Golf (Game Boy)

Golf
Box art for the US release For alternate box art, see the game's gallery.
Developer	Nintendo R&D2
Publisher	Nintendo
Platform(s)	Game Boy, Virtual Console (Nintendo 3DS)
Release date	Game Boy: November 28, 1989 March 1990 1990 Virtual Console (3DS): June 29, 2011 September 8, 2011 October 13, 2011 October 13, 2011 July 20, 2016
Language(s)	English (United States)
Genre	Sports
Rating(s)	ESRB: - Everyone PEGI: - Three years and older CERO: - All ages ACB: - General
Mode(s)	1–2 players
Format	Game Boy: Game Pak Nintendo 3DS: Digital download
Input	Game Boy: Gamepad Nintendo 3DS: Gamepad
Serial code(s)	DMG-GOA

Golf is a Game Boy game released near the beginning of the system's lifespan in 1989. It is an expansion of the Nintendo Entertainment System game of the same name, inserting aspects from the Japan-only successors Golf: Japan Course and Golf: U.S. Course. As with the previous games, the player character is Mario or a lookalike, with player one having light skin and a dark cap, while player two has dark skin and a light cap. Mario is absent from the Japanese cover art, which instead features a group of generic characters; in the Western cover art, however, Mario appears reenacting the Japanese and European artworkMedia:Golf Key Artwork.png for the original Golf. On the Game Boy Color and Game Boy Advance, backgrounds and heads-up-display graphics are colored green, while character and object sprites are colored a reddish orange.

The game was rereleased on the Nintendo 3DS's Virtual Console in Japan on June 2011; in North America on September 2011; in Europe and Australia on October 2011; and in South Korea on July 2016.

Gameplay

Most of the base gameplay is reused from the original NES game. However, it retrofits aspects from later NES golf games, such as trees acting as solid obstacles that must be gone over or around, differentiation between fairway and rough zones, and putting greens having multiple ways to push the ball. All of the original game's clubs return, and the game contains 36 different holes split between two courses: Japan and U.S.A. In the Japan Course, forested areas act as out-of-bounds zones, while in the U.S.A. course, they are treated as standard rough spots. Unlike previous games, it lacks the golfer-based viewing field, with him instead being shown on a more zoomed-in version of the bird's-eye-view map. The view can be switched between the zoomed-in map, the full map, and a view of the green via the button. Unlike the original, the player can hit the ball in any angle regardless of view. Additionally, by hitting the L button when the club hits the ball, the player can make it spin backwards, which can be useful for preventing it from rolling too far. The hole's exact position on the green varies between four possible positions on each; which position is seen is determined by how many strokes the player has made before arriving, with it cycling for every stroke made. The exception is the first hole, which is random.

In single-player mode, each course has a scoreboard with five records to beat; the player's final placement determines what reward (if any) the golfer receives, with there being a different trophy for third and second place and a car for first place. In two-player, the golfers try to get a higher score than the other, with a winner being chosen after the total scores are far enough apart or all the holes in a course have been completed. If the score is tied at the end of all holes, a "sudden death" mode starts, looping back to the first hole and playing through again until a player gets a better score on any of the holes, ending the competition in their favor.

• 

  The player aims the ball. Mario is not present, and the UI contains various information.

• 

  The player aims the ball, now with Mario present and most of the UI replaced with the swing meter.

• 

  The player prepares the swing, the arrow moving left-then-right along the meter.

• 

  The player takes the swing, the arrow stopped near the target.

Description from the Nintendo eShop

Bogey, par, birdie, or Eagle.
The score is up to you.
Golf is 18 holes of realistic links action. Each hole has tricky hazards, so strategy is a must.
Read the wind direction, check the distance, select a club, adjust your swing and keep your eye on the ball. Now drive it home.
From twisting fairways and hungry sand traps to big water hazards and deceptive greens, Golf is packed with challenges.

This version of the game does not have multiplayer functionality.

Clubs and lays

The game features the same 14 clubs as the original Golf: three Woods, eight Irons, a Pitching Wedge, a Sand Wedge, and a Putter; higher numbers mean a shorter distance, but greater height. Unlike the original game, there are a large number of terrains; counting variance in depth, there are 11 that can be swung from. The contact area for each swing varies depending on the club and the ball's lay, and how deep the ball ends up in a Rough or Bunker depends on the swing used to get there; a tall swing will result in it being buried deep, and putting along the surface causes it to be near the top. When on the tee, using the 1W club gives a special meter with an extra target zone on the left side; hitting both of these results in a "Super Shot" that goes much further than normal.

Swing meters between clubs and lays
	Tee	Green	Fairway	Rough (1)	Rough (2)	Rough (3)	Rough (4)	Rough (5)	Bunker (1)	Bunker (2)	Bunker (3)
1W		n/a
3W		n/a
4W		n/a
1I		n/a
3I		n/a
4I		n/a
5I		n/a
6I		n/a
7I		n/a
8I		n/a
9I		n/a
PW		n/a
SW		n/a
PT

Holes

Japan Course

Outward nine

Hole 1
	391y
	Par 4

Hole 2
	468y
	Par 4

Hole 3
	162y
	Par 3

Hole 4
	479y
	Par 5

Hole 5
	380y
	Par 4

Hole 6
	226y
	Par 3

Hole 7
	274y
	Par 4

Hole 8
	335y
	Par 4

Hole 9
	495y
	Par 5

Inward nine

Hole 10
	342y
	Par 4

Hole 11
	142y
	Par 3

Hole 12
	393y
	Par 4

Hole 13
	545y
	Par 5

Hole 14
	443y
	Par 4

Hole 15
	258y
	Par 4

Hole 16
	429y
	Par 4

Hole 17
	484y
	Par 5

Hole 18
	207y
	Par 3

U.S.A. Course

Outward nine

Hole 1
	384y
	Par 4

Hole 2
	194y
	Par 3

Hole 3
	481y
	Par 5

Hole 4
	352y
	Par 4

Hole 5
	408y
	Par 4

Hole 6
	556y
	Par 5

Hole 7
	354y
	Par 4

Hole 8
	398y
	Par 4

Hole 9
	186y
	Par 3

Inward nine

Hole 10
	331y
	Par 4

Hole 11
	498y
	Par 5

Hole 12
	454y
	Par 4

Hole 13
	147y
	Par 3

Hole 14
	451y
	Par 4

Hole 15
	394y
	Par 4

Hole 16
	232y
	Par 3

Hole 17
	500y
	Par 5

Hole 18
	429y
	Par 4

Pre-release and unused content

Many sprites are loaded into the game's sprite bank at different points in the game, but are not actually used.

Coffee shop

Tiles for an unused scene involving a coffee shop. It presumably would have functioned as a loading screen, as with Golf: Japan Course, though it does not appear in the final. While the tiles for the sign and building are jumbled in the data like most tiles, the ones depicting player 1 cheering are found fully assembled in the otherwise blank space underneath.

Single player scenes

Tiles exist for the caddy looking at and away from the screen. The body tiles seemingly associated with the "away" head are used in unrelated animations, however.

A puff of smoke or dust. It is found with the car tiles, so it is most likely intended to be exhaust.

2-player scenes

Tiles for a walking animation for player 2, who is never shown walking in the final game.

Unused alternative standing/walking sprites while looking to the side. They appear unfinished, as player 2 seems to have a white face as well.

Unused tiles for squinting/sad faces, loaded alongside the foot-stamping animations.

Unused tiles for looking upward, most likely intended as an alternate happy reaction.

Unused alternate front-facing tiles. They resemble ones used in the foot-stamping animation, but seem to be associated with the upward-looking ones above. Once again, player 2 appears to have a white face.

Gameplay

Arrows found among player 1's gameplay tiles. They likely would blink or have their colors determined by the player, like the map pointers.

An alternative to the animated directional pointers found on the map screen.

A scenery tile for an x-mark on the map screen.

A tile for an unknown surface found in the putting green area tiles.

Gallery

For this subject's image gallery, see Gallery:Golf (Game Boy).

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  Logo

• 

  Japanese cover artwork

• 

  Mario

• 

  Title screen

Names in other languages

Language	Name	Meaning	Notes
Japanese	ゴルフ[?] Gorufu	Golf