Mario Golf for Game Boy Color is totally different from its counterpart on the N64. In fact, the only thing the same besides the name is the music (of course, it sounds different). So, here goes...
Graphics: ***
For a Game Boy Color game, the graphics are great,
and for those of you who thought it would look terrible,
you were wrong! Two things the graphics can’t
handle: rain and slopes on the green. More on that in a
moment...
Sound: ***1/2
Try to find another game which duplicated N64
music so well! Others have taken music from the GBC and spiced it up, but
this did the opposite. Sure, the music isn’t perfect, but what do you expect?
You’ll hear the
Mario theme song at Peach’s castle, the Mario
Golf music, the “Dormie” music (last hole), the Replay music, the Training
music... yeah, it’s all here. The sound effects warn you of a ball hitting
a tree, something that is really helpful so you don’t accidentally just
hit the buttons and nail the tree. NES fans have gotta love that static
and chirping sound that sounds more like R2-D2 than cheering when you win
a trophy (probably just the Gold Trophy, because on the Game Boy Color,
I have never won a Silver Trophy or a Bronze Trophy).
Difficulty: ***
This isn’t that hard for me because I mastered
the N64 version first. But really, it’s a pretty tough game
because of the main problem in it- unseen slopes.
On the N64, you can fiddle with the camera until you see exactly how much
the green is sloped. On this game, supposedly there’s arrows on the green
or something. That’s what the characters say, but anytime I follow those
little green arrows, my shot goes exactly how far past the hole as I moved
it, and it would have gone in if I could have seen the hole. Also, another
problem is being able to see the fairway and green edge and how they exactly
affect your putt if you decide to putt from the fringe. You’ll hit the
ball for a 75-foot putt exactly how much you’d need to to make it in from
the green, and the ball goes 50 feet and stops. But two things make it
easier than the N64- no rain, and a new approach shot which allows you
to shoot 30 yards and 60 yards, instead of just 60 yards. How does this
help? If you’re on the rough 7 yards from the pin, a 60-yard approach iron
makes it very hard to get the ball to only go 7 yards. The 30-yard approach
iron makes it a lot easier, resulting in a lot more chip-ins for birdies.
The mini-games are hard, to say the least (except for the putting challenges).
Characters: 1/2
Aw, just when this game was getting rave reviews...
we get the poor selection of characters. If you use Luigi
and Mario, the pathetic plumbers, you can try
practice rounds and that, but you can’t go in tournaments. You
have to use the no-names, or the ones you can
name after yourself. Or Koopalings, but last time I checked, Wendy didn’t
have pigtails. Well, maybe she does now, but these losers that you become
fight other losers (Who’s Gene Yuss?) in Match Games! Then you unlock more
no-names and then notice you haven’t seen
any Mario characters in this game except on the
leaderboard (even Koopaling names!). But this game really has nothing to
do with Mario. It has to do with golf. Golf, golf, golf. The whole Mario-golf
relationship in this game is stretched. Really, really stretched. Once
you get to Peach’s Castle, you get to play on a rip-off Mario’s Star (actually
one of the easiest courses in the game), which has courses shaped like-
guess what- Mario characters! But you can’t play as Donkey Kong, or the
lovable Yoshi (who still does make those messed-up noises), or that cry
baby Baby Mario, or even Bowser or Peach! You can unlock Wario after winning
this tournament, but you must beat him first. By then, you’ve realized,
they could have named this game just plain Golf!
Stroke Mode: **1/2
Not as good as on the N64, the stroke mode allows
you to play on one of the four courses, well, actually
five once you get to Peach’s Castle, and you
can play this with one or two players, depending on whether you have the
Cable Link hooked up. Basically, just get a low score. With the loss of
being able to see slopes
and no possibility of rain, it takes away angling
on putts and makes it more random on a putt (like Game
Guy!) but also takes away the pain of rain. You
lose that four-player fun and the three-dimesional part of
the game (well, most of it), but you do gain
a little advantage with the new approach shot, but that’s about
it.
Tournament Mode: ***
All right, maybe one of those stars comes from
the fact that Koopalings’ names are in the game, and in this mode only.
(You didn’t think that you could play as the Koopalings, did you?) This
mode brings you some
competition, like having to actually birdie to
stay alive. But competition is good rather than little or no competition
in Stroke Mode.
Match Play Mode: **
The good ol’ A.I. cheating mode is back, with
the computers getting some holes-in-one on you and some
amazing eagles. (A hint: cheat back by saving
and quitting if they have an easy win on the hole!) This can also be two
players if you have the Cable Link or whatever. (Which begs the question:
if on the N64 you
could play a four-player game with one controller,
how come you can’t do it on the GBC?)
Training Mode: **1/2
This is stroke mode, just one hole at a time, with the possibility of taking back strokes.
Status Mode: **1/2
Here you can watch replays and see all those stats you’re just dying to see. (What’s the difference between Par Saves and Par Ons?)
Options Mode: ***
This is where you can look up golf terms in the dictionary and see the now-famous (yeah, right!) Plum! You can also copy or erase data, depending on what mood you are in.
Marion Clubhouse Mode: ****
Well, I had to save the best for last (or technically, next-to-last)! This is a sort of RPG about golfing. You can talk to the Club Champs, go in the Locker Room, run around the Trophy Room, go in the Director’s Room (There a real-life conspiracy goes on after you’re supposedly stealing people’s dreams by beating Mario. The director and his pals, who must have watched too much Sailor Moon, decide to cover up your victory. You MUST agree with them...), and go out in the field and play some mini-games! No, not like Skateboard Scamper, Platform Peril, Cheep Cheep Chase, or Stacked Deck, the four worst mini-games ever, but harder mini-games, like shoot ten balls in a circle from 70-80-yards away in only ten seconds apiece, or shoot for the pin from 100+ yards away with a variable 14-18 mph wind mixing things up, or trying to make ten birdies on par 3s, the worst type of pars on holes, in a row! This is also the part of the game where you hear about how great that moron Mario is. Once you face him in that Peach’s Castle tournament, if you’re doing well, it’ll be a tie game, and then, suddenly, Mario will choke, handing you the Gold Trophy. Oh, and there’s those things called levels, where if you get EXP Pts or Course Pts or Trophy Pts or whatever, you go up a level, or two, or three! Certainly you’ll want to improve that pathetic drive of yours first. So this mode is the most interesting, if not the strangest because of everyone’s passion for golf, and probably the best. That RPG part of it makes it all worthwhile.
Fun Factor!: **1/2
Well, certainly a birdie in golf is nothing like a touchdown in football, or even a Star in Mario Party, but it is nonetheless exciting... in a way, I guess. Especially a chip-in for a birdie, though. And that elusive hole-in one... now, that’s exciting.
OVERALL: **1/2
Well, the reviews add up to a great game of golf
and absolutely no reason whatsoever for you to buy this if
you want that Mario part of the game that this
game is missing. If you love, or even like golf, then this one is definitely
for you. But if the tournament hinges on a birdie putt, and an unseen slope
makes you miss it and lose, don’t blame me...