Release Date: 1999
Publishers: Nintendo
Developers: Camelot Software Planning
System: N64
Rated: E

Mario Golf is one of the Mario sports games. So there is no story. This game will, of course, be rated on a 1-10 scale.

Gameplay: 7
Of course the gameplay is based on a game of golf. So let's talk about the original game of golf. You play through 18 holes, or you can set the settings to the first nine holes or last nine holes. You hit the ball with different clubs depending on how far you have to hit the ball. Anyway, let's just say it's a par 4, the most common type of par. You have to get the ball in the hole in four shots. If you do this, your score's even. If you make it higher then four, then you get a plus whatever how many shots over it took you. You want to have as low score as possible in golf. There are par 5's and par 3's too. A birdie is making it one under par, Eagle is two under, and a hole-in-one requires getting the ball in on your first shot. An Albatross is when you get the ball in the hole in the second shot on a par 5, which is extremely rare(I've only gotten 3 in my life in this game).

So now you know the rules, now let's explain the game itself. In a game of golf, you always want to try to land on the fairway, not the rough, in sand, etc. You have regular golf mode, which is what I JUST explained. You can play against a friend or CPU. Then you have tournament mode, which allows you to unlock characters and courses through the game. You also collect birdie badges in this mode. If you get a birdie on every hole in the game on tournament mode, then you get a surprise. Then you have Ring Shots mode. This is when you must clear a certain number of rings and still obtain a par. They get harder as they go along. You also have slots, which is when a random slot machine decides which type of club you will be using. This can be a good thing or a bad thing depending on the weather. Then you have training mode, which is self-explanatory: TRAINING!

Music: 3
Well it's golf, people. You have very forgettable, boring music throughout your courses. The menu screen music is even forgettable at times. Yeah, let's just stop about the music. It's bad, but then again it's just a sports game. And it's not as bad as MK64 either, nothing is.

Characters: 6
There were some great characters, really: Yoshi, Donkey Kong, Bowser, Mario, Luigi, Peach, etc. This was just fine. Now let's looks at the characters that lowered this score. You have truly unknown characters such as Harry, Sonny, Plum, and Maple. If you don't recognize their names, don't worry, they're not even REAL Mario characters. This is a problem because there are so many Mario-related characters that they could have put in the game: the Koopalings (who seem to be unknown to Nintendo now), Geno, Waluigi, etc. Those were three random ones off the top of my head. Anyway, I didn't like listening to Sonny say "It's a sunny day", or Maple say "Oh YES". I would have rather heard other Mario-related characters shouting out their taunts.

Graphics: 8
The graphics are really nice! The characters and courses look really sharp, and the sound is also realistic. I think this is probably the best part of the game, really. They put great graphics, for sure.

Originality: 8
Usually golf games will have their usual stuff: tournament mode, quick play, etc. This game offers Slot Mode, Ring Mode, Putt-Putt Mode, and other modes unheard of in any other game. This is why it gets the high score. Even Tournament Mode is different same because of birdie badges and other cool things. Anyway, I was impressed with how original Nintendo made this game, and I thought it was great that they did.

Secrets: 7
This is another strong point. You basically have to unlock almost everybody (I've already told you some of the unlockables). You have to unlock courses, too. The problem in this secrets categorey is that you do it all through tournament mode. You do have to do a very little bit in Ring Shots mode, but still they should have spread the secrets out a bit throughout the whole game, not just one mode (think of SSBM).

Items: 7
Are you wondering if there are any? Yes there are. The clubs are the items the characters use to hit the ball in the hole. I loved the clubs in a way; they're just like real life clubs. The 1W is used for long shots, as are 2W and 3W. Then you have your 6I, 7I, 8I, and 9I for short, high shots. Then you have your PW and SW for bunkers, sands, wastes, etc. I thought it was categorized very well, and easy to use.

Controls: 8
The controls are as simple as pie. You move your club back and forth with the control stick. Then you press A to launch this meter going back and forth. Your goal here, which is slightly difficult at first, is to press A as soon as you see the dash line up at the endpoints. This would be perfect. Of course you're most of the time not perfect, so your ball will turn a bit depending on how you messed up. You'll get the hang of it. You can also press B before shooting and use one of your seven power shots. Use them wisely because every time you don't get a perfect or "Nice Shot", you'll lose one.

Difficulty: Depends
Once again you set your own difficulty. If you play against a hard CPU, it will be hard. Or you could make things easy. Now here's a difference. If you want to beat every course in tournament mode and get every birdie badge, this is very very very hard. It will take you days, but you must do this to unlock the ultimate secret character. Anway, once again, you will also have Ring Shots, which is hard too. So if you're looking for a simple game of golf, it should be easy, I hope. Now if you're looking to unlock every character in the game, it will be a challenge.

Overall: 8
This game really impressed me. I didn't even like golf either, but I STILL love this game. Even if you have the GameCube, GBA, GBC, etc. version, you'll love this game. I would still pay a maximum of $35 for this too. It's a great game and you should still get it, I think, even if you don't like golf.