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Mario Golf: World Tour Discussion (Nintendo 3DS) [game]
 
  Stephen B  
Mario Golf: World Tour on the 3DS
8.47/10 from 10 user ratings

Welcome to the official discussion thread for Mario Golf: World Tour on the 3DS!

To start, please add this game to your log, add it to your collection (if applicable), and (when you are ready) rate it using the link above!

Mario Golf is a series that has been around perhaps longer than anyone realizes. In America anyway, the first game released June 30th, 1999 for the N64. Just two months shy of it's 15-year anniversary, Camelot Software is bringing another entry back into the limelight on 3DS. In fact, it's been nearly ten years since the last Mario Golf game (crazy to think about). The original game's tag-line was "Tee Up With Mario and His Friends". Here you'll get to do just that, and this time in glorious 3D graphics.


Mario Golf brought us the mechanics and the initial characters. It brought us the premise and set the bar high. A few months after the N64 release a Game Boy Color title released. Then Mario Golf: Toadstool Tour, a GameCube gem released in summer of 2003, took things farther with higher-fidelity graphics as well as more Mushroom-Kingdom-esque courses. I'll never forget the joy brought to me by that game that summer and for many years there after. Finally, the last time we saw a club-clad Mario and friends was in June 2004 with Mario Golf: Advanced Tour on the GameBoy Advance which expanded things in a specific direction... RPG-like qualities for character building.

In just two short weeks Nintendo fans will finally be able to play the next installment (which receive an initial year-long delay when it was originally intended to be released in Summer 2013). This title looks to expand on the formulas that made it great while finding a middle ground between the two different tiers that have developed over time.


This title looks to have a ton of features in store and a ton of gameplay opportunity. It keeps it's arcade-appeal with the classic Power-Bar which allows you to decide just how far to hit the ball, and if you're savvy enough, it allows you to put some hook, draw, or angle to the ball as well. For those who are less versed in these mechanics or just want a more simplified experience, you can once again choose to automate the latter portion of the swing. This time around, being on 3DS and all, you can opt to use the stylus to tap the screen in leu of using a button and also you can use the stylus to decide how to affect the ball post-launch.


As you can see from the above screenshots, the game has taken a significantly stronger focus on creative levels inspired by the Mushroom Kingdom, which means I should be getting exactly what I want most from the series. It's uncertain who the final roster will be in the game as playable characters but it is known that you can play as your own Mii and do all sorts of cool stuff. By using your Mii, you can engage in a somewhat altered version of the RPG-like qualities of games' past. Customize your Mii with headgear, clubs, pants, and other features which not only change the design of your golfer but the attributes as well. I'm quite excited to have this customized experience.


Check out the game in the Game Database to find all sorts of videos (though I'll post them on page one of this thread as well) and don't forget to add this to your collection come May when the game releases. Also, if you're still finding yourself without a pre-order, Amazon.com still has the game for $29.99 with the pre-order price guarantee. At three-quarters the original price, there's no excuse not to nab this up day one!

Check out the main website at mariogolf.nintendo.com and see even more content. There you'll also find more details on the online-component to this game which better explains the 'world' in World Tour. You'll be able to play matches online against opponents from anywhere on the planet. This key feature should give Mario Golf fans abundantly more play-time from their cart or download. You can also check out this great impressions article from Daan Koopman over at NintendoWorldReport. It'll detail even more about courses and gameplay, etc.

Now that the game is out, it's time to hit the green and find ourselves in some tournaments! Below are the codes for various Negative World Tournaments. I'll do my best to keep up on these as they change.

Tournaments
Tournament 3: 64-5705-3846-4942
Tournament 4: 03-0537-2193-5082

Community: 50-3155-4188-2450

Reviews

Nintendo Life - 9 / 10

IGN - 8.6 / 10
NintendoWorldReport.com - 8.5 / 10
Destructoid - 8.5 / 10
Eurogamer - 8 / 10
Polygon - 8 / 10

EGM Now - 7.5 / 10
Videogamer - 7 / 10
Gamespot - 7 / 10

Edge-Online - 6 / 10
DigitalSpy - 3 / 5
Joystiq - 3 / 5

Average Score: 7.51/10

URL to share (right click and copy)
04/20/14, 18:08    Edited: 05/24/14, 23:12
 
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  Mop it up  
I tried the demo, it seems like pretty standard Mario Golf. It's too bad they didn't improve the putting, I always felt it was lacking some info, especially for longer putts. I don't think items are in the demo, or at least I missed them if they were. I couldn't figure out how to apply spin to the ball, which made things a bit harder than usual. The Ring Shot was tough, I don't think you needed to get par in past games, so you could just make up for a bad hole on a different hole. The coin challenge doesn't feel different from the ring challenge, except just with one thing to hit instead of three.

I'm not impressed. Gonna be a bargain-bin buy for me, if I ever even bother.
04/29/14, 23:05   
  Zero  
Do they at least have a quick putt button or whatever for 1-2 foot long puts? It sucks when golf games are built in a way that makes those "gimme" putts even harder than longer putts.
04/29/14, 23:12   
  DrFinkelstein  
@Mop it up

The spin is done via the Circle Pad or the stylus.

One Item is in the demo.

Ring Shot was tough in this one. Surprised they went with that hole. As for the rules, I'm sure it's just for the demo.

Shame you're soured on it already. Maybe try a retail copy from a friend or something to get a better feel for it, though I know many reviews exist already. (I've gotta update the OP with those too now that I think of it...)
04/29/14, 23:12   
Edited: 04/29/14, 23:21
  ploot  
@DrFinkelstein
One of the demo courses has a Bullet Bill item. I hit the box with my golf ball and received the power up for later use.
04/29/14, 23:15   
Edited: 04/29/14, 23:15
  DrFinkelstein  
@ploot

Later use in the demo? I didn't see that at all. Can you tell me which course?
04/29/14, 23:20   
  ludist210  
@ploot

I didn't see any boxes that I remember? I'll need to play through the demo again (though I want to keep it fresh).
04/29/14, 23:21   
  Mop it up  
Yeah, what's the item that's in the demo? If there's anything then I missed it. I might go back to check it out because I'm curious how it works. Thanks for the spin tip, I used that all the time in Toadstool Tour and that's how I set up the one-putts for birdies.

And yeah, it looks like they chose hole 14 for the Ring Shot. No idea why they didn't go with the first or second hole, or something.

I guess it may not be so fair to say "it's more of the same" since it's a sequel, but I was never very into the first two games anyway. So even if there are tweaks and new features, it still just feels like a new course pack for someone like me. It's also been a long time since I played the N64 and GCN games, and so I would probably get a similar level of entertainment just by going back and playing those again.

@Zero Nope, there are no auto-putts even if you're an inch away.
04/29/14, 23:29   
  anon_mastermind  
From what I played, it seems there is a pretty big leeway for short putts, it's hard to screw up.
04/30/14, 00:42   
  TriforceBun  
For putting, just remember that the distance it gives you is the exact distance between your ball and the hole. In other words, you're always going to want to aim for slightly higher than the distance it gives you (unless the ball is going downhill) since it's very easy to undershoot otherwise. Just don't slam it too hard.
04/30/14, 01:06   
  ploot  
@DrFinkelstein
@ludist210
Nah, just for later use in the current hole. The Bullet Bill is at the beginning of the Coin Mode, on the left of the course (but I see Fink edited his post already ).

The Bullet Bill was rather unimpressive and didn't help with the main goal of the mode, by the way! I hope other items and their placements are a little more useful.
04/30/14, 06:36   
Edited: 04/30/14, 06:38
  TriforceBun  
@ploot

I hear the way to use the Bullet in the demo is to shorten the distance with L/R and aim like that. I've heard a few people had gotten Eagles on that hole because of it (2 under par). When I initially used it, it just shot me straight into the water...
04/30/14, 07:12   
  ploot  
@TriforceBun
Ah, so there is a method to Bullet Bill usage.
Intriguing!
04/30/14, 08:30   
  TheOldManFromZelda  
@ploot

Yeah, I managed to get a birdie after missing an eagle putt with the Bullet Bill power up. You can still choose a club for which to apply the power up to.
04/30/14, 14:52   
  Anand  
anon_mastermind said:
From what I played, it seems there is a pretty big leeway for short putts, it's hard to screw up.
Yeah, which is LONG overdue. Those were always the hardest shots to hit in previous Mario Golf games. Even for a choke artist like myself, it was ridiculous!

Anyway, I enjoyed the demo quite a bit. Even crazy Ring Shot and Coin Shot! I missed the power-up, though. And the camera's pretty wonky for Ring Shot. Still, excited. I love the crazy elements.

I still regret never buying Ribbit King...
05/02/14, 03:00   
  Mop it up  
@TriforceBun My problem with putting is that I feel like more information should be given as to the shape of the green. It's pretty difficult to figure out the lay of the green and all the little bumps and such. One thing it could really use is something similar to the Tiger Woods golf game that I played (2003). In this game, it shows a line of where the ball is going to go if you hit it from the default spot, and the line disappears if you move the cursor at all. This gives a frame of reference relating to how the ball will travel over the green.
05/02/14, 05:55   
  Zero  
@Mop it up I don't like those lines! Golfers are supposed to read greens!

Actually that is one of my main complaints with Tiger Woods... it's way too darn easy. Like, am I supposed to *be* Tiger in those games? Is this what it feels like for him?!

With that said, past Mario Golf games have given some visual information for the lie of the green, is that absent now?
05/02/14, 06:00   
  Anand  
I'll have to agree with Zero here. I've always thought that Mario Golf games had the easiest-to-read greens, especially compared to something like Tiger Woods. I don't know why, but I've always easily been able to tell how to hit the ball from the visuals.

(By the way, does anyone else ALWAYS putt, rather than use a wedge, from outside the green? Like, even from the rough?)
05/02/14, 06:04   
  Mop it up  
@Zero It still has the grid, but that doesn't show how the ball will roll. I wouldn't say the grid is the equivalent of a golfer reading a green.. Now maybe if I could get some closer camera angels...!
05/02/14, 06:05   
  Zero  
@Mop it up Real golfers don't have a line showing them how a ball will roll! They read the green! I think it is pretty easy to read the green in the Mario Golf Games.
05/02/14, 06:09   
  TriforceBun  
@Anand

The rough has always been way too unpredictable for putting for me. I have better luck with a chip-in when it's not at least on the fringe.

@Mop it up

That sounds handy, but I can see why people would think it's a little too much information for a golf game. There's a fine line to tread between being playable and giving too much away. I always enjoyed the green-reading of the Mario Golf games (although it was a little tricky in the GBC one).
05/02/14, 06:11   
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