Mario Golf: Advance Tour

A sports game is never really something I'll pay much attention to, with an exception popping up here or there once in a while. It helps if the sport isn't the only part of the game, and there are many things to enrich the game experience. Mario Golf: Advance Tour gives an arguably dull sport all the zing it needs, just as well, if not better, than it's predecessors. From playing mechanics to side games, story elements to all-around fun, even if you've barely ever played any other Mario Golf, or golf in general, you will love this.

The controls during the actual golfing gameplay are a pocket-sized version of Mario Golf: Toadstool Tour's, which is a very good thing. After selecting a club for type and distance, you merely aim your shot on the Course View screen, press the A button to start your swing, and A again when the Power Bar at the bottom reaches the end. You can add different mechanics to your shot by using the Control Pad to hit the ball in a place not in the middle, and therefore have it curve in the air. Redesigned for Advance Tour from Color, just as was new to Toadstool Tour from 64, is the Manual shot. Instead of pressing A and A to shoot, you press A and B, and then press A+A when the bar reaches the end for "topspin" (having the ball spin further after it lands), or B+B for "backspin" (the ball will stop where it lands and possibly roll backward). This adds new dimensions that, while present in Toadstool Tour, is all new to those who played Mario Golf 64 and Mario Golf Color.

RPG elements also liven the game up. Feats accomplished throughout the game, such as winning tournaments and match games against other players, will grant you experience points which you will use to level up both your character and you partner (the character you didn't choose at the beginning). Attributes you can increase are such things as driving distance, shot (fade or draw), ball impact, ball control and spin. You will need a strong partner in the game, so keep their levels equal, and keep their attributes relatively even. Don't go upgrading drive forty times or anything, because your character's game will suffer for it.

Story Mode holds the most for those who played Mario Golf Color. In MGC, you would choose one of four characters to play as: Joe, Sherry, Azalea, or Kid. In MGAT, all characters return as the course champions you must defeat. One of them was even your new character's teacher. Plus, in doubles play, their respective partner is the former champion you played to defeat in each respective course in Mario Golf Color! Yes, Putts, Grace, Tiny and Gene Yuss are also back, and with two champions per course to top, this game gives you everything to play for.

The AI in this game is based on equality. As previously stated, there are two characters to choose from at the beginning. You'll choose one to control, and the other becomes your partner for such things as doubles tournaments. In doubles tournaments, you'll go up against a club champ and their partner, and how well you play will determine how badly your partner plays. Yes, that's right, the better you play, the worse your partner plays. The entire point is to not be too overpowering, as you will undoubtedly become if you've played long enough, but to still play well enough to win. It's a challenge all it's own to not play so well as to negatively affect your partner, yet play well enough to be able to win.

Mario Golf: Advance Tour is a very pretty game. Developed by Golden Sun's Camelot, MGAT bears a positive graphical resemblance to Camelot's RPG gems. It's very colour-rich, which is a big thing for a game that takes place mainly on a green field. No two sprites look alike, and the game makes you dread seeing certain colours, because the courses are colour-coordinated very well to show you where hazards are and such: in other words, an evenly green surface (the fairway) is good, while a very light brown (a sand trap) or other varying darker shades of green (rough, heavy rough) are bad. On the green, there will be tiny arrows to show you which way the green in sloping, so you'll be more able to accurately putt. On later courses, the layout can be very Mario-esque: Piranha Plants dot the landscape, threatening to gobble up stray balls, and lava alongside the fairway, in all it's red, fiery glory. Even on the world map, it looks positively incredible, yet you won't forget it's a Game Boy Advance game that you're looking at.

The sound effects are very clear and crisp. The sound of the club hitting the ball is not simulated, but the exact sound. It also varies from where the ball is hit from, so that hitting out of a sand trap sounds like what hitting out of a sand trap should sound like, a sort-of "twap" sound, as compared to the "whack" of hitting off a tee. The music in all of the courses are all updated mixes from their respective counterparts in Mario Golf Color, but sound all-new. It wasn't until a match game at the Palms Club, the game's second course, that I realized this; as before, a single-player tourney at a given course has different music than a match game at the same course. All playable characters have their own voices, as well, at certain times. When sinking a birdie putt, one character will cheer "All right!", while she'll slink to her knees and moan "Oooh!" if she loses on a hole. Every character has their own little celebration or dismay saying.

This game is absolutely perfect to just pick up and play, whether you've got hours to spare or are just waiting for a bus. The number of minigames that are playable in Story mode alone can set you back by a few hours. All Mario characters are playable, as well as the Mario Golf characters and Ella and Neil, your created ones, in Quick Game mode, in which you can play as any character against any other character in such modes as Stroke Play, Character Match, Speed Golf, Near-Pin, Star Tournament and others. If you play as either Ella or Neil, you can even earn more EXP for more leveling up. All in all, there are 18 total characters to choose from after unlocking them all, and 8 of them have both Normal and Star levels of difficulty, giving you a total of 26 unique characters.

One of the more remarkable things is Advance Tour's connectivity with Gamecube's Toadstool Tour. If you link the two, Ella and Neil will be downloaded onto your Toadstool Tour save data for use whenever you want. If you use them in anything, they will gain even more EXP depending on the task. (If you were to train on a certain hole, you'd gain less EXP than if you beat a character in a match-play game) Also, accomplishing certain tasks in TT unlocks features in AT. All Mario Golf games have "birdie badges," which you obtain for scoring at least one under par on a hole. Four of the eight Mario characters are unlockable in this way. There are also "Star Courses," which are special versions of the four club courses. Accomplishing tasks, usually with Ella and Neil, in Toadstool Tour will get you more of these special holes. (Changes to courses include warp pipes, extra play panels, a Mario Kart-type box that gives you rewards, etc.) All in all, playing more courses in Toadstool Tour will surely increase your pleasure with Advance Tour.

Golf was never a very appealing sport for me, but when the Mario Golf series started on the N64 all those years ago, it was a very fun approach to it. Two more MG games later, Mario Golf: Advance Tour has, for the moment, capped off in tremendous fashion what MG64 started. Camelot has created a game that has all the fun parts of golf, with many fun elements of Mario, and none of the real drawbacks of either. This game actually inspired me to go four-for-four and find Toadstool Tour, because the two complete each other, and I couldn't let this game go without some of the parts that make it incredible. It belongs in almost any collection, because it's golf the way it should be, and if you've had any pondering of whether or not you should own this game, ponder no more: you must own it.