"Disappointed Mario Golf Fan"

This is the first game in the Mario Golf Series, not Mario Golf 64. NES Golf did not count.

Story: You are Mario, and you have to become a golf champion and make enough money to start the rest of the Mario Golf franchise. Very interesting and original story.

Graphics: As good as they need to be. You can tell what everything is. They did not have much potential anyway, but I am not giving any graphics more credit than they deserve just because they do not have much potential.

Music: The music is nice. It has a fun mood to it. That is nice, because the gameplay is frustrating. There are a small amount of tracks, so that is a minus.

Programming: Great! The game is completely devoid of glitches, and the AI programming is substantial for a NES game. The physics are weird, though. The physics in Mario Golf games are usually awesome. A "career" type element, where you can go from beginner to professional, a higher rank presenting you stiffer competition, but higher money rewards. Plus, you cannot "cheat" and start holes over whenever you mess up. Unfortunately, you have to pay 1,000 in-game dollars just to save your game (and remember, you cannot restart the hole). Thank goodness for suspend points on the Virtual Console!

Gameplay: I would not have minded the lack of content if the gameplay were good, but the gameplay is so unintuitive and frustrating that it offsets almost any of the good programming elements. You have a lack of information to work with, and that does not help when the physics are unintuitive (especially on putting). Also, the meter moves way too fast for comfort. This results in very slow improvements at the game, and it can feel embarassing when you are losing many times at the game's easiest challenges. There is a way to end rounds without playing the whole way through the course, but it still costs money in tournament mode (not in Match Game mode). And all of this is too bad, because the game seems to have a great difficulty curve.

I am not going to give this game pity points just because it is part of my favorite series. It has let me down. It could have been a top-rated NES game if it were not so hard to play. It is hard to believe this game started the spectacular Mario Golf series, which will never go this low again.

Reviewer's Score: 3/10, Originally Posted: 10/16/09

Game Release: NES Open Tournament Golf (US, September 1991)