Mario Golf: Toadstool Tour

Mario and the gang hit the links of the Mushroom Kingdom!

JP release: 28th July 2003
NA release: 5th September 2003
EU release: 18th June 2004
Developer: Camelot
Publisher: Nintendo
NGC Magazine Score: 85%
Mods Used: Widescreen Code

Mario Golf: Toadstool Tour takes what worked well in the first Mario Golf and makes it better. One thing that this game does immediately better than any other golf game is helping you visualise where the ball is going to go. On top of showing you the rough area the ball will land (you still have to account for wind and the surface you’re landing on), you can also adjust the strength, which alters your target marker, letting you know where to stop the bar.

You can also use a power shot for greater distance, but these are limited. Finally, you can adjust where on the golf ball you hit to add spin, change how the ball rolls when it lands or even just to alter the height to go above or under obstacles. When you start to swing, you have two ways of stopping it. If you press A to set power, the accuracy will be done “automatically” – which means a random chance of being entirely accurate. If you press B, the bar will go back down for you to set the accuracy yourself. Using B does feel a bit unnatural, and you can’t change the default option.

The first two courses in Toadstool Tour are just typical golf courses. They’re a good introduction and lets you get used to the core mechanics. The third and fourth courses knock things up a bit with more themed areas with bigger hills, more islands and the like. These then require you to get used to hitting the ball in crazier ways, using spin to make sure the ball doesn’t plummet into the ocean or making risky bounces – I was able to skim the ball on the water and land it onto a beach right near the green once.

But the final two courses are where things really pick up. On top of being really difficult, they also have a ton of fancy gimmicks. Bob-boms explode if you hit them, flower beds hide pikmin, mushrooms will make the ball bounce and if you get the ball into a warp pipe, it will come out elsewhere on the course, which if done right can help you skip portions of the course. These courses are challenging but very regarding, and the amount of features packed into them are what elevates this above the N64 game.

There are also plenty of extra things to do, such as a puzzle mode where you have to get the ball through rings while still maintaining par on the course, a mode where you can only use each club once, a coin challenge and even a bonus course that only has par 3 holes on it. There’s a ton to it and it’s wonderful to play, one of the great golf games.

Great

Unsurprisingly, this is all very accomplished stuff form Camelot, with very little to fault. All the characters you know and love are there to use – complete with their varied skills – and the courses are all well designed, with a pleasing variety of challenges.
Geraint Evans, NGC Magazine #95

Remake or remaster?

A remaster would be great, with an alternative way to set the controls.

Official Ways to get the game

There is no official way to get Mario Golf: Toadstool Tour.