Nintendo
It seemed only a matter of time before Nintendo brought out another Switch big hitter in the form of a Mario Golf revival.
Mario Golf: Super Rush from developer Camelot Software Planning is the first entry in the nostalgia-littered series since Mario Golf: World Tour in 2014.
A storied franchise on handheld and home consoles alike, this latest iteration aims to utilize the Switch’s one-of-a-kind functionality to offer a must-play experience on the console—handheld or on the big screen.
While another Mario Golf entry could have had a by-the-books feel, an innovative, wildly fun new gameplay mode uplifts Super Rush in an unexpected, must-see way.
Graphics and Gameplay
Super Rush’s visuals aren’t going to drop many jaws—which isn’t a bad thing.
By now, Nintendo fans and even casual observers know what to expect visually from a game in the Mario franchise, be it Mario Party, an HD remake or something else. The color factor is on overload and characters cutely emote just as fans would expect them to based on what’s happening. The environments feature droves of detail and easter eggs to the observant eye.
Where Super Rush really excels from the presentation standpoint is in how it utilizes space and access to information.
The HUD itself can actually spar with some of the best sporting titles out there. This is an arcade game, sure, but critical information litters the screen. A list of available clubs lines the right side, while helpful scoring, hole and wind information, plus a helpful map, occupy the left side.
And the shot meter to the right of the club information is easy to see and use. It’s where players will time their swings, and it displays yardage numbers and hole locations based on swing power. Here is where players will also see what type of spin they put on a shot.
Another fun wrinkle to the shot meter is where it curves the higher up it goes. Time a shot to stop within the curved portion of the meter and the risk for the ball to veer off course increases. It’s a fun risk-reward element, as going to the very top of the meter creates the most yardage but with more risk. More of the shot meter is curved depending on where the character shoots from on the course.
In the past, golf games have struggled mightily with how much information to actually put on the screen. Some have drowned the player in information in the name of simulation, only to overdo it and turn players away. Others have given off too little info, which arguably feels even worse.
Of the many courses, only the training course feels bland. The rest feel like they drop a player right into a traditional Mario level. This is especially the case when characters have to actually navigate the level between shots, dodging traps and the usual cast of harm-inflicting enemies that occupy Mario levels.
Those courses are a good representation of the marriage between visuals and gameplay. Some are tougher than others, and while novice players can cut their teeth on the practice course, obstacles like shot-ruining trees start to pepper the unlockable courses and increase the challenge.
Still, the game is easy enough to grasp for new players. The game helpfully selects the proper club and minor details upon lining up for a new shot, and it becomes a matter of aiming, timing the proper button prompts and even putting spin on the balls.
That, or in Wii Sports-esque fashion, players can use motion controls. It’s fun to swing a Joy-Con like a golf club, of course, but it’s still more enjoyable to use traditional controls.
No matter one’s choice, it’s a joy of an arcade-style game to play, if not relaxing. There’s some notable depth, too, as missing a putt usually ends up with the player smacking themselves for some detail they missed, such as the slope of the green or the wind factor.
Out of the box, opponent A.I. feels all over the place, which is surely intentional. Sometimes they’re on fire, other times players will have to wait around while they bumble through triple-bogey holes. In that way, at least, it’s a dash of realism that makes things enjoyable.
As one should expect, though, the game is endlessly more fun with multiple players, whether it’s passing a Joy-Con around for a local gaming session or online. That random element gets multiplied quite a bit, especially because the experience is so accessible to players of all ages and capabilities.
True to its arcade-based nature, there’s also an easy way to fast forward once a character hits a shot. Instead of watching a ball bounce ploddingly after coming back down from orbit, players can zoom through this and get on to the next shot.
Maybe this all files under the “expected” column, but Nintendo had long ago nailed down this gameplay formula. That it just happens to feel like the perfect game for the Switch’s functionality is a sort of cherry on top.
Story, Multiplayer and More
Super Rush uses the backdrop of a story mode for what is effectively a tutorial to get players acquainted with some of the finer details of the sport and game.
Dubbed Golf Adventure, the story mode lets players dig into some light RPG systems while they progress along a guided path. It hits the expected tones and plot points for a Mario-sports hybrid game and is generally entertaining.
Though players are stuck with Mii characters, the mode does a good job of managing to work in interesting conversations with a colorful cast of characters, never mind some boss battles based around golf challenges. Weather patterns provide unique challenges at times, too, to keep things fresh.
Along the way, players will work on skills like power, stamina, speed, control and spin. In the background, there’s enough in the way of detail to the pseudo-tutorial that even veteran Mario Golf players might pick up a thing or two that will come in handy.
On the RPG side of things, besides earning skill points to improve those certain areas, earning coins to buy attire has big benefits beyond just looking good on the courses. Certain items provide buffs, such as faster running through a bunker. They can be highly situational boosts, but they shouldn’t go underestimated and provide a layer of depth the mode otherwise wouldn’t have.
This mode also opens up a bit in a free-roam sense that resembles a town in the recent Pokemon games. Players can pop into different rooms and buildings, chat with side characters and decide where they go next. It’s nothing mind-blowing by any means, but it’s a small bit of worthwhile immersion instead of just going from menu to course to menu over and over again.
Impressive as Golf Adventure might be, it’s nothing compared to Speed Golf.
Hinted in the intro as the big innovation, Speed Golf throws a Mario Kart—if not Super Smash Bros.— element into the game of golf. Four characters tee off to start a hole, then they must grab their clubs and dash to wherever the ball landed.
It sounds simple, but it isn’t. Players receive grades based on how quickly they complete the hole and by how many shots they take. The presence of collectibles on the course, special traversal moves and special shots that impact other players and the spots of their shots add a brilliant, chaotic element.
Sprinting after a ball while trying to avoid the opposition and quickly getting off the next shot is an absolute blast. The theme is urgency, and while one might be goaded into quickly firing off shots, players still need to take into account the many details that go into making a golf shot. One mistake can be critical and have the player’s entire run derailed.
Special Shot and Special Dash abilities highlight this new mode. The dash is just what it sounds like: A unique movement ability exclusive to each character to help them speed ahead. Mario’s, to keep it simple, is a series of flips. The Special Shots are themed, too—Luigi’s will freeze the ground around where his ball lands, altering things for his competition, for example.
Those five attributes also play a role here, as characters must pick up items that refill stamina gauges. Getting hit by other characters, naturally, drops said items. The key is—on top of the usual things that go into a golf game—proper resource and skill management while keeping the proverbial head on a swivel.
As a whole, Super Rush spans 16 characters and six golf courses. The former are unlocked from the initial launch, while the latter are not. But it never feels unfair to work for those courses. With any luck, the game will only keep expanding on both of these areas with future updates.
Super Rush supports four players online, and so far it has been smooth sailing. A large list of options and settings to tweak should keep things simple and the action on the course.
A highlight of a trip through the menus is the glossary. That might sound boring, and maybe it is. But the fact the developers went out of their way to make sure folks new to the game could thumb through and understand all of the terminologies of the sport despite this being a cartoonish arcade game deserves a tip of the hat.
Esports Appeal
Super Rush is bound to have some esports appeal in the same sense Mario Kart or past Nintendo sports games have managed to do.
Maybe Super Rush won’t demand its own international events or anything that broad in scope, but the reach of the Switch console globally and the fun factor of the game here—plus the skill needed to be really good—should mean it has quite the healthy competitive scene for a long time.
Maybe an underrated element to the multiplayer side of this new offering is the ability to tweak how a match proceeds. Players can choose an all-in-one option, meaning a player takes all of their shots until they finish a hole before another player gets to start. This, as opposed to the traditional everyone-takes-turns-by-shot approach, could speed up matches, add tension and improve the viewing experience.
Plus, it sure doesn’t hurt that the mentioned fun factor and skill ceiling make it a candidate to have a massive following online, be it with must-see clips on a platform like Twitter or as live material on a platform like Twitch.
Conclusion
Super Rush is one of the most enjoyable games to launch on the Switch this year, if not since the console released—which is saying something given the impressive depth of the console’s library.
Outside of the expected Mario character and polish, Super Rush just has the arcade-style golf down in a way that should leave any other contenders taking notes. It’s a blast to play solo, somehow even better with friends or online and has some surprising depth.
Speed Golf is by far the major star of the show, but the love and care that went into each course, the gameplay mechanics and similar things like the extensive tutorials and glossary really speak to the effort put in.
Whether players enjoy it from a home console or on the go, Super Rush has the legs to last another seven years, should Nintendo elect to go that long before releases in this series again.
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