Mario Golf: World Tour is now available on Nintendo 3DS

Written by Brandon Hofer on May 02, 2014

News: Nintendo has released Mario Golf: World Tour on the 3DS eShop as well as at your favorite game store.

Mario Golf: Wolf Tour is now available in stores and on the Nintendo 3DS eShop. Players can drive, swing and putt using their favorite residents of the Mushroom Kingdom like Mario, Luigi and Princess Peach, or their Mii characters. Exciting courses that are filled with Warp Pipes or even Piranha Plants await players in Mario Golf: World Tour, as well as more traditional golf courses.

It wouldn’t be a golf game set in the Mushroom Kingdom if power-ups inspired by the Super Mario Bros. series weren’t waiting to be activated. Mario Golf: World Tour features plenty of items that can add an extra element of fun to the game when used. The Dash Mushroom, for example, gives the golf ball extra speed when it hits the ground; the Fire Flower burns through leaves and tufts of grass; and the Bullet Bill power-up allows the ball to fly in a straight line and ignore wind.

When not playing one of the numerous courses, players can wander the expansive Castle Club and its grounds as a Mii character to purchase new gear, visit the trophy room or take a break in the lounge to hang out with Mario and friends. There are hundreds of pieces of gear to unlock in the game, including shirts, pants, gloves, hats, golf clubs and golf balls. Each piece of gear can enhance Mii characters’ golf attributes and add power or control to their shots, according to their play style.

Mario Golf: World Tour also features extensive online multiplayer matches as well as communities that players can customize with unique tournament rules. During these matches, up to four players from all over the world with a wireless broadband Internet connection can play together on the various courses in the game. Players can choose either to take turns or to engage in simultaneous play, meaning everyone takes shots at the same time. Either way, players can use built-in emoticons to let rivals know how they’re feeling about the game. This unique twist on traditional multiplayer matches adds a level of fast-paced excitement to the proceedings.

In addition to being able to create their own custom tournaments, players can also participate in online tournaments hosted by Nintendo to get all sorts of new in-game gear. These scheduled events could range from nine-hole tournaments to smaller-scale events such as longest-drive challenges, coin-gathering challenges or even speed golf. Through SpotPass notifications, players will be informed of upcoming tournaments, and all they need to do is play the event and upload their scores before the event deadline. Nintendo is even collaborating with Callaway Golf Company for a series of in-game tournaments that begin on May 22. During these tournaments, players are rewarded with exclusive Callaway in-game items like golf clubs and golf balls just for participating.

Fans of the series can also expand their play options by purchasing up to three packs of downloadable content as they release, which will add a total of 108 new holes and three playable Mushroom Kingdom characters. Through Toad’s Booth in the game, the packs can be purchased individually at $5.99, or all together at a discounted rate of $14.99 with the Season Pass. Players who purchase the Season Pass will receive the packs as they become available and also have instant access to a special Gold Mario playable character. Fans who purchase all three packs separately will be able to get Gold Mario once all packs are available. Players can even participate in Trial Tournaments to sample courses from the downloadable packs available at that time, once they download the Trial Pack from Toad’s Booth in the game.

Have you picked up Mario Golf: World Tour? If not, do you plan on doing so? Tell us what you think below.