I’m saddened to report that I don’t love MARIO GOLF. I was hoping for it to be at least a birdie, but for the most part, it’s par. Nintendo continues to succeed with porting updates to their franchises, and GOLF attempts to be an ace like MARIO TENNIS, but it’s just not the smash-hit it could’ve been.
The problems start in Adventure Mode. As soon as gamers launch this mode, they’ll quickly become bored due to a bunch of meaningless dialogue. To make matters worse, the worlds you explore look like leftovers from an incomplete ANIMAL CROSSING island. Luckily, the actual challenges on the golf courses are fun. The various courses and a complex system can be rewarding, but the other elements end up worse than a water hazard or sand trap.
It won’t take long for single players to get bored of Adventure mode and move over to the co-op section, where this game shines. It’s so much fun playing Speed Mode (it’s a mad-dash combo of MARIO KART and GOLF minus the banana peels and red turtle shells). I’ve stayed up late a few nights trying to run over other golfers with a Yoshi egg while attempting to get a birdie. It’s strangely addicting and a lot of fun.
If you have two players, MARIO GOLF is a 🤩, but it falls squarely in the 😊 zone as a single-player game.
It’s available to hit the links on Nintendo Switch.
