So I got Mario Golf: Super Rush and played ten hours at launch. All I can say is the game is overall a big disappointment.
The production values are fantastic, with amazing graphics that depict lush valleys and sparkling Sandy dunes running smoothly at 60fps, and a soundtrack that Sakuraba didn’t phone in.
It also has some neat ideas - a character’s spin stat contributes to portions of the power meter that you can use to curve the ball. For example if you wanted to make your shot fade, and your character had two spin portions on the power meter, then you’d spin right, then left. If you only had one portion you have to think carefully about where you aim your shot since you can only curve in one direction.
The course designs are also rather good, too. Cross country golf is a mode which takes place in a ravine full of vertical drops, and you have to clear all 9 holes in 40 shots. This really tests your understanding of the golf mechanics, and being able to run between holes helps you survey the land between shots.
That’s the extent of the good stuff, because everything else falls way off the mark. The main focus of the game is speed golf, where you spend half a minute running between each shot to where the ball lands, simultaneously with other players. This sounds good in theory but being rushed off your feet takes away from the strategic appeal of planning your shots carefully. It’s also a complete bore in single player since you’re on your own anyway.
The biggest problems with the game are twofold: Firstly the golf is flawed at a fundamental level. The new accuracy mechanic is random and the idea is actually rather cool: the more power you apply to your shot, the more likely it won’t land where you intend it, wind and other external factors aside. The problem is is it’s too forgiving when you’re hitting balls out of the rough or the bunker. It’s very possible to whack the ball out of the bunker using the driver and not have any penalty at all - while the accuracy will be off, it’ll still travel full distance and more likely than not land on the green anyway!
The other big issue with the game is developer Camelot was clearly spread too thin trying to deliver four types of golf: Standard, Speed, Battle, Cross Country. Standard Golf really suffers for this and the game has very little to accommodate this play style. challenge mode is literally just a point play scoreboard! That’s it - a huge ginormous step down from the fantastic 3DS game. Play that one instead.
Bummer. Sounds like they messed up where it counts by trying to reinvent too much. I felt the same way about the recent Mario Tennis game on Switch. I haven’t picked this up yet and am waiting for a sale.
Really recommend for anyone with the hardware for it (PS3 and PS Move controllee w/ camera) to play the Disc Golf game in the Wii Sports like ‘Sports Champions’ on PS3
Also small shout out to the Monkey Golf in Supee Monkey Ball 2 that was pretty great for just a side game
Pretty much. I wonder if the director on Nintendo’s side is partly to blame - usually with Camelot’s games there isn’t a director from Nintendo.
What we have here doesn’t really seem like something Camelot would necessarily want to go for. Even the style of online play used here (no tournament rankings, only match play!) seems like it was made to sell Switch Online subscriptions…
I thought Mario Tennis Aces was still good because even though the single player was focused on the new tennis rules, there was still an equally amazing game of Simple Rules next to it with the same modes, whereas there’s no doubt that standard golf got the short end of the stick in Super Rush.
Been meaning to still pick up Move one day to go through some of the first party games but I didn’t have Sports Champions on my list - I’ll check it out, thanks!
I’ve been playing Mario Golf World Tour on 3DS again lately after selling Super Rush.
I just wish I played it more when the online was super active, the golf in this game is fantastic, and the courses offer a lot of variety in challenge. While official developer-run tournaments are now dead, community tournaments are still available. I’ve been setting up one a week, classic rules, going through all the courses in order. Usually a dozen or so people take part. It’s been good fun!
It’s interesting that this was developed over a decade. Originally (1992) written for Psion Series 3 as Pitch & Putt, then improved and released as Fairway. Improved again for Series 5 as Golf. Series 5mx has a much faster CPU so it had to be slowed down to work on that machine. Later it was colorised for Symbian/Nokia phones (2005). https://stevelitchfield.com/fairway.htm
Courses are randomly generated, and there’s no height other than “break” on the green, and that is only shown as an arrow rather than visually by the 3D rendering.
Mini-Putt (not sure of the official title) for Famicom? I actually think it’s the best golf game on the hardware. Such a shame it never made it stateside.
Speaking of mini golf… this one is one of my favs:
This is one of the games we had back in the day for our Amiga, and it still is fun to this day. I love the “OOOHhhhH” sound the crowd makes when you get a hole in one. Usually played with the mouse, the controls were super simple, and it just worked so well.
I was lucky enough to find an Amiga package this year that just happened to have a CIB copy of this, and that made me happier than a pig in you know what.
