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 installment 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 or 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, at the expense of being unable to add topspin or backspin. 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 circle pad or by using the touch screen as the shot meter is in motion; 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 are two main modes of play: Mario Golf (Quick Round), and Castle Club.

Castle Club
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 equipment that will affect its stats, such as drive distance and shot trajectory, similar to the Mii customization feature in Mario Tennis Open.

Mario Golf
Mario Golf (Quick Round) is similar to past Mario Golf games, where the player can select a Mushroom Kingdom character or a customized Mii. It features a variety of modes such as Single Player (including Stroke Play, Match Play, Speed Golf, and Point Tourney, all of which provide coins for the player), Vs. (Local Play, Online Friends, and Community Match), and Tournaments (Mario Open and user-created Private Tournaments). Additional regional and worldwide online tournaments are available on the entry floor of the Castle Club.

Single Player
This mode allows the player to take on a round against the scorecard, the clock, or a computer opponent (Match Play only), as well as Challenges, where courses, Star characters, and Mii costumes can be unlocked. The first four modes allow the player to select any unlocked course, as well as the number of holes (3, 6, 9, or 18), wind strength, whether to use items, and more.

Stroke Play
A standard round of golf, where the player's score is compared to par.

Match Play
The player competes against a computer-controlled opponent. The winner of the round is whichever player wins more holes, although if the players are tied by the end of the game, it will proceed into Sudden Death and go through the selected courses again until someone wins. The player chooses the computer's skill level: Novice, Intermediate, Expert, Semipro (unlocked by earning 90 Star Coins in Challenge mode), or Pro (unlockable).

Speed Golf
Instead of counting strokes, the player's score is determined by how much time is taken to hole the ball.

Point Tourney
Scored via a modified version of the Stableford scoring system. The player is awarded 8 points for an albatross or a hole in one, 5 for an eagle, 3 for a birdie, 2 for a par, and 1 for a bogey. A double bogey or worse scores zero.

Challenges
Each of the game's courses (including DLC courses) has ten Star Coin challenges and ten Moon Coin challenges (the latter are more difficult, and unlocked by earning 90 star coins). They take the following forms:
 * Star Coin Collector - A Star (or Moon) Coin is placed somewhere on a hole. The player must hit the coin with the ball, then complete the hole in par or better.
 * Ring Master - Multiple rings are placed around the hole. The player must hit the ball through all of the rings, then complete the hole in par or better.
 * 100 Coins - A three-hole challenge. Coins are placed around each hole. The player is given a number of shots equal to the hole's par minus two, and attempts to hit the ball into 100 of them over the course of the three holes.
 * Score Attack - The player must complete nine holes of stroke play, and match or beat the given target score.
 * Character Match - A nine-hole match play competition against a Mushroom Kingdom character. Winning this match also unlocks the star version of that character for all play modes.
 * Time Attack - The player must complete three holes within the given time limit.
 * Point Challenge - A three-hole challenge. On each hole, Club Slots are spun, which limits the player to no more than three clubs (plus a putter) for the duration of the hole unless the player lines up three Stars on the slots, in which case they will have all of their clubs available. Point Tourney scoring applies, and the player must earn at least the given target number of points within the three holes.
 * One-On, One-Putt Challenge - Sky Island only. If a tee shot misses the green, the challenge is failed. If a birdie putt is missed, the challenge is failed. To succeed, the player must successfully complete nine holes.

A complete list of the challenges is below. Differences between the Star and Moon Coin challenges are underlined. Hovering over one will reveal the Moon Coin version.

Vs.
This is the game's multiplayer mode. 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 speeds up play significantly because players do 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 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. Matches with online friends and community matches can also be played from this menu.

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. Players can also create their own private tournaments, including most of the customization options available for the Single Player mode. | 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 (with the exception of unlockable characters and downloadable characters, in which case the Star variation is unlocked at the same time the character is unlocked/downloaded).

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.

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.
 * Peach Gardens: a Peach's Castle-themed course, with pink fairways and greens.
 * Yoshi Lake: a course with many pools of standing water and a Yoshi's Story theme. Unlocked by collecting 7 Star Coins in Challenges mode.
 * Wiggler Park: a flower garden course with a Mega Goomba and other giant characters. Unlocked by collecting 14 Star Coins.
 * Cheep Cheep Lagoon: an underwater course with Cheep Cheeps and and other marine creatures. Unlocked by collecting 21 Star Coins.
 * DK Jungle: a Donkey Kong Country Returns themed course, featuring Screaming Pillars and Barrel Cannons. Unlocked by collecting 28 Star Coins.
 * Bowser's Castle: a Bowser-themed course, with many Bob-ombs which will explode if contacted. Unlocked by collecting 35 Star Coins.
 * Sky Island: a par-3 course set in the sky, where clouds and Para-Beetles can be seen. Unlocked by completing the nine-hole One-On, One-Putt Challenge in Castle Club mode.

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. The music of Bowser's Castle has some parts of the castle theme in it.
 * Super Mario Bros. 3: The music used in Sky Island is a cover of this game's Athletic Theme.
 * NES Open Tournament Golf: Golf clubs and a golf ball appear based on Mario's attire in this game.
 * Super Mario 64: The music of Bowser's Castle has parts of this game's Bowser level music.
 * Mario Golf (Nintendo 64): Toad Highlands and Koopa Park return with an updated appearance, while the other four main courses appear in a new iteration.
 * Yoshi's Story: Yoshi Lake appears to be based on this game, even using a cover of the title screen as the music.
 * Mario Power Tennis: Many voice clips are reused from this game.
 * Mario Kart DS: The music of Peach Gardens is a cover of the theme used in this game's Peach Gardens.
 * Super Mario Galaxy and Super Mario Galaxy 2: Mario's Star has elements from this game, and various Luma characters appear in Rosalina's post-hole animation. The music used in Wiggler Park is a cover of the Honeyhive Galaxy music. Golf clubs, a golf ball, and a costume appear based on Bee Mario and Cloud Mario.
 * Donkey Kong Country Returns: The DK Jungle course is heavily based on this game.
 * Super Mario 3D Land: In Mario's Double Bogey animation, when he gets hit by a Green Shell, he shrinks into his Small Mario form from this game.
 * New Super Mario Bros. 2: Gold Mario appears as a playable character. Moon Coins reappear.
 * 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. Golf clubs, a golf ball, and a costume appear based on Boss Sumo Bro.. Nabbit appears as a playable character.

Critical reception
Mario Golf: World Tour has received 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. The game was scored 83% by Official Nintendo Magazine. Mario Golf: World Tour currently averages a score of 78 out of a possible 100 on Metacritic. Overall, the game was praised for its gameplay and graphics, but criticised for the lack of content in the Castle Club.