**Prelude**
Mario has been participating in one kind of sport or another since the 80s. From tennis to soccer/football to basketball to the Olympics, if there’s a sport out there Mario has most likely done it. But by far the oldest Mario sports series, which was inaugurated in 1987, is Mario Golf. You may think of golf as an “old people” sport, mainly reserved for country clubs with too much cleared grassland… and you may very well be right about that. You may also think that golf video games aren’t anything special; after all indie devs put out golf games all the time. But throw in Mario in there and things suddenly change. Golf became fun, accessible, and exciting to master, all thanks to a new developer on the scene: Camelot.
Ever since they took over the Mario Golf series in the late 90s, Camelot have developed every single entry since on both home consoles and handhelds. The home console entries typically focus on arcadey sports action while the handheld entries focused on being single player RPGs. Toadstool Tour on GameCube is still a fan favorite played by millions due to its refined controls, deep mechanics, and Mario charm. And while the Mario Golf series had a great run in the early 2000s, shortly afterwards they just… stopped for a while. For context, the last Mario Golf game before World Tour was the GBA one back in 2004. Fans had to wait 10 whole years for a new one, so will it be worth the wait?
**This Game Has Loads Of Depth!**
After nearly a decade of waiting, \[Mario Golf World Tour\]([https://youtu.be/5LfPg9lpx2k](https://youtu.be/5LfPg9lpx2k)) finally launched on the 3DS on May 2, 2014, and right from the start things were gonna be different. Unlike previous handheld iterations, World Tour follows more in line with the console games. This was also true for the previous Mario Tennis game on 3DS, however that one was severely lacking in terms of content and gameplay depth. Folks were worried that Mario Golf would similarly be dumbed down for its 3DS debut.
World Tour was seemingly Camelot’s big apology for that tennis rushjob, and so they made sure this time to keep the accessible yet deep gameplay of Toadstool Tour intact. Fun fact: this game was originally supposed to come out in the summer of 2013, barely a year after that previous Mario Tennis game. But Nintendo quietly announced at E3 2013 that they were pushing back the game’s release by an entire year. It’s like that Miyamoto quote people keep bringing up, and here I think it definitely applies. You can adjust the spin of your ball, apply fade or draw to adjust its flight path, and even use new Mario Kart-style items to further strategize your shots, a first for the Mario Golf series. And if you were struggling to pull off any of these maneuvers, don’t worry! There’s a built-in training facility to practice these techniques to your heart’s content. All of this creates a gameplay experience that rewards your skill as a player rather than dumb luck.
**This Game Has Tons Of Characters And Stages!**
Back when the game launched, there were 17 playable characters you could unlock and play as. Most of the regulars from previous entries returned, along with some fun newcomer choices. 4 of those 17 characters are unlockable, and one of these base characters is actually your Mii. Each character also has their own unique stats and shot arcs to consider when you’re picking which stage to play on. And each of them also have a more powerful “star version” you can unlock, which increases their drive distance at the cost of control and accuracy. It’s a solid character roster all around, without any babies or metal characters clogging up any spots.
And those stages oh man. World Tour launched with a whopping 10 golf courses, the most of any Mario Golf game to date. 4 of those are more traditional courses with 18 holes each, and the other 6, dubbed “Mario World” courses, contain 9 holes each and feature much more Mario-inspired visual themes, course hazards, and mechanics to consider. Yoshi Lake, for instance, is based on both Yoshi’s Story and Yoshi’s Woolly World (the latter of which wouldn’t be out for another year). Cheep Cheep Lagoon lets you golf underwater for the first and only time in series history, and DK Jungle features tons of hazards based on Donkey Kong Country Returns. Last but certainly not least, fans of Mario Kart DS will be ecstatic to hear that there is an entire golf course based on Peach Gardens, several years before that track was brought back in 8 Deluxe and complete with the original music! Now there was a way to obtain even more courses and characters, but I’ll talk about that towards the end.
**This Game Has Loads Of Content For Both Single Player And Multiplayer!**
This was easily the biggest point of contention people had with the Mario sports games on Switch and the Mario Tennis game on 3DS beforehand. And I’m elated to report that Camelot rectified their mistakes by overwhelming the player with loads of content right out of the box here. For starters, the sheer amount of options you have for customizing matches in multiplayer are simply staggering. All of the standard game modes from previous Mario Golf games return, including the standard Stroke Play, the 1v1 mode Match Play, the decathlon-inspired Point Play, and the time attack-based Speed Golf. Yes, Speed Golf was in fact not a new mode introduced on the Switch. You can also adjust the wind strength, which hole to play on first, whether coins or items appear on the field, whether players should take turns or all tee off at the same time, and whether or not to enable randomized clubs (called Club Slots) among others. And all of this can be played locally or online with up to four players!
But if you fancy yourself more of the solo player, World Tour has plenty to offer for that crowd too! There’s an entire single player mode called the Castle Club, an RPG-lite campaign kind of like the earlier handheld Mario Golf games. Here you play as your Mii and try to work your way up the ranks by winning three progressively more difficult tournaments on the aforementioned 18-hole courses. There are dozens upon dozens of cosmetics to unlock for your Mii that can change their stats, including gloves, pants, shirts, visors, golf balls, and even full body character costumes. And here is also where you can partake in the various shot practice minigames to improve your skills or just for fun. You could also participate in regional and worldwide tournaments back when the game was new, which I’m sure I would’ve gotten addicted to had I got into the game much earlier.
But arguably more substantial than the Castle Club is the dedicated Challenge Mode section. Now this was where the good stuff is at! Are you a fan of the Mission Mode from Mario Kart DS? What about the Striker Challenges in Mario Strikers Charged? Well boy do I have the game mode for you. These challenges are how you unlock the various courses and characters for multiplayer, and the rate of unlocks is pretty smooth and consistent. These include collecting a hard-to-reach coin, shooting through gold rings, beating all the holes in under a time limit, taking on a Match Play session for a souped-up star character, and even more I didn’t mention. And guess how many of these challenges there are in total? If you correctly guessed 200 on your first try, I’m willing to bet you cheated and looked up the answers.
**This Game Is Beautiful For 3DS Standards!**
Okay that last section went on a little longer than I thought, so let’s reel it back for this next point: this game really is an audio-visual treat for 3DS owners. Every single one of the golf courses immediately stands out with tons of vibrant colors and unique terrain that clearly communicate their functions. And the music that plays on these courses are really diverse and pleasant for the most part. On top of some delightful original tracks, you’ll also hear lots of remixes from across the Mario franchise! These include the underwater theme from SMB1, the athletic theme from SMB3, the title screen music from Yoshi’s Story, a jazzy rendition of DK Jungle, and even a waltz take on Honeyhive Galaxy!
The characters themselves are also nicely animated, and their post-hole animations are so elaborate that they can rival Mario Strikers Charged in terms of personality and charm. And they’re packed with plenty of references to their source material, like DK’s silhouette stages from Returns or Bowser Jr. using the magic paintbrush from Mario Sunshine. But hey don’t just take my word for it, \[watch them for yourself\]([https://youtu.be/9vaD1euDzsA](https://youtu.be/9vaD1euDzsA)) and witness the sheer amount of love and care that Camelot put into these animations!
**This Game Had… Actually Good DLC?!**
Back in the early 2010s paid DLC was still very much a new thing, with not many publishers figuring out how to do it right without pissing everyone off. Looking at you, Capcom. Back when World Tour was released, it included something that was a first for any Nintendo game: a \[season pass\]([https://youtu.be/dm2K7lkZxqI](https://youtu.be/dm2K7lkZxqI)). And people were not sure what to make of it. While Nintendo had done paid DLC earlier in the decade with games like Fire Emblem Awakening and New Super Mario Bros. 2, I felt that World Tour did DLC better here than in those titles (or future titles for that matter), and for several reasons. The first was that the base game wasn’t full price; it was only $30 dollars at launch, which was already less than the standard 3DS game. And the season pass added 4 more characters (all of whom were newcomers to the Mario Golf series) and 6 more 9-hole golf courses, which were actually remakes of the 6 courses from Mario Golf 64. I loved using Toadette to clear challenges, Nabbit for his hole animations, Rosalina because of course, and Gold Mario to farm for coins.
The second and arguably more important reason was that the season pass was fairly priced, only $15 dollars. And on top of all of these new characters and courses, you get an additional 100+ extra challenges added to the Challenge Mode. So altogether you’d be paying $45 US dollars for substantially more content than you would get if you bought Toadstool Tour at its original retail price! This remarkably fair treatment on Nintendo’s part got a lot of people talking and speculating about potential paid DLC for Smash Bros. and Mario Kart, which were both scheduled to release later that year. And this certainly beats the “free updates” model Nintendo loves doing with Super Rush and their other Switch games nowadays. Sadly as of this writing, it is no longer possible to purchase this DLC officially anymore. But if you are truly persistent, you’ll probably find a way around it.
**Conclusion**
Holy crap this review became way longer than I originally anticipated! But anyways, that was my big fat schpeel on Mario Golf World Tour for the Nintendo 3DS family of systems. Y’know this game flew under the collective radar of most Nintendo fans, and that can most likely be attributed to Mario Kart 8 coming out around the same time on Wii U. Reviews at the time were sparse but generally really positive, and according to VGChartz the game sold just under half a million copies, and that’s being generous.
But hopefully I’ve convinced you on why I love this game. This is genuinely one of my favorite Mario sports games of all time, and probably one of my favorite Mario spinoffs full stop. And it deserves to be played by the widest group of people conceivably possible. It is probably the last truly excellent Mario sports game and the last truly amazing game Camelot has ever put out.
by Asad_Farooqui
37 Comments
FYI I had to post this through desktop because the mobile app wouldn’t let me post something this long lol. That’s why you’ll see formatting errors because I can’t edit super long posts like this on desktop or mobile.
TL;DR: It’s the closest Nintendo ever came to hitting the magic of Hot Shots Golf. Play it.
Absolutely loved World Tour, such a shame they completely failed on Rush.
It was sooo good. The courses were amazing and so diverse. And then Mario Sports Superstars followed it and was trash.
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And this 3DS game was worse than the GBA game, which was worse than the GBC game…..
I wish I had seen this post last week. Mario Golf wasn’t listed in the “games with DLC” list anywhere
Awesome write up! You have an entertaining style, and this is the first I’ve really heard about Mario Golf 3DS, now I know
My favorite Mario Golf game, which is saying a lot because I have spent a LOT of time in Mario Golf 64
Could have done without the YouTube clickbait title, but it was a great writeup.
I picked it up on a whim a year or so ago, and really enjoyed it for 20 hours or so before getting distracted by something new. I think I’ll go back to it, I was really enjoying the challenge mode and the DLCs
Well done OP! Agreed, this game is amazing!
I’m currently playing the GBA Tennis game, those games have a lot of charm, anyone knows if the GBA golf game is any good?
I played this because I heard there was a Mario golf game with rpg elements. I don’t think this was the one I was looking for. Was it maybe the GBA version that was supposed to be that way?
Suelo jugar este juego con 2 o 3 amigos en la universidad, y realmente es muy divertido (Mis dos favoritos de la saga son Toadstool tour y este), aunque los controles no esten tan refinados como en la entrega de GameCube, facilmente le agarras el ritmo, definitivamente es un gran juego competitivo, con un gran contenido que deja en alto el nombre de “Mario World”, pense que nadie le tomaba la importancia que merece a este juego, pero me alegro de tu reseña, es una reseña clara, que no habla de mas, ni de menos.
I appreciate how colorful the game is. Especially the UI.
I bought Mario Golf: Super Rush on day one, digitally, sight unseen, based on how much I loved World Tour.
I was so disappointed with it, I haven’t given Nintendo a dollar since.
It’s a really a shame how bad Mario sports games are on switch
Literally looked this up on eBay just an hour or so ago (doing the “wow my games are worth a ton without the eshop!” thing) and this one was markedly higher than some of the other 3ds games. >$100. Maybe this is why?
Dang, you couldn’t post this a week ago? I want that DLC 🙁 But seriously good review. Made me go from “why would I ever want this game” to “I need to play this game right now!”
Inb4 someone comes comment/announce to the world how they had fun and don’t understand the feelings behind the review, as if that adds anything to the conversation
16 courses like 12 of them are 18 holes.
The reason I haven’t brought the switch game is mario golf world tour 3ds is just better in every way aside from graphics.
The courses are better in it too. More content and the game was $40 new.
It was awesome. But then my save corrupted and I lost 40h of playtime…….
Trying to edit this on desktop has caused some issues. Working to manually restore the content so please bear with me!
Update: everything is fixed now!
Mario Tennis Aces was always complete, it just didn’t have too many characters
Battle Leauge had a content problem, it also just happened to not have too many characters (albeit Strikers was always bad when it came to content).
I put over 100 hours into this game and was totally hooked on the online competitions they ran.
Mario Golf World Tour was completely ruined for me by your character repeating a voice line urging you to hurry up while you’re lining up a shot. I can’t remember how intermittent the voice lines are played, but if I had to hazard a guess, maybe between 5 and 10 seconds?
God forbid I take my time lining up shots when playing single-player in a golf game.
And I don’t care for playing with the volume off. I’m not forgoing all audio in a game when there are plenty of other games I could play where that’s not necessary.
It’s a massive shame, as I loved absolutely everything else about the game, and it had a ton of content. Miles better than Super Rush.
Both Mario Golf Mario Strikers on Switch have been huge disappointments. They’re just soulless and not fun to play, solo or in multiplayer.
I really feel Nintendo let me down on both of these and I’m out $120 for nothing.
I loved this game, used to play the online a lot during my breaks at work.
I love Mario Golf, but the n64 one will always be the GOAT. I’d put the 3ds one 2nd. I think if super rush had tournaments and the vs matches to unlock characters I might put that at #2. I hate the speed/running modes but I just don’t play them. I could see how that might be fun with friends all together in a room but I’m not playing that way too often.
Anyway, glad to hear there are other Mario golf diehards out there
When they had online tournaments it was the best Mario Golf game ever.
The Switch is a really good Mario Golf game but it has no charm at all for online play. Repetitive and boring in comparison.
I’m planning on buying a physical copy of the game soon. Do you know if there’s any way get the DLC even with the eshop closed?
I loved that the weekly tournaments still got support years after its release, all the hackers did ruin it though.
Where did we go wrong? We went from this to deluding players in getting free content with stuff that should have been in the damn game in the first place.
>This Game Has Loads Of Content For Both Single Player And Multiplayer!
Eh, I felt that it was the start of Mario sports games cutting corners in terms of content (no classic tournament mode, no doubles, no highlights, and a few more things). Toadstool Tour still reigns king on that end. World Tour was definitely great pricewise, with it being $30 for the base game and $45 in total with DLC.
To be fair, every Mario sports game on Switch sucks. The most obvious example is Mario Strikers
Camelot is simply too small of a studio to develop HD games with a lot of content. I’d put them on remake territory if I were Nintendo (or buy them and invest more money in them, do that they can expand).