Although not exactly titled the way most would expect, NES Open Tournament Golf features Mario & Luigi, Nintendo's original superstars. Although few gamers today may know about this quality game, my friends and I still pick up the barely working Nintendo game and blow on the cartidge until we can pick up a 1-on-1 match in the original "Mario Golf". Now, in fact this game does not match up to the quality of the shot's today, it's also not as easy as the current games of Tiger Woods. This game was tough, took skill, practice, and a lot of luck to be able to really take it up to the top-notch. As a beginner, you start out on the "A" level, which stands for Amateur. After a few good outings you can move up to "SP" or a Semi-Pro, all the way up to a "P" Pro, and finishing it off at a "S" a Superstar. Throughout the game you can also feature closest to the pin contest, longest drive contest, and more. You will compete in tournaments as well as match-play and can register your own personal stats. Not only do you register your stats, but keep your specific clubs, learn how to read distances and air speed, and even pick up a couple tips from some bum in a nintendo hat along the way. The game features three courses consisting of United States, United Kingdom, and Japan. In my own personal experience the order I listed is also the order of difficulty from least to most difficult. You are featured with three swinging types depending on how close you are and the wind that is coming at you or blowing your ball along. Your meter on the bottom begins at the middle hash on the screen, after pressing the "a" button it will begin your back swing. Another press of "a" ends the back-swing (hopefully towards full power if needed) and one final press of "a" once again hopefully near the middle hash will allow contact with the ball to be made (too soon will result in a hook/too late will result in a slice). The three speeds that you will have are pretty common... slow, medium, fast. The harder the swing, obviously, the further the ball will travel along. Plenty of hazards will be thrown at you along the way, as well. Sand traps, water hazards, and of course out of bands, which unfortunately, comes into play very often the first few times through the game. Two views are also used during the game. An overhead view is the first that shows how far away from the pin you are, as well as allows you to choose your club. Next, after choosing the club, the camera will zoom into a 3-D world for Mario (or whoever you choose to play with) and allow you to begin your shot. Don't forget to choose the proper clubs, and never leave home with your sand & pitching wedges. Now before this game, I never really liked golf... in fact, I still don't really like golf. But this game, if your impatient and can't handle golf, "suck" at golf, or just plain think golf is boring... forget about it. You may not want to play golf, but trust me, you want to play this game. FORE!
The first time I played nes open was last year. I went back home to visit my brother and his family. I thought the graphics were out of this world.We played this game off and on the whole week I was there. We would take ... Read Full Review
Golf in its earlier forms was a little crude. You didn't get the feel for the environment of the courses. The clubs felt a little more preprogrammed for their effectiveness, so it became more of a game of strategy of c... Read Full Review
