Golf (series)

Golf (series)
First installment	Golf (1984)
Latest installment	Golf* (1995)
Number of installments	7
Franchise	Mario (ambiguously)

Not to be confused with Mario Golf (series).

Golf is a series of games by Nintendo based on the sport of the same name. It involves the player's character golfing through 18 holes in a course using various clubs, taking stock of wind and grass type while avoiding hazards like water and sand traps.

Because Mario is Nintendo's primary mascot, he is a playable character in most Golf games, to the point of him receiving his own series, Mario Golf, featuring elements from his own franchise. Compared to Mario Golf, the Golf series is more closely based on real-life golf, and Mario's inclusion is mainly for mascot status, not unlike other games from other series, such as the Game Boy game Tetris, part of the series of the same name. Because of this, it is ambiguous as to whether Golf is a series within the Mario franchise.

Installments

Title
Cover, original release, and system	Synopsis
Golf
May 1, 1984 FC/NES	Nintendo's original golf game, programmed by Satoru Iwata, is a simple game of 18 holes. Along with its original releases on the Family Computer and Nintendo Entertainment System, it has been ported numerous times, including the Famicom Disk System, numerous Japanese personal computers, and the Nintendo PlayChoice-10. The character in it resembles a more realistic portrayal of Mario, wearing white and blue as Player 1 and red and black as Player 2, though he is sometimes identified as Mario and other times as a generic character nicknamed "Ossan." Unlike in most later games in the series, the holes lack any distinction between rough grass and fairway, while trees solely act as out-of-bounds areas.
Stroke & Match Golf
August 1984 VS. System	Stroke & Match Golf or VS. Golf is a variation of the original game on the VS. System series of arcade machines. It was released alongside VS. Pinball. Three versions were released, all with a randomly picked selection of 18 holes from a larger sample, which differs between each release. The sole Japanese version and one of the two overseas versions feature Mario with the same sprites as the original game, but the other overseas version features a female golfer instead. Since the game is an arcade game, a credit system is implemented, but how it works varies by region.
Golf: Japan Course
February 21, 1987 FDS	This Japan-only game is a simple update to the 1984 original, albeit with new holes, different types of grasses added, and trees acting as solid obstacles. Mario is now in his normal proportions and outfit, while a palette-swap Luigi is available for the second player. There is also a palette-swapped computer opponent that wears black and brown. Japan Course was involved in a major contest. After finishing all the holes, players had an option of saving their score. If the score was good, the score could be recorded into a special blue disk that came with the game and sent via Disk Fax to Nintendo in Kyoto. The top 100 scorers received a plaque with their names on it, as well as a golden Disk Card with their name and rank programmed onto the title screen, and it contains a harder golf course called the Champions' Course. 5,000 other contestants received the Professional Course golden Disk Card, which is not as difficult as the Champions' Course but still much harder than the original.
Golf: U.S. Course
June 14, 1987 FDS	U.S. Course was released months later and is also a Japan-exclusive game. It is more open, and a bird's-eye view of the holes is not available during gameplay, making it a bit more challenging. In this game, Mario wears a blue shirt and red-and-white striped overalls. Luigi is not mentioned in the game or the instruction manual, but the second player is a green palette-swap, while Player 3 is blue and Player 4 is orange. There is also a hidden female playable character that can be unlocked. The game also had a contest similar to Japan Course in which the main prize was a trophy and a golden Punch-Out!! Famicom cartridge. An unannounced prize was the golden disk Family Computer Golf: Prize Card, which contained the harder Special Course. It was given out during the same contest but likely as part of a lottery to a thousand players whose submissions included a hole-in-one.
Golf (Game Boy)
November 28, 1989 Game Boy	Although it shares a name with the original Golf, the Game Boy game Golf has 36 holes spread across a Japan Course and a U.S.A. Course, similarly to the previous separate Disk System games, which it is also otherwise more similar to. Unlike in the previous games, there is no "back view" of Mario, instead showing a heavily zoomed-in version of the bird's-eye map. Multiplayer is no longer done on a single controller in a turn-based fashion, instead requiring two Game Boys and a link cable.
NES Open Tournament Golf
September 20, 1991 FC/NES	This game was released in both America and Japan, featuring Mario, Luigi, Princess Toadstool, and Princess Daisy. This is the only Golf game to include more Mario characters than just Mario, essentially making it a direct predecessor to the Mario Golf series in this regard. Various other humans appear as well, including Steve (beginner), Mark (amateur), Tony (semi-professional), and Billy (professional). In the original Japanese version, Mario Open Golf, there is no tournament mode, fewer non-playable golfers, but a lot more holes than in the North American version. The soundtrack also differs between releases. A version of the American release with the tournament and clubhouse modes removed was made for the Nintendo PlayChoice-10 in America, called Mario's Open Golf.
Golf*
August 11, 1995 Virtual Boy	This game was initially developed by T&E Soft and released in Japan as the unrelated T&E Virtual Golf, though it was localized as simply Golf* or as Nintendo Golf, giving it a connection to the earlier games. It features a generic human golfer in place of Mario and due to the Virtual Boy's capabilities, has a course of 18 fully 3D holes with hills and slopes at the Papillion Golf & Country Club. Due to the different development history, it has several gameplay differences from the other games, though some of its mechanics are used in Mario Golf for the Nintendo 64.