On the bright side, maybe this means that Nintendo won’t try to keep the MSRP at $60 in perpetuity for new copies of the game, where we’re salivating like dogs when we see a sale for $45 or $50, thinking it’s a bargain.
I guess you missed those that said it is the best Mario Sports game. " Super Rush is the best Mario sports game in over a decade."
Yeah, but there are just as many saying that it’s a disappointing experience, largely due to lack of initial content, a disappointing solo mode, and too much focus on speed golf (which, to be fair, is what the game is named for). It seems to be a pretty split decision out there in Reviewland.
I just want a sequel to Golf Story.
I did not miss those. I also am iffy on blowing $60 on something that might be great or might be terrible. You go ahead and enjoy it.
Feel free to whine at me anytime.
Having read a range of the Mario Golf reviews, the consensus seems to be that the new speed rush mode is underwhelming, the single-player adventure mode is more like a tutorial and therefore disappointing, the course selection is slight (only five, but more are supposed to be patched in later), but that the traditional golf mode is great.
This mostly sounds okay to me since I was interested in the traditional golf mode anyway, but it echoes the reviews for Mario Tennis, which is the only Switch game I regret purchasing. I’m a little more hopeful because the main problem with Mario Tennis was that it was lacking in fidelity to the sport—primarily that unforced errors were nonexistent and forced errors can only happen with the super shots, making matches between evenly skilled players devolve into slogs more often than not, especially with the super shots turned off (and even when turned on since you eventually learn how to counter them)—and that should not be an issue with a golf game as the field of play is larger and more varied. Hopefully there’s a demo.
Still, this is looking like a game I get on sale (as if that ever happens with Nintendo-published games that aren’t Mario + Rabbids), if ever, rather than the day-one purchase I’d hoped.
You mean a Golf Story 2 instead of Sports Story?
Either one, really. I’d much rather have more Golf Story than Mario Golf.
Sports Story is its actual sequel and is in development. Its trailer looks outstanding. Truly bonkers stuff.
I believe COVID-19 delayed its release/development, though.
Well Sports Story was meant to be released Q2 2020 and got delayed… :( I want them to hurry up as well!
The latest update was 10 days ago:
Sports Story Mini Update: Some parts of the game unexpectedly grew quite large. The tennis part now has a full career that spans multiple zones. We decided we had no choice but to see it through, and look forward to sharing the results of our struggles. We think it was worth it.
I mean I was quite happy when I picked up Paper Mario for $30 this week at Target.
They do go on sale, $40 is very reasonable if you’re patient, but for sure it is not very frequent if you have one specific title you’re looking for.
Fortunately for me, I only got a Switch at Christmas, so it is all Switch games I am looking for which leads to reasonable odds of a deal!
Also Mario + Rabbids is Ubisoft published.
Well, that explains that. I have spotted that the carts go on sale regularly around holidays, but it’s mostly on select titles (the big ones like Mario Kart, Zelda, and the Mario platformers usually), I’m primarily digital only, and don’t pay much attention to the big box stores so it’s often too late for me when I do notice a sale.
Oh very good news! I recall hearing a sequel was being worked on, but it had been so long I had pretty much forgotten about it.
I’d love to see a Switch remake of Mario Golf for the GBC. I loved that game.
A little bummed about the Golf reviews. Has anyone tried the Tony Hawk remake? It’s received good reviews on other platforms, just wondering how it does on the Switch.
The Golf game seems very fun, but the lack of ball shadow, the horrible musics and the non customizable camera, defaulting to “bullet cannon” view, make it a strong pass for me.
I noticed I had some funds I forgot about in my Nintendo account and will be seeing my dad and other assorted relatives soon and Mario Golf is essentially the only console game he’ll play, so I decided to try it out despite my misgivings.
I played a few rounds handheld while watching the Euro matches today and a bit before and after in docked more. So far, it’s good. The golf feels like golf should, though as I played more, I started to realize I was probably overthinking it a bit. At first, I was using the range-finder view—where you zoom in on potential shot locations to read the course—but soon discovered the course-map viewer and started using it to plan my shots with no noticeable drop off in play.
The way shots work is standard and intuitive. It mostly feels like how I remember older Mario Golf games feeling. Putting is a bit simplistic, but since that seems to be the bane of every golf game, I won’t complain about it since putting in this game does not make me want to pull my hair out (you can dock it a point in realism if you wish). There are also special club unlocks for each character once you use them enough and simply playing in the solo modes where you’re trying to beat your own high scores seems like a fun enough grind for me.
The first two courses are a bit generic, especially compared to those in Golf Story. Having a simple parkland style course to start with is fine, but the second course is similar, except with sheep and cottages thrown in. The third course, the first one you have to unlock, looks a bit more promising and the fourth is on a desert course. I remember reading a review complaining about how none of the courses feel like part of the mushroom kingdom save one unlocked toward the end, and that holds true so far (though the desert one looks like a Mario level to me). Hopefully the free DLC courses address this. I’m not seeing any links courses yet or even ones with much water, so I’m also hoping to see some of those in the future. Further, I wish there were a tournament mode where you’d play against several players beyond those in your group and have a leaderboard update after every hole. It would be an easy way to address my next complaint.
Which is that the AI is pretty bad. I was winning comfortably in my first match (I was about -4 through nine-holes and my four AI opponents were all well over par). They three-put a ton and have no clue how or when to use their special shots (you should play with those off when going against the AI). They even struggled against me in the one round of speed golf I played despite me learning its mechanics while playing. There does not seem to be a way to increase AI skill, either. It’s possible they’d play better (or I’d play more to their level) in later courses. You could also try adjusting the wind to make it more challenging for yourself, but I get the sense it would affect them just as much. When playing by myself, I would probably opt for the solo modes more often than not.
I have not tried adventure or battle mode, yet. The former is supposed to take roughly 10-hours to complete, which is more than I was expecting given some of the grousing in the reviews. I did notice there are only three save slots for it, though, so if, say, you have a family of four and were planning to have a Mii golfer for each, you’re out of luck. Although, the roster of Nintendo characters is more charming than Miis anyway.
Overall, I like it. It feels like a great game to chill on the couch with while you half-watch something on television. I’m hopeful that multiplayer will be a hit too and see no reason why it wouldn’t be.
The lack of ball shadow—assuming we’re using the term the same way—usually isn’t a big deal. There is a white-line ball preview, and you can zoom out to a course view to better plan your shots. You do have to sort of feel out how much the wind and slope affect your ball, but I kind of like that. It’s obviously an arcadey sports game and that is the one area that feels slightly sim like. It is hard to get a sense of how high your ball will fly though, which is a problem when trying to arc over or around trees. You can adjust it to be higher or lower (as well as left and right), but the only way to know for sure how it will fly is trial and error.
The bullet cam is only really a thing when you’re dashing to your ball during speed golf (maybe battle golf too). It is a bit annoying since it is not clear how far away the people behind you are, but other than that it’s mostly fine (based on my one nine-hole round with it).
The other course views help a bit with the camera (the range-finder and course views), but there do not seem to be any other camera adjustments. But, this isn’t much of a problem in the standard golf modes. Can’t help you with the music, other than to note you can toggle it off without muting the game sounds.
Oh the ball shadow isn’t a big deal on the gameplay front, but it’s really disorienting to me and… well, really, really disorienting, like almost vertigo inducing.
To better sum it up: watching every shot, I felt like I was missing to notice an early step in the stairs. It felt really strange.
Oh, now I see what you mean and agree. It’s very difficult to judge where the ball is landing once it’s in flight. I don’t know if the wind is carrying it farther than expected or if it’s landing where I wanted until it’s on the ground, so it is a bit dizzying to watch without a shadow as a reference point.