to get it into the hole. Many different types of clubs are also available to choose from by pressing Up/Down on the + Control Pad. Left/Right changes the direction the player will hit the ball in; on the fairway, this is limited to 16 directions and represented by an arrow, while on the putting green, the directions are unlimited and represented by a crosshair-like target.

Hitting the ball is done via a meter beneath the viewing field. Pressing the button once makes the golfer swing the club back, with the arrow on the meter moving left. Pressing it again causes them to swing forward, also moving the arrow back to the right—how far to the left it was determines the stroke's power, and if it reaches the far left, it will start moving right again on its own without a strength being yet determined. Pressing it a third time hits the ball, with the arrow's position relative to the meter's target area determining the impact point and thus how the ball will move; hitting the target on the center makes the ball go straight, hitting to the right of the target causes a left-curving hook ball, and hitting to the left of the target causes a right-curving slice ball. If the second step is skipped, the ball will merely be swiped a few yards ahead, and skipping the third step causes the club to miss entirely. The ball's direction in the air is also influenced by the direction and speed of the wind, which varies between rounds and is determined by an arrow and label found above the viewing area. On the putting green, meanwhile, the direction is influenced by the lay of the green, represented by arrows in different directions and densities.

Unlike in most golf games following it, there is no distinction between fairway and rough; as such, the only terrains are standard grass, putting green, and sand bunkers, with trees representing out-of-bounds areas.

Description from the Nintendo eShop
''Bogey, par, birdie, or Eagle. ''The score is up to you. ''Golf is 18 holes of realistic links action. Each hole has tricky hazards, so strategy is a must. ''Read the wind direction, check the distance, select a club, adjust your swing and keep your eye on the ball. Now drive it home. ''From twisting fairways and hungry sand traps to big water hazards and deceptive greens, Golf is packed with challenges. ''This version of the game does not have multiplayer functionality.

Clubs
There are 14 different clubs in the game: three s (1W, 3W, 4W), eight s (1I, 3I, 4I, 5I, 6I, 7I, 8I, 9I), a (PW), a  (SW), and a  (PT). Higher numbers mean lower length on the shaft and the resulting drive. Woods have a drive that causes the ball to roll a short distance after landing, and as such, they are most useful for covering ground. Irons have a drive that causes the ball to stop short almost immediately after landing, making them the most useful for precision with avoiding hazards. The pitching wedge gives a short-length but very tall drive, and as such, it acts as a 10-level iron. The sand wedge gives a short-distance swat and is the most useful for escaping sand bunkers. The putter is unique, only rolling the ball a small amount forward along the ground to move it onto and across the putting green; its meter is shorter than the others and lacks an impact area, and it is the only club available while the ball is on the green.

Levels
Golf features 18 holes separated into nine labeled "OUT" and nine labeled "IN." Each hole features some green and some woods, and every hole except hole 11 features sand traps. Holes 2, 3, and 5 feature inland ponds; holes 7 and 16 feature rivers; and holes 6, 9, 13, 15, and 18 have water covering the majority of the map. The other holes do not have water. Once the player gets the ball close to the target (the actual "hole," marked by a flag) on each map, the section of the screen that previously showed a map of the entire course shows a zoomed-in map of the putting green.

VS. System
The game was released for the VS. System, for which the game is also known as Stroke & Match Golf or VS. Golf. Three versions of this game exist. All have a "stroke" version for casual play, and a "match" version for competitive play against another player or a computer opponent. The general gameplay remains the same as the NES original, with the same control scheme, physics, and clubs. All have more than 18 possible holes, though only 18 show up per round; certain holes are reserved as possible "first" and "second" holes, but the rest are entirely random.

The singular Japanese version features the same Mario lookalike as the NES game but has 26 holes in total. 17 of these holes are edited versions of holes from the original Golf, with aspects such as the putting green, out-of-bounds trees, bunkers, and water hazards given more difficult positions. Due to its nature as an arcade game, a points system is in place, measured in hundreds; a bogey loses 100 points, a double bogey or above loses 200 points, and getting an equal score on a hole while sinking the ball second loses 50 points. Reaching zero points causes a game over, needing extra credits to continue. It has an attract mode showing gameplay.

Two international versions of the game exist, with one having the same male character as the NES version, but the other, also called VS. Ladies Golf, instead featuring a female player. These each have 21 possible holes for each 18-hole playthrough. Most of the Men's version uses holes straight from the NES version with occasional minor changes. In the Ladies' version, a few holes are reused from the Japanese release with a few tweaks, but most are completely unique. The points system in these versions was altered to be more forgiving, with the points being measured in single and double digits depending on how many credits are inserted and losing a smaller amount proportional to the amount of strokes taken, though pars also lose a single point. Unlike the Japanese version, the golfer in these releases performs a fist-pump upon getting a birdie or lower. These releases have attract modes with instructions.

Holes
The below orders for each release's holes are based on how they are stored in the respective game's ROM.

Game Boy
The Game Boy game contains 36 different holes split into two courses: Japan and U.S.A.

Virtual Boy
The Virtual Boy game contains 18 holes, all of which take place at the Papillion Golf & Country Club. Due to the 3D capability, it includes slopes, and the area the ball will land is represented by a large square grid.

References in later media

 * Super Mario-kun – In the second volume of the manga, Mario reminisces of his time in Golf.
 *  – Nine of the holes in Golf reappear as the 9-hole course in this game.
 *  – The same nine holes that appear in Wii Sports reappear as the back nine of this game's course in the same order.
 *  – The first hole from Golf reappears in the Golf game in this game.
 * NES Remix – Several challenges are based on this game.

Trivia

 * Nintendo planned to release an 18-hole golfing game as a launch title for the Family Computer, but software companies declined the project and believed that it could not be done with such limited memory at the time. Then-HAL Laboratory employee Satoru Iwata was eager to prove this technical achievement and program the game himself, which required him to create a custom data compression routine.
 * Golf is the second released video game that Satoru Iwata programmed for Nintendo, after Pinball.
 * Like in , the red-colored character on the North American NES box art is actually the second player.
 * Golf is a playable NES game in Doubutsu no Mori for the Nintendo 64 and its GameCube port, Animal Crossing.