Mario Golf Super Rush review: Frantic fun on Nintendo Switch

Mario’s love of golf goes all the way back to 1987 (when he appeared in NES Open Tournament Golf), and this sporting passion was most recently explored in 2014’s Mario Golf: World Tour for the Wii.

And now comes Mario Golf: Super Rush, a Nintendo Switch exclusive that adds several enjoyable elements to the franchise. In fact, we like it so much that it’s our RadioTimes.com Game of the Week. Read on to find out why.

When you load up Mario Golf: Super Rush for the first time, the first thing you see is a lengthy cut scene – with impressively high-end graphics – in which Mario, Bowser, Princess Peach and several other familiar faces compete in a manic arena-style golf battle.

They’re using weapons against each other as everyone frantically tries to get their balls into holes. While some people might not find golf the most thrilling sport to watch in real life, this twist on the formula does look fun – it’s like a mashup between golf and Mario Kart.

This remixed version of golf isn’t just a showcase for the opening cinematic sequence, either. It’s actually a mode you can play, called Battle Golf, which feels like it’s tailor-made for competitive multiplayer rivalries with your mates. In fact, that mode feels like it could’ve launched as its own product if Nintendo had wanted it to.

Battle Golf gameplay is fun and frantic – there are nine holes dotted around one map, and your aim is to get balls into three holes before anyone else does. Getting ahead is thrilling, and losing out can be gutting - you may genuinely yelp when a rival player throws a bomb at you and sends your ball flying, just as you were readying a put.

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If multiplayer mayhem isn’t your thing, you’ll be pleased to know that Mario Golf: Super Rush does take the sport seriously in some of its other modes. If you click ‘Play Golf’ on the main menu, the first mode suggested to you is Standard Golf.

In this fantasy-free mode, you can step out onto a number of idyllic golf courses with several recognisable characters from the Mario world. The graphics, again, are surprisingly good. The controls are easy to learn but difficult to master – you could play for fun with your family and friends, or you could take things really seriously if you wanted to. You also get a choice between motion controls and button controls.

There’s also a mode called Speed Golf, which offers a nice mix of the silly and the serious. Your golfing controls remain the same, but there is an added time pressure - you have to leg it between each swing to reach your ball. During these scrambles, you’ll try to outpace your rivals and knock them off course with your special moves. Plus, you can pick up hearts for stamina and coins to spend on items. The aim is to finish each hole first.

There’s also the Solo Challenge mode, where you can test yourself and try to beat your best results on each different course, striving for greatness either in terms of lowest scores or quickest puts. To make the Mario Kart comparison again, this is Mario Golf’s equivalent to Time Trials, and it’s pretty fun for a solo experience!

Where to buy Mario Golf Super Rush:

• Get the game from Amazon with a special water bottle (£47.99)
• Buy from GAME and get a 20% off voucher for Sports Direct (£49.99)
• Buy the game now from Smyths Toys (£44.99)

Speaking of solo experiences, there’s also a story mode called Golf Adventure, which will introduce you to each different style of play. In this mode, you make your own Mii at the start and gradually level it up in a light RPG style – you can upgrade your power, control and stamina and a handful of other stats.

This mode is a nice inclusion, and it certainly gives you plenty of reasons to keep playing, as you unlock new courses, clubs and cosmetics as you go. That being said, the actual story is fairly light on intrigue, excitement and character development, and there seems to be a loading screen every few steps as you wander around the world between matches. There's also a lot of dull dialogue to click your way through.

But, of course, nobody picks up a golf game for its story. The sport is the star of the show here, and Mario Golf: Super Rush finds lots of fun ways to play with golf’s formulas. Each course you unlock has its own quirks – for example, there’s one with tornados and gust-blowing clouds that can help or hinder your progress. With each new challenge, there’s fun in the experience of trying to work out how it’s best to approach the sport and overcome the wacky obstacles.

All in all, then, we couldn’t ask for much more from Mario Golf: Super Rush. The gameplay is fun, the graphics are good, and there are heaps of inventive ideas which keep it from getting boring. How many stars do we give it? Fore!

Mario Golf: Super Rush launches on 25th June 2021 for Nintendo Switch.

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