Mario Golf: Advance Tour

Mario Golf: Advance Tour
North American box art
Developer(s)	Camelot Software Planning
Publisher(s)	Nintendo
Series	Mario Golf
Platform(s)	Game Boy Advance
Release date(s)	JP April 22, 2004[1] NA June 22, 2004[1] EU September 17, 2004[1]
Genre(s)	Sports game, role-playing game
Mode(s)	Single-player, multiplayer
Rating(s)	ACB: G CERO: A ESRB: E PEGI: 3+
Media/distribution	128-megabit cartridge

Mario Golf: Advance Tour, known in Japan as Mario Golf: GBA Tour (マリオゴルフ ＧＢＡツアー^?), 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.^[2] The music was composed by Motoi Sakuraba.^[3]

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

Screenshot of gameplay

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

Main article: Sports games in the Mario series#Mario Golf

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.

Development and release

Mario Golf: Advance Tour was revealed in late 2003, and created largely by the same team who made Mario Golf: Toadstool Tour for the Nintendo GameCube.^[4][5][6] Initially shipped on April 22, 2004 in Japan, the game was also released on June 22, 2004, and September 17, 2004 for North America and Europe respectively.^[1] The game also was bundled in Japan with a Wireless Adapter, to go along with the Pokémon releases at the time.^[7]

The game was designed by Shugo Takahashi and Hiroyuki Takahashi, and directed by Yasuhiro Taguchi, all of whom have contributed to the Golden Sun series.^[5][8]

Reception

Reception
Aggregate scores
Aggregator	Score
GameRankings	85%[9]
Metacritic	84 of 100[10]
Review scores
Publication	Score
1UP.com	A[11]
Edge	6 of 10[12]
Electronic Gaming Monthly	8.67 of 10[9]
Game Informer	8 of 10[13]
GamePro	4.5 of 5[9]
GameSpot	8.2 of 10[14]
GameSpy	[15]
IGN	9.5 of 10[16]
Nintendo Power	4.4 of 5[9]
Awards GameSpy Editors' Choice[17] IGN Editors' Choice Award[18]

Mario Golf: Advance Tour has enjoyed critical acclaim since its release. IGN hailed Advance Tour as "one of the best golfing games ever", bestowing the game with an Editors' Choice Award, GameSpy said "aside from the quirks in graphics and music, there's almost nothing wrong with Mario Golf: Advance Tour", and Game Informer concluded that in Advance Tour "handheld golf has never been as much fun."^[13][16][15]

The RPG elements has also been praised, with 1UP saying "[the] simple act of leveling up is addictive in itself" and according to EGM "all the extraneous questing, character building, and item collecting just works."^[11][10]

References

1. ^ ^{a b c d} "Mario Golf: Advance Tour for Game Boy Advance - Mario Golf: Advance Tour Game Boy Advance Game - Mario Golf: Advance Tour Game Boy Advance Video Game". GameSpot. http://www.gamespot.com/gba/sports/mariogolf/similar.html?mode=versions. Retrieved 2008-06-17. 
2. ^ "Nintendo.com Games : Mario Golf: Advance Tour". Nintendo. http://register.nintendo.com/gamemini?gameid=bb1809cc-93a9-4de5-984d-f2b278c593a9. Retrieved 2008-06-17. 
3. ^ "Mario Golf: Advance Tour Info - Mario Golf: Advance Tour Information - Mario Golf: Advance Tour Release Date". GameFAQs. http://www.gamefaqs.com/portable/gbadvance/data/589376.html. Retrieved 2008-06-17. 
4. ^ "Game Credits for Mario Golf: Toadstool Tour". MobyGames. http://www.mobygames.com/game/gamecube/mario-golf-toadstool-tour/credits. Retrieved 2008-07-08. 
5. ^ ^{a b} "Game Credits for Mario Golf: Advance Tour". MobyGames. http://www.mobygames.com/game/gameboy-advance/mario-golf-advance-tour/credits. Retrieved 2008-07-08. 
6. ^ "IGN: Metroid & Mario Golf Early 2004". IGN.com. http://gameboy.ign.com/articles/451/451366p1.html. Retrieved 2008-07-08. 
7. ^ "IGN: Mario Golf Goes Wireless". IGN.com. http://gameboy.ign.com/articles/494/494585p1.html. Retrieved 2008-07-08. 
8. ^ "Game Credits for Golden Sun". MobyGames. http://www.mobygames.com/game/gameboy-advance/golden-sun/credits. Retrieved 2008-07-08. 
9. ^ ^{a b c d} "Mario Golf: Advance Tour Reviews". Game Rankings. http://www.gamerankings.com/htmlpages4/589376.asp. Retrieved 2008-06-17. 
10. ^ ^{a b} "Mario Golf: Advance Tour (gba: 2004): Reviews". Metacritic. http://www.metacritic.com/games/platforms/gba/mariogolfadvancetour. Retrieved 2008-06-17. 
11. ^ ^{a b} Gifford, Kevin (2004-06-21). "Mario Golf: Advance Tour Game Boy Advance Review Index, Mario Golf: Advance Tour Reviews". 1UP.com. http://www.1up.com/do/reviewPage?cId=3128429&did=1. Retrieved 2008-06-17. 
12. ^ "Edge Online: Search Results". Edge. http://www.edge-online.co.uk/edgedb/search.php. Retrieved 2008-06-17. 
13. ^ ^{a b} Kato, Matthew. "Game Informer Online". Game Informer. http://www.gameinformer.com/NR/exeres/2F1AC17E-43F7-45D9-A59D-0C84292C4D17.htm. Retrieved 2008-06-17. 
14. ^ Davis, Ryan (2004-06-21). "Mario Golf: Advance Tour for Game Boy Advance Review - Game Boy Advance Mario Golf: Advance Tour Review". Gamespot. pp. 1–2. http://www.gamespot.com/gba/sports/mariogolf/review.html. Retrieved 2008-06-17. 
15. ^ ^{a b} Padilla, Raymond (2004-06-25). "GameSpy: Mario Golf: Advance Tour Review". GameSpy. pp. 1–2. http://gba.gamespy.com/gameboy-advance/mario-golf-advance-tour/526437p1.html. Retrieved 2008-06-17. 
16. ^ ^{a b} Harris, Craig (2004-06-11). "IGN: Mario Golf: Advance Tour Review". IGN.com. pp. 1–2. http://gameboy.ign.com/articles/522/522816p1.html. Retrieved 2008-06-17. 
17. ^ "Game Boy Advance: Reviews Index". GameSpy. http://gba.gamespy.com/index/reviews.html?constraint.bool.article.is_editors_choice=is_true&constraint.return_all=is_true. Retrieved 2008-06-17. 
18. ^ "IGN Game Boy: Games, Cheats, News, Reviews, and Previews". IGN.com. http://gameboy.ign.com/index/choice.html. Retrieved 2008-06-17. 

External links

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