Nintendo and Camelot Software Planning brought Mario Golf back after a decade away. Mario Golf: World Tour hit the Nintendo 3DS in May 2014, following 2004’s Mario Golf: Advance Tour on the Game Boy Advance. It was first shown on February 14, 2013, in a Nintendo Direct presentation, and was meant to arrive in the second half of 2013 before slipping to May 2014.
Trailer, via Nintendo of America.
A decade between tees
That wait shapes the game. World Tour is the fifth entry in the series, and it is the first with online multiplayer. It also carries online golf tournaments and a feature for finding other players to golf with. For a handheld sports game in 2014, that is the headline addition, not the roster.
Super Shots and two kinds of course
The golf underneath is an arcade take on the sport. You pick a Mario character, aim a club, and try to sink the ball in as few strokes as possible. Controls are simple and the pace is quick, with realism taking a back seat. Some courses are modeled on real-life layouts; others are built from Super Mario environments.
Super Shots return. They add distance when you choose them, but each course hands out only a limited number, so spending one is a decision. That scarcity is the best thing in the game. It turns a casual swing into a small wager.
The Castle Club problem
The Castle Club story mode drew criticism for its short length, and for making Mii characters the only playable characters. That is a real flaw. The mode asks you to care about a campaign, then hands you a generic avatar instead of the Mushroom Kingdom cast the box promises.
| Mode | What it offers |
|---|---|
| Castle Club | Story mode; Mii characters only; criticized as short |
| Online play | First in the series; tournaments and player matchmaking |
| Local split screen | Two-player play on one system |
What holds up
The rest does. Reviewers praised the gameplay, the audiovisual presentation, the modes and the online features, and the game holds an 8.0 out of 10 critic aggregate across 11 outlets. The online tournaments and matchmaking are the parts worth watching, because they extend a game that would otherwise end when the courses do.
Mario Golf: World Tour is not trying to be a simulation, and it is better for admitting that. The arcade swing, the Super Shot budget and the split-screen play all serve a fast, clean round of golf. The Castle Club misstep is the one place the game forgets who it is for.
Twelve years on, the verdict is easy. This is a strong return for the series, and the online layer is why. Score: 8 of 10.
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