Mario Golf: World Tour – Diminishing Returns
There’s no denying if it weren’t for Mario Golf 64, I still wouldn’t have a soft spot for golf video games and I wouldn’t have learned all of the basics of golf, how it’s scored, the golf glossary, golf terms etc so far throughout the years.
Mario Golf: World Tour may not be my first golf game but I have a lot of memories of it. In fact, I have more memories than I have than Mario Tennis Open. Originally, I was going to pick Mario Tennis Open to write about but looking back, I realised I didn’t have tons of memories of it.
I remember being locked in an intense Sudden Death with Wario. I can vaguely remember I was trying to unlock him as a character. I was playing as my main, Rosalina. The Dormie music track played during the golf match. I gave it my all but unfortunately, I was no match for him.
Mario Golf: World Tour started to show its potential when the DLC golf courses were announced. It turns out said golf courses are remakes of the old-school golf courses from Mario Golf 64, the game that started it all in terms of golf video games.
It’s time to address the elephants in the room. First and foremost, the story/adventure mode is pretty watered-down/dumbed-down when it’s compared to the story from Mario Golf: Advance Tour. It’s very much a step down, to be frank. I’m still saddened I couldn’t level up my Mii character. Sure, I can purchase attire and golf equipment but it’s not the same as the satisfaction of upgrading a character. And this is coming from someone who isn’t a fan of RPGs and JRPGs.
Secondly, the rest of the soundtrack is forgettable and it’s nothing to write home about. The only music tracks I remember are the music tracks of the DLC golf courses and the Dormie/Sudden Death music track.
Thirdly, I hated that competition-only items are locked behind online competitions. This isn’t fair to the competitors that either lost their chance to compete, didn’t qualify or they didn’t emerge victorious due to missing out on the date of when the contests start, people didn’t have good wi-fi or they can’t afford the internet. Either way, as a result, it’s impossible to obtain the items once the contests are over.
I’m upset Nintendo didn’t go the extra mile to provide the characters with their own taunts and an opportunity for the players to play back their greatest achievements in video form. Instead, we’ve been given a disappointing list of how many birdies, eagles, hole-in-ones, albatrosses and so forth to see. To put it simply, Nintendo has gotten lazy when it comes to the presentation of the game stats. This is disgracefully unacceptable.
On the other hand, the DLC pack is actually the first DLCs I bought for any game. At first I was wary about them but I eventually decided to take the plunge when an alluring wave of nostalgia washed over me and lured me like a fishing rod. Since then, I didn’t mind buying DLCs for any game but microtransactions, lootboxes etc are a different story.
However when compared to the fan favourite of the series, Mario Golf: Toadstool Tour, Mario Golf: World Tour is kinda satisfactory or mediocre.
It’s a shame there haven’t been a new instalment of this series since this game. I won’t be lying to myself that Nintendo don’t pour their heart and soul and don’t put much effort into their games and be more ambitious like they used to. Call me an old fart all you want but I can’t help myself to be jaded and pessimistic about Nintendo these days. In fact, I don’t have the passion like I used to.
Speaking of stats, I’ve already lost count of how many hole-in-ones I achieved. I haven’t gotten an albatross yet. Funnily enough, I somehow managed to obtain an albatross as Lily (the main female proagonist’s default name is Ella. She is one of the main protagonists from Mario Golf: Advance Tour and she is at level 99 at the time) in the Bowser Badlands golf course from Mario Golf: Toadstool Tour. I can’t recall which hole number for the life of me. I still regret not recording my greatest feat when I had the chance back then. Bowser’s Castle from Mario Golf: World Tour got nothing on Bowser’s Badlands in terms of difficulty.
I remember pulling all-nighters or staying up late and during the early hours of the morning in my room on my bed or whenever I’m on the toilet just to try and achieve a hole-in-one or an albatross. Obviously, hole-in-ones and albatrosses are so hard to come by. I had to turn down the volume so I don’t disturb my mum and my younger sister from sleeping through the night.
While I’m on the subject of the story mode, the characters and the locations are generic, run-of-the-mill, uncreative and uninteresting, especially when compared to the previous instalments of the series. All I see are generic Toads, Koopa Troopas, Goombas, Paratroopas, Lakitus etc with no personality traits and characteristics as I walked through the locations. At least, the human characters from Mario Golf (Game Boy Colour version) and Mario Golf: Advance Tour are unique and are full of life.
Fast forward to nowadays, I’ve already moved on to bigger and better things due to my age and the fact I’ve expanded my horizons. I’ve moved on to the Ratchet & Clank franchise, non-Nintendo platformers, non-Nintendo racing games and indie games. I’ve outgrown the Mario series, Kirby series, Animal Crossing series and anything related to Nintendo. In Mario Golf series’ place is the Everybody’s Golf series to fill that gaping void.
Wahoo! You are a Super Reader! But the adventure doesn’t stop here… There’s more of this project in another castle! This article is just one level in an entire Super Mario Multiverse, a galactic collaboration between writers around the world sharing a bit of our hearts and memories about our favorite Mario games. Visit the Center of the Multiverse to see more:
