Mario Golf: Advance Tour

Mario Golf: Advance Tour
Developer(s)	Camelot Software Planning
Publisher(s)	Nintendo
Platform(s)	Game Boy Advance
Release date	JP April 22, 2004 NA June 22, 2004 EU September 17, 2004
Genre(s)	Sports game, role-playing game
Mode(s)	Single-player, multiplayer
Rating(s)	ESRB: E PEGI: 3+ CERO: A OFLC: G
Media	64-megabit cartridge

Mario Golf: Advance Tour, known in Japan as Mario Golf: GBA Tour (マリオゴルフ ＧＢＡツアー, Mario Golf: GBA Tour^?), is an RPG-styled sports game developed by Camelot Software Planning and published by Nintendo for the Game Boy Advance in 2004. The game is the sequel to the Game Boy Color version of Mario Golf. The music was composed by Motoi Sakuraba.

Story mode

Overworld

Mario Golf: Advance Tour features an overworld map, where the player can walk around and interact with different courses and objects. On the overworld are the four golfing "clubs" (Marion, Palms, Dunes, Links) which hold tournaments. The player must place in these tournaments prove themselves to be an "ultimate golfer", and earn the right to golf with Mario. There are also side courses, as well as the Custom Club Shop, where a metalsmith will make the player special clubs if they give him a Custom Ticket.

Courses

In each of the four clubs available in Mario Golf: Advance Tour, there are three places of interest. The golf course, the practice area, and the student lodging. The golf course is accessed by entering the tourneys or by playing a practice round. The practice area allows the players to hone their skills by doing various mini-games, as well as play a match against the course leader. Each practice area also features a secret challenge that allows the player to obtain useful items. The student lodging area is only accessible in the Marion course, where Neil and Ella live. One can talk to their doubles partner here, as well as save their game.

Characters

At the beginning of the game, the player must choose between one of two characters, Neil or Ella, and play as that character for the rest of the game, with the other character as their doubles partner. Neil and Ella have different strengths: Neil has stronger hitting and a slight draw, while Ella has more precise hitting and a slight fade. By progressing through the game and completing its various elements, the player can gain experience to distribute among the two characters to enhance both their drive as well as their hitting capabilities. As a character levels up, they gain stat points to distribute among the five set of stats:

• Drive, which increases the distance hit by the character,
• Height, which controls how high the ball flies mid-trajectory,
• Shot, which determines how straight the ball flies,
• Control and Impact, which controls how accurately the ball will fly according to the trajectory, and
• Spin, which determines how powerful the ball can spin after it hits the ground.

The characters can no longer gain experience once they reach level 99, and any extra experience must be discarded. This means that during the course of leveling up the characters, the points should be well distributed to allow the characters to be well-balanced.

Multiplayer

Mario Golf: Advance Tour features four multiplayer modes. In the "Without Game Link" mode, two to four players take turns playing on one Game Boy Advance. They can choose a player from the unlocked list of players, pick clubs, and then pick a game-play mode. Other than the previous mentioned features, this is the same as standard free-play mode. In the "With Game Link" mode, each player can select from their own list of characters and clubs, but courses must be mutually unlocked. Otherwise, this is the same as the Without Game Link mode. The Wireless Adapter mode only shows up when the Wireless Adapter is attached to the Game Boy Advance. Otherwise, this is the same as With Game Link mode. In the Club Exchange mode, two players can trade the clubs which they have earned throughout the game via a Game Link Cable or a Wireless Adapter. In the Get Clubs mode, one can receive exclusive Special clubsets (up to 16) from a Wonder Spot using a Wireless Adapter. However, this mode was never used.

Reception

This section requires expansion.

The game was well received by the general gaming audience. It was regaled as one of the best handheld sports games ever made.

References

External links

• Official North American Mario Golf: Advance Tour website
• Official Japanese Mario Golf: Advance Tour website
• Mario Golf: Advance Tour at Nintendo.com (archives at the Internet Archive)
• Mario Golf: Advance Tour at MobyGames