Mario Golf: Advance Tour (GBA) Review

Mario Golf was released on the GameBoy Color more than three years or four years ago, and it was a brilliant game back then with the limitations of the old GameBoy. The game offered an excellent RPG story mode, and the golfing wasn’t too bad either. Now comes the second version handheld game in the series, with fewer hardware limitations. Camelot has taken the opportunity to produce a new version for the new console, and they’ve done it perfectly.

Graphics

Ever played that game called Golden Sun? If you have, you will recognise the graphics straight away as the graphical style is very similar. Camelot being the smart people they are, have reused the engine and art style from that for the game’s overworld. Behind the player looks like classic Mario Golf, and everything is presented clearly to get the ball in the hole quickly. The game’s menus and UI have that typical Nintendo polish. 

Sound

There’s a rather good selection of tunes and sound effects. The game doesn’t stray too far from what you would expect from a Nintendo and Mario Golf game. The sound effects are all on par, and there are even voices in the games. 

Gameplay

The golfing physics here is pretty much the same as the Gameboy Color version of the game and the GameCube one. Select your club, take your shot and get it in the fairway. The game uses the sliding scale method we’ve seen in other golf games. Get it a little off to the side, and your shot will go awol. There’s also the wind to take into consideration. There are also other obstacles that Camelot have added in the “Star” mode, such as Warp Pipes, Mario Kart Zips (the arrows on the floor that make you go fast). There is also a special course where Piranha Plants spit out the ball back on the fair if you go off.

There’s a complete adventure mode where you can level up your generic character across the course of the game. You can make your character more accurate, more powerful or have a better hand on how your character handles the ball to get whatever advantage you can over your competitors. 

Value/Difficulty

You can rush through the story in this one or take your time and talk to everyone in the story mode. Take some time to breathe it all in. Who knows when the next Mario Golf game will come about. 

As well as the adventure mode, the game features wired and wireless connectivity (with the new wireless adapters, it’s not out yet in Australia). 

Closing Comments

Playing golf might seem like it’s difficult, whether in real life or here on the GameBoy Advance. But here you can play golf and have an adventure at the same time. 

Graphics 9.0

Gameplay 9.9

Sound 9.0

Tilt 9.9

Value 9.9