Sorry about the long absence + Mario Golf 64 Review

I've been working 6+ days a week lately and I really didn't have a lot of time for other things.

Now that everything is back on track in my life, it's time for some reviews!

First up this week is Mario Golf for the Nintendo 64:

Mario Golf 64 was the true first in line of the series. As of right now there are Mario Golf on the Gameboy Color, Gameboy Advance (after this game was released) and Mario Golf on the Gamecube, and a 3DS version slated for release soon!

The reason why I said true first game is that there's Golf on the Nintendo Entertainment System (NES) and NES Open Tournament Golf for the NES which both depicted Mario on the cover. However the name Mario Golf was first used on the Nintendo 64, and then on the Gameboy Color.

Mario Golf 64 was the first golf game I loved playing, it's addictive and it's hard, and it's super fun all rolled into one awesome package. The game had a variety of modes to play such as:

• CLUB SLOTS - you use a slot
  machine to determine what clubs you can use on each hole. 2 to 4 players.
• GET CHARACTER - This mode allows you play against a computer opponent. If you go against a character that you have not unlocked yet and you beat them in your match, you unlock them for use in the game! 1 player.
• MATCH GAME - Just you vs a computer opponent, like Get Character, but you don't unlock them??? - 2 players.
• RING SHOT - Rings hover above different courses in various patterns. Your goal is to hit the ball through all the rings AND sink it within par. For every completed hole, you earn a star.  For every four stars you earn, another course becomes accessible. Easier said than done, but for collesting 30 stars in any the 6 courses you unlock Donkey Kong for use in the game. 1 player.
• SKINS MATCH - The player who has the fewest strokes on a hole wins skins.  When a tie occurs, the skins roll over to the next hole meaning that who ever wins the next hole wins twice as many skins. 2 to 4 players.
• SPEED GOLF - The only competitor in this play mode is the clock.  You play 18 holes on any of the courses you've unlocked trying to minimize both your score AND in as little time as possible. 1 player.
• STROKE - The winner is the player who has the best overall score (the lowest number of strokes) on the course. 1 to 4 players.
• TOURNAMENT - You're in a tournament competing against 29 other contestants. The scoring can be a bit random, but (unless i'm mistaken) the better you do, the better the other people do as well. 1 player.
  
  BIRDIE BADGES - Birdie badges can only be awarded in Tournament play. For each Birdie you get on a hole (only 1 will/can be awarded for each hole) you get a Birdie Badge. You can unlock two characters:
  
  Maple       - Unlocked at 50 Birdie Badges
  Metal Mario - Unlocked at ALL 108 Birdie Badges
• MINI-GOLF - Your putter is the only club you have to take on different courses shaped like numbers and letters of the alphabet. Seriously fun mode, I have spent way too many hours on this mode! 1 to 4 players.
• TRAINING - This mode allows you to practice on any hole on any of the courses you have unlocked. 1 player.

As you can see, there are tons of modes inside of this game. There are many modes to keep you engrossed into something at all times and in doing so, not making this game feel overplayed and or boring, well unless you hate golf, then why are you even reading this review???

The different characters have different shot types and shot powers. There are broken down like this, Low, Standard, and High, with low being hindered by wind less, ans High, being severely hindered by wind strength. Further breakdown is: Straight, Fade, and Draw. Basically, if the ball will fly straight, more to the left, or to the right. The top characters will have either fade or draw, so it's better to get use to those characters early on.

The way you hit the ball is to press a button to start a power meter, if you get power all the way, and get it impact dead on perfect (after you select your power, the meter will fall down so you can select your impact) you will have a perfect shot.  On top of the normal shot, is a POWER Shot. A power shot is accessed by hitting the B button before you start your shot. You only get 6 Power shots before they are all gone, but if you get a perfect power and impact, then your power shot count does not go down and you can get infinite power shots if your good enough, so practice.

LIst of available courses to play on:

• Toad Highlands
• Koopa Park
• Shy Guy Desert
• Yoshi's Island
• Boo Valley
• Mario's Star

There are only 6 courses, which is the only drawback to me with this game. I would loved to have had a few more courses, but trust me, with these courses, and the amount of game modes that you can play, you really won't be missing out on anything too much.

In this end, this is my opinion a must have if you have a Nintendo 64, and while the gamecube one is good (it's a really good game) if doesn't have the Mini golf mode which I felt really bummed out about since it's easily the best mode (in my opinion) for more than one player.

I give this game a 9.2 out of 10

I feel that they could have added a few more characters to the lineup (there are 18 but I think they could have used a few more) and I think that 6 courses is the biggest problem with this game. 8 would have been really nice!