Nintendo gave us a longer look at Mario Golf: Super Rush this morning. Today’s Overview Trailer reveals the game’s starting roster, and more importantly, the roster’s starting fits. We also get a look at some of the courses, as well as some new details on Super Rush’s new multiplayer mode, Speed Golf.
The beginning of the trailer covers the familiar gameplay of the Mario Golf series. Check wind, eyeball the fairway, watch your charge bar, hit the ball. Simple button combinations add backspin and curve to your swing. A new feature let’s you scan the terrain, though this just seems like a repackage of the same old way you inspect the green. We get a reminder that Mario Golf: Super Rush will have motion controls.
Cool.
Mario Golf: Super Rush – Characters and Locale
Then the new info starts. We get our first look at the starting roster, 16 characters from the Mario franchise. We get some classics, like Daisy and Waluigi, who have become staple characters in Mario sports games. Super Rush also adds three newcomers: Mayor of New Donk City Pauline, fellow monarch King Bob-omb, and Nintendo’s own sport-golf crossover, Chargin’ Chuck.
The roster is followed by sweeping shots of Super Rush’s new courses: a sandy desert; a lava-filled monument to Bowser; a Normal Golf Course. Not new or exciting level archetypes, but visually they look great.
Speed Golf: Dash, Drive, Survive
The second half of the trailer focuses on Speed Golf. Four players tee off simultaneously, then race to finish the course before the others can get their ball in the hole (if this sounds familiar, you may have seen Divot Derby, PGA Tour 2K21’s spin on Speed Golf, which was added a few months after Super Rush’s announcement). Players will have to manager their character’s stamina bar, which doubles as a health bar. Each character has a special dash that can propel them forward and hurt opponents who are in your way. Super Rush also borrows Mario Tennis’ Super Shot, which players can use once their special meter is full. Super Shots disrupt your opponent’s golf balls, giving you an additional advantage on whatever course you use it on.
Speed Golf can be played on any of Mario Tennis: Super Rush’s regular courses. The trailer also introduces Battle Golf, a special Speed Golf course where all nine holes are available at once. When a player scores on a hole, they earn that hole’s flag. Once a player has three flags, they win. Here, it’s important to keep an eye on all opponents, lest they get comfortable scoring on an undisturbed green. The trailer only shows one Battle Golf course, but I hope multiple will be available. Speed Golf already sounds incredible, so having courses specially designed for the mode can only raise its potential.
Mario Golf: Super Rush drops on the Nintendo Switch on June 25, 2021.
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