Mario Golf (series)

Mario Golf is a series of games that feature Mario and his friends hitting the links of the Mushroom World. Starting on the Nintendo Entertainment System (NES), this series has crossed over to five different platforms and utilized system linking in fun ways. The series is known for bringing the bright world and personality of the Mario universe to golf. The Game Boy versions stand out particularly as they combine role-playing game (RPG) elements into the single player campaigns. All the games before Mario Golf were developed by Nintendo R&D1. Mario Golf and all subsequent games in the Mario Golf Series have been developed by Camelot Software Planning.

Golf (NES and Nintendo PlayChoice-10)
Made in 1984, this game is much older and less common then the next golf title for the NES. The Nintendo PlayChoice-10 version was only made in America. Mario was the only playable character in the game, appearing in blue pants and a white shirt.

Golf (Famicom Disk System)
There were five separate titles made for this system. Golf was just a port of the NES version. Golf: Japan Course is a simple update to the 1984 original, although Mario is in his normal outfit. Golf: US course, released 6 weeks later, is more open, and a bird's-eye-view of the courses is not available during gameplay, making it a bit more challenging. In this game, Mario wears a blue shirt and red-and-white striped overalls.

Golf: Japan Course was involved in a major contest. After finishing all the holes, players had an option of saving their score. If the score was high, the score could be recorded into a special blue disk that came with the game and sent via Disk Fax to Nintendo in Kyoto. The top 100 scorers received a plaque with their names on it, as well as a golden Famicom Disk System disk containing a harder golf course. 4900 other contestants also received the disk. This game is known as Golf: Japan Course (Gold).

The final golf game for the FDS is Golf: US Course (Gold), a harder version of Golf: US Course. While rare, it is unknown how these were originally obtainable. Although Golf: US Course had a contest similar to Golf: Japan Course, the main prize was a golden Punch-Out!!.

Golf (Game Boy)
This uncommon, black-and-white Game Boy game was released in 1990. The player had a bird's-eye view of the course. Mario, of course, was at the tee.

NES Open Tournament Golf (NES)
This NES game was made in both America and Japan, featuring the Mario, Luigi, Princess Toadstool (Peach) and Princess Daisy. Also, various other humans made their appearance, including Steve (Beginner), Mark (Amateur), Tony (Semi-Professional), and Billy (Professional). In the American version, the graphics differ slightly, and the soundtrack has been changed.

A version of this game was made for the Nintendo Playchoice-10 in America, called Mario's Open Golf.

Mario Golf (N64)
One of two titles named Mario Golf, the Nintendo 64 version was a 3D golfing simulator featuring your standard cast of Mario characters along with some new ones that have not appeared since. Players could choose to play through tournaments and special challenges in the single player mode. The meat and potatoes of the multiplayer side of the game were the strokes and match play modes. Special modes included a mini-putt mode (called "Putt-Putt") and a practice mode.

This game could link up to Mario Golf for the Game Boy Color (GBC) with the use of the Transfer Pak. Characters trained in the GBC version could then be played in the N64 version like any other character.

The game also had human characters like Harry and Plum.

Mario Golf (GBC)
Instead of attempting to best the technologically superior Nintendo 64 version of Mario Golf, developer Camelot instead included a feature in both games that allowed them to interact. The premise of the Game Boy Color version was also very different. There were still tournaments, stroke play, and many other modes, but what stood this version apart was that much of the single player mode was played as an RPG. Players chose one of four characters and conquered the challenges of the golf world.

The game also featured a multiplayer mode and special free-play modes for players interested solely in the golfing portion of the game and those who had finished or wanted a break from the main quest.

Mobile Golf
Being released for the Game Boy Color as well, this game was very similar to its predecessor. Mobile Golf was only released in Japan. Its main innovation were multiplayer games within a mobile phone network via a special adapter.

Mario Golf: Toadstool Tour
One of the first Mario spin-off titles to hit the Nintendo GameCube (GCN), Toadstool Tour took the basic formula of the N64 version and made only minor revisions. The main appeals of this version were the highly updated graphics and improved swing system. New guides on the interface showed players exactly how much power they needed to land the ball exactly where they wanted it. Players still needed to factor in the wind, the ball lie, and deal with their slicing or drawing the ball.

The game had the ability to upload characters from Mario Golf: Advance Tour via the GameCube Game Boy Advance Link Cable.

Mario Golf: Advance Tour
Continuing the plot of Mario Golf for GBC, Advance Tour followed Neil and Ella, two fledgling golfers, in their quest to become world-class golfers. It was very similar in content to its predecessor. The game was very impressive from a visual standpoint, using pre-rendered sprites and Mode 7 scaling for the golf courses.

To top it all off, players could upload their trained-up Neil and Ella characters onto Toadstool Tour, along with their custom taunts and support messages which could be used in game when playing with a CPU or human controlled character. Also, based on the number of Best Badges earned on Toadstool Tour, new features, such as special versions of every hole in Advance Tour, could be unlocked.

The Future
There is some worry among the gaming community that Mario Golf and its sister series, Mario Tennis, may be in danger. If Nintendo decides to focus on the Wii Sports line of games (simple sports games that use the Wii Remote as a golf club, tennis racket, etc.), there may be no next generation versions of either series.

Also, the developer of every Mario Golf and Mario Tennis game to date, Camelot, is for the first time branching away from Nintendo towards the PC industry. It is unknown at this time whether or not they will continue working for Nintendo at all. If they do not, Mario Golf will at the very least undergo a change in character in future entries, if not end completely.

Trivia

 * A golf course appears in the background of the Mushroom Kingdom stage of the Adventure Mode of Super Smash Bros. Melee, as a reference to the Mario Golf series.
 * In Paper Mario, the Mario Golf series is referenced to in Luigi's diary, which states that Luigi misses when he used to simply play golf, tennis and party with Mario.
 * Mario Golf is referenced in the Death Note manga, when Ryuk asks Light Yagami if he wants to play Mario Golf.