Mario Golf: Toadstool Tour

Mario Golf: Toadstool Tour is the third game in the Mario Golf series (developed by Camelot Software Planning), the second home console installment and was released for the Nintendo GameCube. It also earned the Player's Choice rating.

Opening
The game's opening starts with Mario and Luigi looking at a shiny trophy and commenting on how nice it looks. Peach and Daisy call on them saying it's tee time on the planned golf course. As the four friends are shown making excellent tee shots, Wario and Waluigi are shown from behind, extremely jealous of how well Mario, Luigi, Peach, and Daisy do. The two hear a noise and turn around to see Yoshi and Koopa Troopa together to start their round of golf. Wario and Waluigi clench their golf clubs while laughing, and prepare to join them. They all take turns hitting their golf balls, and Yoshi hits near a Chain Chomp. When he tries to get it back, the Chain Chomp wakes up and barks at Yoshi, scaring him and making him fall over. Wario attempts to hit the ball out of the bunker, but just manages to fling sand into Waluigi's face. Minutes later, Waluigi attempts to putt the ball into the hole, but fails miserably after a few tries - resulting in Yoshi and Koopa Troopa falling asleep.

Meanwhile, Donkey Kong and Diddy Kong walk past the sleeping Yoshi and Koopa Troopa; Wario and Waluigi attempt to challenge them next. After Donkey Kong shows his golf prowess to Diddy, Wario and Waluigi, Wario, despite his terrible swing, attempts to hit the ball a long way, until it goes out of sight into the forest. Wario and Waluigi start celebrating until they hear a loud roar. The ball suddenly flies back and lands in front of Wario. The two look up and see Bowser coming out of the forest completely enraged because he has a black eye from the golf ball. Bowser gives chase after Wario and Waluigi in his Koopa Clown Car and starts firing Bob-ombs at the two as they run around Lakitu Valley past Birdo and Boo, who were playing a game of golf on their own. Fortunately for Wario and Waluigi, they find a yellow Warp Pipe that is too small for Bowser and his Koopa Clown Car to fit through. Wario and Waluigi come out the other side of the pipe and stop to catch their breath; however, Bowser and the Koopa Clown Car appear right above them seconds later. Bowser takes out another Bob-omb threatening to drop it, resulting in Wario and Waluigi screaming in fear for their lives.

Meanwhile, Mario is preparing to take a shot on that same course with Luigi, Peach, and Daisy observing from behind. As Wario and Waluigi still try frantically to escape from Bowser's looming threat by going through an enormous metal door, Mario hits his ball with his golf club. Wario and Waluigi manage to open the door and continue their escape attempt. But as they did so, Mario's ball hits Wario and Waluigi, giving them black eyes as well, and knocks the Bob-omb off Bowser's hand. This ultimately results in an explosion claiming Wario, Waluigi, and Bowser as the victims. Mario, Luigi, Peach, and Daisy witnessed it from afar, completely baffled as to what caused the blast that came out of nowhere.

Gameplay
The game differs greatly from that of the previous game in both controls and visuals. The game uses 3D renders for the designs of characters and courses, changing the camera view to be able to view much more of the course in detail. Pressing or  allows the player to view an overview of the course and allows them to study the course or green topography in order to adjust their shot, and can look around using. The green also now displays moving topographic lines that follow down the path of the green, increasing in speed the more the green slopes. A new control system has also been added, with a manual and automatic swing. The automatic swing is used by pressing to set the power for the shot and then letting the game decide where the sweet spot marker ends up. A manual swing involves pressing when choosing power, then pressing either  or  to set the sweet spot impact marker. This allows the use of a new feature, spin, to be used on shots. Either Backspin, Topspin, Super Backspin or Super Topspin can be used, affecting the balls line of movement on the ground. Topspin sends the ball rolling forward while Backspin causes the ball to roll backwards; the super versions of the spin are stronger and travel farther. Different characters spin will be more powerful with higher spin levels. The ability to change where the ball is hit is also present from the two previous games, allowing different types of shots to be taken. Approach shots also appear, used when players approach the hole, as well as the limited number of power shots. Power shots have longer drives than normal shots, though only six can be used at a time. However, if a player does a perfect nice shot (meaning they have aligned the first bar at the far left and perfectly aligned the second bar), they do not use up a power shot.

Menu

 * - Confirm
 * - Back
 * - Select
 * - Left-Handed Character
 * - Star Character
 * - Change Clubs (only available when data is transferred from Mario Golf: Advance Tour)

Golf

 * - Start Swing/Choose Power (automatic)
 * - Change shot type/Choose Power (manual)
 * + - Topspin
 * + - Backspin
 * + - Super Topspin
 * + - Super Backspin
 * / - Change Direction/Change Clubs
 * - Increase Power Bar
 * - Decrease Power Bar
 * / - Change Camera
 * - Move Camera angle
 * / - Change ball meet area

Scores
Depending on how many strokes the player required to take to hit the ball into the hole, players receive a score and a name for the score. The following is a list of them, from best to worst scores:

Game Modes
There are a wide variety of game modes offered in Mario Golf: Toadstool Tour, from challenging tournaments to training sessions to collecting coins to shooting the ball through rings. All of the game modes are explained briefly below. Note that multi-player game modes not marked with an asterisk (*) can also be played with 1 player and AI opponents.

Single-Player Game Modes

 * Tournament - The player competes against others for first place in an 18-hole round of golf and to earn best badges on specific holes. The lowest score at the end of the tournament is the winner.
 * Character Match - Compete in a one-on-one challenge against a computer character on a course of your choice using match play rules. Star Characters can be unlocked by accepting challenge from characters and winning.
 * Ring Shot - Compete by hitting your shots through various rings on a course while still finishing at or under par.
 * Challenge - Complete Ring Shot holes to earn stars which unlock even more holes! Complete them all to unlock a special surprise.
 * Speed Golf - Complete a round of golf in the fastest time possible.
 * Training - Practice golfing on a hole of your choice. You can also customize the weather conditions.

Multi-Player Game Modes

 * Doubles - A 2-on-2 game of golf. For 1-4 players.
 * Club Slots - Play using a limited amount of clubs. When playing with four slots, there is an added gimmick for the fourth slot (i.e. no wind, double points, extra mulligan, etc.).
 * Ring Shot
 * Face-Off - Play six holes against opponents to see who can complete the most holes successfully.*
 * Coin Shoot - Hit the ball near coins to collect them. Earn the highest coin total to win. The coins make up various pattens, such as the Triforce from the Legend of Zelda series, while another looks like the Nintendo GameCube.
 * Quick Cash - Collect as many coins as possible in 2 shots under par (for example, on a par 5 hole, you would have 3 shots to collect coins). The player does not have to finish the hole.
 * Cash Cup - Collect as many coins as possible and finish the hole with par or better. Failure to do so will result in 0 coins for the hole.
 * Stroke Play - Get the fewest total strokes on a course to win. Beat courses in tournament mode to unlock them here.
 * Side Games - Fun challenges that test and improve your golfing skills.
 * Birdie Challenge - Compete on Congo Canopy to see how many consecutive birdies you can earn.
 * Practice Games - Hone your approaching and putting skills by playing these unique challenges. There are novice, intermediate and expert difficulties.
 * Match Play - Standard golfing with a different scoring system. Winning a hole earns you a medal; earn the highest amount of medals or mathematically eliminate the opponent to win. For 2 players only.
 * Skins Match - Similar to Match Play, but for 2-4 players. The player who finishes with the lowest score on a hole earns a point. Whoever has the most amount of points at the end wins.
 * Near-Pin - Compete in Congo Canopy to get the shortest total distance from the pin in one stroke. If your ball is not on the green in one stroke, it will count as being 100 feet away.

Unlockable Game Modes

 * Star Tournament - Unlocked once the tournament mode on Bowser Badlands is beaten and a star version of a character is obtained. Same as tournament mode, except the player will compete against tougher star characters while using the back tees and tournament greens. Beat these to be able to use the tournament greens in other game modes. For 1 player.
 * Side Games
 * Birdie Challenge
 * One-On One-Putt - Unlocked by beating birdie challenge on all 18 holes (which will also unlock Bowser Jr.). Similar to birdie challenge, except the first shot must land on the green and the second must go in the hole (resulting in a birdie). If the first shot is not on the green, the player will lose. Beat this with 1 player to unlock the tournament greens for Congo Canopy. For 1-4 players.
 * Special Tournament - Unlocked by holding on the title screen and pressing the  button.
 * Hole-in-One Contest - Like the Near-Pin Contest, except the game is played on the Par-3 holes of a selected course. For 1 player.
 * Password Tournament - Compete in special tournaments with preset rules by entering certain passwords. For 1 player.*
 * Ace Computer Difficulty Mode - Different unlocking criteria dependent on version.
 * Japanese Version - Accept challenge from Bowser and win in Character Match mode. This will also unlock Bowser's Star Character.
 * PAL Version - Complete (in first place) the Bowser Star Championship once.
 * NTSC Version - Complete (in first place) all Star Tournaments with all Non-Star Characters. 102 Tournaments in total (six Normal Tournaments needed to unlock Star Tournament).

Playable Characters
Including transferable characters, a total of 18 playable characters are featured in Mario Golf: Toadstool Tour, consisting of 12 default characters, 4 unlockable characters, and 2 transferable characters. This game marks the first playable appearance of Bowser Jr., Shadow Mario and Petey Piranha, as well as Diddy Kong's first appearance in a Mario game. Note that Impact, Control, and Spin are on a scale of 21. Drive - How far the ball travels in the air for on a perfect shot with a driver (1W). Trajectory - What direction the ball travels in when hit. For right-handed players, if the ball curves to the left, it's a draw, to the right, a fade, far to the left, a hook or far to the right, a slice, and vice-versa for left-handed players. Height - How high or low the ball travels in the air. The higher the ball travels, the more affected by wind it is, the more it bounces high and is affected by spin. The lower it is, it gets less affected by wind, makes the ball bounce further, roll more and get more affected by lie. Impact - The amount of the sweet-spot marker left for certain shots. Less makes bunker shots match harder to land and often results in mis-hits. Control - The amount of movement away from the targeted spot when hit off the perfect impact point, The higher the amount, the less the ball moves from the target spot. Spin - The amount of affect spin has on the ball. Having a higher amount will mean that the ball will roll further with the use of spin.

Transferable Characters
Neil and Ella can be transferred into the game by connecting Mario Golf: Advance Tour for the Game Boy Advance with the Nintendo GameCube.

"Target Bullseye Tour" Version
On July 28, 2003, Nintendo of America released Mario Golf: Toadstool Tour (Target Bullseye Tour Included -- Exclusive Version) through Target stores. This version allowed players to play the Bullseye Tour in the Special Tournament mode. Codes issued from this version of the game could be submitted through the official website. Nintendo prizes were mailed out to the winners. The promotion ended on August 31, 2003.

References to other games

 * Super Mario Bros.: In the character select screen, Princess Peach sings the first few notes of the overworld theme. A remix of the underground theme is heard during the player's attempt to score a birdie.
 * Super Mario 64: Shifting Sands is possibly based on Shifting Sand Land from this game. A remix of the Peach's Castle theme is heard in Peach's Castle Grounds. A remix of the Bowser boss fight music is heard in Bowser Badlands. Hole 8 of Peach's Castle Grounds has a mountain with a similar layout to the one in Bob-omb Battlefield, and Big Bob-omb appears there, too.
 * Pikmin: Whenever a player's golf ball lands in a flower patch, Pikmin fly out.
 * Super Smash Bros. Melee: Some of Mario's voice clips from this game are recycled for Shadow Mario, albeit pitched down.
 * Super Mario Sunshine: Blooper Bay is heavily based on Gelato Beach, an area in Isle Delfino.

References in later games

 * Mario Kart: Double Dash!!: The countdown timer sound effect is reused in this game to signal the start of the race or battle for the characters.
 * Mario Power Tennis: The opening logos are reused.

Trivia

 * This game's scoreboard features many characters from other Mario games, including Goombario and Hammer Bro. Possibly coincidentally, one of these referenced characters has actually never been seen since the Super Mario Adventures comic, where he was a minor hero.

External Sites

 * | UK Site