Mario Golf: Super Rush Review

Mario Golf: Super Rush is Nintendo’s newest sports game, once again showcasing Nintendo’s ability to make sports games fun. Before I get into my review, let’s walk through the game modes.

Regular Mode

The regular golf mode is just as it sounds. It is the mode where you can play a simple round of golf with your friends. This mode can be played using only Joy-con or controller. You can select from any of the classic Super Mario Bros. franchise and choose your golfer based on a number of stats. The only thing that separates this mode from Wii Sports is the power shot that each individual character has.

Speed Golf

In this game mode, players compete in a hole of golf. The twist: all the players are playing at the same time. After hitting your first stroke, players must chase after their shot, with coins and hearts lying around to boost stamina. Besides the items laying on the ground, the player is also able to sprint and use character-unique abilities both on the field or while taking a shot. Score is counted based on the time it takes to finish the hole and converting the number of strokes into time as well.

Battle

This mode is quite similar to speed golf. Once again, players compete at the same time. In this case, there are multiple holes that a player can attempt. The goal of this game is to make three holes before opposing players make their shots. This game mode also features different maps that have a variety of obstacles, such as the terrain or enemy creatures.

Career

The Career mode in Mario Golf: Super Rush is super fun mode, and by far the best one to play single-player. It is filled with mini-missions that require different clubs or strokes, and it brings all of the previously explained game modes together into one mode. No level feels the same, and it surprisingly gets increasingly harder. It does feel kinda pointless to begin with, but there is a plot that comes out once you master the basics. The Career mode is also probably the most fun way to unlock all of the courses for the free play modes.

Mario Golf: Super Rush Review

Mario Golf: Super Rush is a ton of fun. Nintendo didn’t try to reinvent the wheel or anything, but they put out a super fun golf game with a Mario touch. The speed golf and battle modes are great additions to the game because they flesh it out for people that don’t love golf like me and Sebastian. For the die-hard golf fans out there, the regular golf mode will scratch that itch.

The courses are really cool, and they all have little quirks that make things easier or harder depending on your shot. With the ability to play anywhere from 3 to 18 holes, this game feels like a superior option to the original Wii Sports Resort golf mode. The other piece that adds some intrigue to the free-play modes is that each character has a superior set of clubs that can be unlocked after reaching a certain level with that character.

In every Mario game each character has had their own specific attributes, but this addition of better clubs rewards players for having some loyalty to their favourite character. Pro tip, Luigi is pretty bad.

The highlight of this entire game is the career mode. It’s a ton of fun, and a lot harder than I had expected. The underlying story hides while you learn the basics, and that left me worried about how repetitive the career mode was going to be.

I can happily say that once you clear the first set of levels, the mode gets a lot better. I loved the way the story felt like a golf game, while still having a Mario feel to it. There are boss battles and a big bad, two things I didn’t expect out of a Mario Golf career mode. They made this such a fun mode to play, and I can’t wait to see what comes after the first credits roll.

Is Mario Golf: Super Rush Worth Buying?

Mario Golf : Super Rush is a really fun game and worth buying, but one that is much better with friends. Unlike Super Mario Party, which is pretty much unplayable alone, Mario Golf: Super Rush is still a ton of fun as a single player mode. The button controls means you can sit around the tv and not go to try hard. The motion controls give you the option to be a pro if that is the mood you are in. Regardless, a ton of fun to play and a game I’m happy to have picked up.

My Favourite Moment in Mario Golf: Super Rush

My favourite moment has to be the Gold medal qualifier match. It’s a full 18 hole match against two CPU players, and it was a struggle. The level of difficulty, plus the challenges provided by the course made for a really fun round of golf.