Finally we have another Mario Golf game, the last one being on the 3DS seven years ago. It’s been even longer since Mario and friends have taken to the course on a console, the last time being on the GameCube. With the GameBoy Colour and GameBoy Advance versions still considered as some of the best, will the Switch be able to score a Birdie with Mario Golf: Super Rush?

Mario Golf is exactly what it sounds like, you have Mario and he’s playing golf. If you’re familiar with golf games then you’ll recognise all the familiar swing meters and information thrown at you. If you’re new to the game, the Adventure Golf mode will introduce you to the different aspects of Golf. There are challenges within the Adventure that will test your skills, although the actual teaching part could be better. Prepare to read from still screens imparting information as opposed to more dynamic lessons, or even just guiding you through and directly showing you what to press and what it does. All that said, the game isn’t hard to pick up. The basics are straightforward, and you can experiment with other kinds of shots or spins along the way.

Being Mario Golf, one of the big draw cards is Mario and Super Mario characters playing golf. The good news is there are lots of characters to choose from (most importantly, Wario is looking good), and they’re all unlocked. This could be good or bad depending on whether you enjoy unlocking extra characters or want to be able to select who you want from the beginning. One of the modes talked up for Super Rush is that story mode is back, in the form of Adventure Golf.

Adventure Golf is where you’re encouraged to begin, as not only a starting place to learn about the different forms of Golf but also to unlock the courses and to level up your Mii Golfer. One of the most fondly remembered aspects of the GBC and GBA Mario Golf games were the single-player RPG modes. Here you could build up your golfer to compete with the famous Nintendo characters. Adventure mode tries to capture some of that, while leaving out what made it work back then. Your Mii is an up and coming golfer, and along with other rivals you’ll gain new medals and unlock new courses while playing some golf. It’s never as straightforward as playing regular golf, when competing with others you’ll often be playing all at once. Everyone starts at the same time and you all have to chase after your ball, managing your stamina or special dashing into your rivals and slowing them down. At first it was really fun, but then they kept happening when I wasn’t golfing solo. While your score matters, it never feels like you get a moment to really focus on what you’re doing. Worse is if you’re ahead of the pack and getting the ball in first, you have to wait for everyone else to sink it too. 

The second course you come across in Adventure is Ridgerock Lake, which you play as XC (Cross Country) Golf. XC gives you the option of approaching the available holes in any order, only you have to play from where you sunk the ball last. Instead of a par per hole, you’re given a limited number of hits you can make to complete the course. This adds some strategy to which order to approach the holes in, especially when there are cliffs that need to be navigated. This course brought me to a low point pretty early on into the Adventure, it sucked all of the enjoyment from the golf part of the game for a good hour or so.

Speed Golf instead puts you on a timer, where every second counts. When there are rivals, you are all still playing at the same time so you’re having to manage your shots while racing across the course. Each shot adds an extra 30 seconds instead of the usual scoring, which means you won’t want to take too many hits if you want to keep ahead. It also sucks when your entire 9-18 rounds can become entirely undone by one bad hit. Not only can it be difficult to get the ball back on the fairway, but you also need to get yourself there too. There’s a point where the Speed Golf includes a time limit which became a really unpleasant time. Running out of time on the final hole is really frustrating when you’re down to the last two minutes. By all means, include challenges like this, but making them optional would take a lot of the sting out of it.

The Adventure Golf feels like it wants to address what series fans have been wanting, and having the RPG elements along with a story. But times have changed since then. It could’ve been the chance to bring back the human characters from older games. Instead, your Mii is surrounded by Mushroom Kingdom inhabitants there for the sake of filling each area. Overall, it lacks the feel of a player rising through the ranks of the different courses, competing against the club champions. Instead, Adventure golf feels like a detour for a few hours so you can unlock courses for other modes.

Battle Golf turns Mario Golf into more of a Mario Party. Instead of the golf courses, the action takes place in a battle arena, with nine holes/flags dotted around an obstacle course. The main aim for this mode is to go up against others, either AI or friends, and try to be the first to get three flags. It’s essentially a free for all, as you don’t have to all go for the same hole. When against the AI this means it’s pretty easy to go after the holes away from what they’re going for without being targeted. If you’re going to be in each other’s space, there are items dotted around to hinder one another. This mode is much more suited towards playing with friends, you can be more cunning and mess around with each other as they try and hit. Your mileage will vary on Battle Golf depending on if it’s AI or real people, or if you’d rather spend some time on the courses.

Super Rush doesn’t feel like a whole game, at least it feels like it is short on courses to play on. Nintendo will release free DLC over the upcoming months, with extra content to go back to. It’s nice having extra stuff added post-launch, especially when there are so many previous courses through the series to potentially bring back. Although when it’s done at the expense of releasing a more fully-featured game you’re doing a disservice to players who jumped in early. Especially when the courses available lean into gimmicks a bit, it wouldn’t have hurt to have more traditional courses too.

Something positive to say about Mario Golf: Super Rush is that the game starts up fast, almost instant once you leave the main Switch menu. It doesn’t take long to get a game up and running and the game runs well. There are other areas where Super Rush feels less complete and rough around the edges, but they felt overshadowed by some frustrating Adventure Golf courses. 

Mario Golf: Super Rush isn’t a return to form, although it does have some solid golfing. The series of more beloved games was a long time ago now, and Super Rush is yet another reminder it’s not an easy formula to recreate.

Nintendo is planning on releasing more characters and courses over the year, and these additions will hopefully help the game feel more complete. Until then all we have to go by is what they’ve released now. While it isn’t a bad round of Golf, it needs some work.