Retro Review: NES Golf
Today in Retro Review we are continuing our look at the NES launch titles. Upon its debut, the Nintendo Entertainment System had more than its fair share of sports games. Out of the 17 original games on the NES, 5 were dedicated sports titles, with Golf, Baseball, Ten Yard Fight, Soccer, and Tennis. The argument could also be made for the inclusion of Excitebike, which would bring the total to 6, or just over a third of the games being sports-related. Which was actually a very smart move on Nintendo’s part, with sports giving them the widest range of possible game players. Today we are going to take a look at what is arguably the best and most popular of the 5 dedicated sports games, Golf.
Golf was not only one of the more popular of the launch titles, but also something of a technological feat at the time. First off, Golf really only had 2 people working on it. The legendary Shigeru Miyamoto, of Super Mario Bros fame, handled character and game design and the equally legendary, Satoru Iwata was the sole programmer for the cartridge. This was one of the earliest projects at Nintendo for Iwata who would eventually rise to the level of President and CEO of the company. Iwata managed to cram three game modes and EIGHTEEN holes into the meager storage of the early Nintendo cartridge. A feat nobody at Nintendo thought would possible. Ok, enough about the history of this game, let’s talk about the gameplay.
While not totally just a pick up and play game, Golf’s controls are the definition of easy to learn yet hard to master. You select clubs and direction with the D-Pad and control the swing with a series of 3 hits of the A button. Where the real skill comes into play is compensating for the wind and obstacles on the 18 different holes. Golf is the definition of an addictive NES game. It constantly pushes you to keep playing and improving your score, much like real golf does. The two-player mode is also great fun as you and a friend can challenge each other to be the best video duffer in your neighborhood. While the physics and the 8-bit graphics may pale in comparison to today’s golf offerings, there is something charming about this early offering by Nintendo. It’s a game I continue to load up regularly to this very day.
1991 also saw a sequel of sorts hit the NES with NES Open. The game featured more courses, better graphics and the players were actually Mario and Luigi instead of just partially resembling them. While technically a better game, I still actually prefer the original due to its historical significance and honestly, nostalgia. With that said, I still feel that anyone interested in Nintendo’s 8-bit offerings needs to seriously give this game a try.
Score: 7.0 out of 10
