Mario Golf: World Tour

It has been requested that this article be rewritten. Reason: Include information on the Character Post-Hole Animations

Mario Golf: World Tour
For alternate box art, see the game's gallery.
Developer	Camelot Software Planning Nintendo SPD Group No.4
Publisher	Nintendo
Platform(s)	Nintendo 3DS
Release date	Template:Release[?]
Language(s)	English (United Kingdom) English (United States) French (France) German Spanish (Spain) Spanish (Latin America) Italian Dutch Portuguese (Portugal) Russian Japanese Korean
Genre	Sport
Rating(s)	ESRB: - Everyone PEGI: - Three years and older CERO: - All ages ACB: - General USK: - All ages
Mode(s)	Single Player, Multiplayer, Online Play
Input	Nintendo 3DS: Gamepad

Mario Golf: World Tour is a sport title for the Nintendo 3DS. It is the third handheld installment of the Mario Golf series, and the fifth installment in the series overall. The game features gyroscope support and Wi-Fi capabilities, allowing players to participate in online Tournaments against other players from around the world. The game made use of downloadable content, in which extra courses and characters could be bought with real money, prior to the 3DS Nintendo eShop service's discontinuation on March 27, 2023. The game also made use of Nintendo Network, but the service was terminated on April 8, 2024, making the game no longer playable online. It is the first Mario Golf game to have been released after its tennis counterpart.

Gameplay

The gameplay is similar to past installments of the Mario Golf series. Players have to hit shots while taking into account character attributes, wind, weather, and course topography. The power, accuracy, and spin of shots are determined by the timing when the player taps buttons or the touch screen as a target line slides up and down the power meter. A simplified control system, like the Auto control system from Mario Golf: Toadstool Tour, returns where the player has to worry only about the power of the shot, at the expense of being unable to add topspin or backspin. The touch screen can now be used for selecting clubs, initiating shots, and adding spin. Plus, the trajectory of the shot can be altered by moving the circle pad or by using the touch screen as the shot meter is in motion; this is similar to the impact zone feature of past games. A new feature, known as Item Shots, allows players to hit shots with different effects via items. These include burning through trees with a Fire Flower, creating Note Blocks over water hazards, ignoring wind via Bullet Bill, increasing draw or fade by Boomerang, and freezing the terrain with an Ice Flower. These items can be collected by hitting ? Blocks on the course, although players sometimes start holes with items.

Controls

Menu

• / - Select Option
• - Confirm
• - Cancel
• - Star Character
• - Make Character Left-handed

Golf

• / - Select Shot Path/Move Camera/Change Clubs/Select Ball Hit Placement (while swinging)
• - Begin Swing/Confirm Sweet Spot Position (manual)
• - Cancel Swing/Confirm Sweet Spot Position (manual)
• + - Topspin
• + - Super Topspin
• + - Backspin
• + - Super Backspin
• - Select Shot Type
• - Change Camera
• - Decrease Power Bar
• - Increase Power Bar
• - Pause Menu

Castle Club

• / - Move
• - Talk/Confirm
• - Pause Menu

Characters

Playable

The complete character select screen.

The game includes 13 default characters as well as four unlockable characters, with an additional four as downloadable content, making a total of 21 characters. When the bonus characters are unlocked or downloaded, they immediately get a star rank. Miis, Toad, Kamek, Paratroopa, Gold Mario, Toadette, Nabbit, and Rosalina are playable for the first time in the Mario Golf series, though Gold Mario cannot be used in 100 Coins challenges. In addition, Daisy, Boo, Bowser Jr., Diddy Kong, and Birdo are playable in a handheld console Mario Golf installment for the first time, after previously being playable in Mario Golf: Toadstool Tour. With the discontinuation of digital purchases for Nintendo 3DS in March 2023, it is no longer possible to buy the downloadable characters, though they can still be downloaded by those who purchased them when they were available.

The DLC character screen.

Below is a table of the playable characters. Note that Height is on a scale of 0 to 10, with 0 being the lowest-flying shot and 10 being the highest. Sweet Spot and Control are out of 11. When a character curves the ball, it is either called a fade or draw. A fade is when the ball curves in the direction of the dominant hand and a draw is when the ball curves opposite the direction of the dominant hand. When a shot is used with a curve on a hole with a higher surface, the ball can either over-curve or under-curve, resulting in misplacing of the ball.

Default

Stronger Star versions of the default characters can be unlocked by beating them in their respective character match in Challenges mode.

white		white		Peach		white
Trajectory	Straight	Trajectory	Fade	Trajectory	Straight	Trajectory	Straight
Height	6.5	Height	3.5	Height	4.5	Height	5
Drive	215 yards	Drive	206 yards	Drive	200 yards	Drive	208 yards
Sweet-Spot	6.1	Sweet-Spot	7.9	Sweet-Spot	8.3	Sweet-Spot	7.25
Control	5.25	Control	6.25	Control	6.75	Control	6.1
Star Drive	280 yards (+65)	Star Drive	240 yards (+34)	Star Drive	233 yards (+33)	Star Drive	250 yards (+42)
Star Sweet-Spot	3.3	Star Sweet-Spot	6.1	Star Sweet-Spot	7.25	Star Sweet-Spot	5.05
Star Control	4.5	Star Control	6	Star Control	6.3	Star Control	5.6
Challenge Mode Character Match course for star rank to be given	Wiggler Park	Challenge Mode Character Match course for star rank to be given	Cheep Cheep Lagoon	Challenge Mode Character Match course for star rank to be given	Peach Gardens	Challenge Mode Character Match course for star rank to be given	Yoshi Lake
Daisy		white		white		white
Trajectory	Draw	Trajectory	Draw	Trajectory	Fade	Trajectory	Fade
Height	7.5	Height	4	Height	5	Height	2.25
Drive	213 yards	Drive	217 yards	Drive	220 yards	Drive	209 yards
Sweet-Spot	6.1	Sweet-Spot	5.6	Sweet-Spot	5.6	Sweet-Spot	7.25
Control	5.6	Control	5.05	Control	5.05	Control	6
Star Drive	270 yards (+57)	Star Drive	283 yards (+66)	Star Drive	290 yards (+70)	Star Drive	258 yards (+49)
Star Sweet-Spot	4	Star Sweet-Spot	2.9	Star Sweet-Spot	2.9	Star Sweet-Spot	5.05
Star Control	4.9	Star Control	4.1	Star Control	4.1	Star Control	5.25
Challenge Mode Character Match course for star rank to be given	Forest Course	Challenge Mode Character Match course for star rank to be given	DK Jungle	Challenge Mode Character Match course for star rank to be given	Bowser's Castle	Challenge Mode Character Match course for star rank to be given	Seaside Course front nine
white		white		white		white
Trajectory	Draw	Trajectory	Draw	Trajectory	Straight	Trajectory	Draw
Height	5	Height	4.25	Height	4	Height	6.25
Drive	208 yards	Drive	209 yards	Drive	210 yards	Drive	211 yards
Sweet-Spot	7.9	Sweet-Spot	7.25	Sweet-Spot	6.75	Sweet-Spot	6.75
Control	6.1	Control	6.1	Control	6	Control	6
Star Drive	246 yards (+38)	Star Drive	255 yards (+46)	Star Drive	260 yards (+50)	Star Drive	264 yards (+53)
Star Sweet-Spot	5.6	Star Sweet-Spot	5.1	Star Sweet-Spot	4.5	Star Sweet-Spot	4.5
Star Control	5.6	Star Control	5.25	Star Control	5.05	Star Control	5.05
Challenge Mode Character Match course for star rank to be given	Seaside Course back nine	Challenge Mode Character Match course for star rank to be given	Mountain Course front nine	Challenge Mode Character Match course for star rank to be given	Mountain Course back nine	Challenge Mode Character Match course for star rank to be given	Sky Island

Unlockable

These characters can be obtained by collecting a specific amount of Star Coins in Challenge Mode, after all Mario World courses are unlocked.

white <span style="color:(new);background:none">white		white <span style="color:(new);background:none">white		Paratroopa <span style="color:(new);background:none">white		white
Trajectory	Draw	Trajectory	Fade	Trajectory	Straight	Trajectory	Fade
Height	6	Height	4.25	Height	5.5	Height	6
Drive	203 yards	Drive	214 yards	Drive	207 yards	Drive	212 yards
Sweet-Spot	8.3	Sweet-Spot	6.1	Sweet-Spot	7.9	Sweet-Spot	6.75
Control	6.9	Control	5.25	Control	6.3	Control	5.6
Star Drive	237 yards (+34)	Star Drive	277 yards (+63)	Star Drive	243 yards (+36)	Star Drive	267 yards (+55)
Star Sweet-Spot	6.75	Star Sweet-Spot	3.3	Star Sweet-Spot	6.1	Star Sweet-Spot	4
Star Control	6.1	Star Control	4.5	Star Control	6	Star Control	4.9
Number of Challenge Mode Star Coins needed to unlock	40	Number of Challenge Mode Star Coins needed to unlock	45	Number of Challenge Mode Star Coins needed to unlock	50	Number of Challenge Mode Star Coins needed to unlock	55

Downloadable

white <span style="color:(new);background:none">white		white <span style="color:(new);background:none">white		white <span style="color:(new);background:none">white		white <span style="color:(new);background:none">white
Trajectory	Straight	Trajectory	Straight	Trajectory	Draw	Trajectory	Fade
Height	6.5	Height	4.25	Height	1.75	Height	7.75
Drive	215 yards	Drive	198 yards	Drive	213 yards	Drive	218 yards
Sweet-Spot	6.1	Sweet-Spot	8.3	Sweet-Spot	6.1	Sweet-Spot	5.6
Control	5.25	Control	7.05	Control	5.6	Control	5.05
Star Drive	280 yards (+65)	Star Drive	230 yards (+32)	Star Drive	274 yards (+61)	Star Drive	286 yards (+68)
Star Sweet-Spot	3.3	Star Sweet-Spot	7.9	Star Sweet-Spot	4	Star Sweet-Spot	2.9
Star Control	4.5	Star Control	6.75	Star Control	4.9	Star Control	4.1
Purchasing criteria	Buy Season Pass or all DLC packs separately	Purchasing criteria	Buy Mushroom Pack or Season Pass	Purchasing criteria	Buy Flower Pack or Season Pass	Purchasing criteria	Buy Star Pack or Season Pass

Customizable

white <span style="color:(new);background:none">white
Trajectory	Straight
Height	5
Drive	210 yards
Sweet-Spot	5.6
Control	5.6

Non-playable

These characters appear as either non-playable characters in Castle Club that players can interact with or as background elements in many of the various golf courses in the game.

Big Goomba Monty Mole Mega Monty Moles Toads Shy Guys Hammer Bro Koopa Troopa Cheep Cheeps Big Urchins Bob-omb Wiggler Big Piranha Plant Piranha Plant Bullet Bill

Butterflies Boos King Boo Para-Beetles Spike Spiny Paratroopa Lumas Urchins Goombas Buzzy Beetle Thwomp Chain Chomps

Heavy Para-Beetles Dolphins Jumbo Rays Fishin' Lakitu Screaming Pillars Big Screaming Pillars Chomps Giant Chomp Lubba Hungry Luma Baby Luma Polari Flutter

Customizable gear

Main article: List of Mario Golf: World Tour Mii gear

There is a variety of purchasable gear that can be used to customize the player's Mii that will affect their stats. The game will have 500 customizable gear items. If a player equips a Mii with a full character gear set the Mii will play similarly to that character. At first, participating in tournaments is the only way players can unlock gear that are not available in the store. But it will start selling them once a major tournament has ended. However, players have to enter major tournaments to earn clothing sets themed after these tournaments.

Items

Various items can be used during gameplay to affect the player's shots. At the start of the game, the player is given the number of items equivalent to the number of holes being played on divided by three. More can be received when the player hits the ball through ? Blocks, which give the player random items. If the ball goes through a box with a picture of an item on it, the player gets that item. In player-tournaments, a set amount of items can be chosen for the tournament players to receive before starting.

Name	Image	Description
Mushroom		Makes the ball roll far once it lands.
Fire Flower		Increases the shot distance and burns through trees and obstacles.
Ice Flower		Freezes terrain to allow the ball to bounce multiple times. This item also works on water, but not on lava.
Bullet Bill		Turns the ball into a Bullet Bill and blasts it in a straight line. Ignores wind and greatly increases maximum distance.
Bob-omb		Ignores power-reducing terrain, allowing the ball to be hit at full power in the rough.
Boomerang Flower		Drastically increases the draw or fade of the shot.
Note Block		Creates a Note Block in midair, letting the ball avoid hazards.
Tornado		A tornado that sucks up nearby coins.
Kab-omb		Explodes in mid-air to drop the ball straight down.
Gold Flower		Has the same effect as the Fire Flower, plus gives the player coins for every yard the ball travels.

Courses

Mario Golf: World Tour has the most courses of all Mario Golf games, with 16, including the downloadable courses, making a total of 234 holes. The Castle Club courses have 18 holes and have championships that the Mii can compete in against other Super Mario characters. The Mario World Courses contain gimmicks based on different Super Mario games and have nine holes. All these courses can be accessed through both Mario Golf (quick round) and Castle Club. The six downloadable courses, which could be bought with real money, are taken from the Nintendo 64 game with updated music and graphics. Some of these courses have changed appearances to look like specific worlds from New Super Mario Bros. U.

With the discontinuation of digital purchases for Nintendo 3DS in March 2023, it is no longer possible to buy the downloadable courses, though they can still be downloaded by those who purchased them when they were available.

Name	Image	Holes	Par	Description	Unlock Condition	Course Type
Forest Course		18	72	A forest-themed course where multi-colored hills can be seen in the distance.	Default	Castle Club
Seaside Course		18	72	A course located near a beach with a similar appearance to Blooper Bay.	Default	Castle Club
Mountain Course		18	72	A mountainous desert-themed course with multi-colored cacti.	Default	Castle Club
Sky Island		18	54	A course set in the sky, where clouds, Para-Beetles, and Jumbo Rays can be seen. All holes are par 3.	Complete the nine-hole One-On, One-Putt challenge in the Castle Club mode	Castle Club
Peach Gardens		9	36	A Peach's Castle-themed course with pink greens, fairways, and roughs.	Default	Mario World
Yoshi Lake		9	36	A course with many pools of standing water, resembling Yoshi's Story and Yoshi's Woolly World.	7 Star Coins	Mario World
Wiggler Park		9	36	A flower garden course with a Big Goomba and other giant characters.	14 Star Coins	Mario World
Cheep Cheep Lagoon		9	36	An underwater course with Cheep Cheeps and other marine creatures.	21 Star Coins	Mario World
DK Jungle		9	36	A Donkey Kong Country Returns themed course, featuring Screaming Pillars and Barrel Cannons.	28 Star Coins	Mario World
Bowser's Castle		9	36	A Bowser-themed course, with many Thwomps and Bob-ombs which will explode if contacted.	35 Star Coins	Mario World
Toad Highlands		18	72	Toad Highlands from Mario Golf, updated with improved music and graphics.	Buy Mushroom Pack or Season Pass	Downloadable Courses
Koopa Park		18	72	Koopa Park from Mario Golf, updated with improved music and graphics.	Buy Mushroom Pack or Season Pass	Downloadable Courses
Layer-Cake Desert		18	72	Shy Guy Desert from Mario Golf, updated to resemble Layer-Cake Desert from New Super Mario Bros. U.	Buy Flower Pack or Season Pass	Downloadable Courses
Sparkling Waters		18	72	Yoshi's Island from Mario Golf, updated to resemble Sparkling Waters from New Super Mario Bros. U.	Buy Flower Pack or Season Pass	Downloadable Courses
Rock-Candy Mines		18	72	Boo Valley from Mario Golf, updated to resemble Rock-Candy Mines from New Super Mario Bros. U.	Buy Star Pack or Season Pass	Downloadable Courses
Mario's Star		18	72	Mario's Star from Mario Golf with a Super Mario Galaxy theme and changes in layout and music.	Buy Star Pack or Season Pass	Downloadable Courses

Game modes

There are two main modes of play: Mario Golf (Quick Round), and Castle Club.

Mario Golf

Mario Golf (Quick Round) is similar to past Mario Golf games, where the player can select a Mushroom Kingdom character or a customized Mii. It features a variety of modes such as Single Player (including Stroke Play, Match Play, Speed Golf, and Point Tourney, all of which provide coins for the player), Vs. (Local Play, Online Friends, and Community Match), and Tournaments (Mario Open and user-created Private Tournaments). Additional regional and worldwide online tournaments are available on the entry floor of the Castle Club.

Single Player

This mode allows players to take on a round by themselves, and against the clock or a computer opponent, as well as Challenges, where courses, Star characters, and Mii costumes can be unlocked. The first four modes allow the player to select any unlocked course. The following settings can be adjusted: number of holes (three, six, nine, or 18), order of holes (normal or mixed), wind strength, whether or not to use items or club slots or have coins on the course, whether to start from hole 1 or hole 10 (when playing the holes in normal order), what tees to start from (regular, back, or tournament), and whether or not to display the shot trajectory. Playing rounds may earn the player Best Badges and will randomly unlock Mii Gear for the player's Mii to use.

Stroke Play

A standard round of golf, where the player's score is compared to par.

Match Play

The player competes against a computer-controlled opponent. The winner of the round is whichever player wins more holes, although if the players are tied by the end of the game, it will proceed into Sudden Death and go through the selected course again until someone wins. The player may choose the opponents skill level, ranging in five different varieties, two of which need to be unlocked.

Difficulty	Description	Availability
Novice	An opponent that makes mistakes frequently, such as making mis-hits, having bad putting and incorrect reading of the green.	Initially Available
Intermediate	An opponent that has less mistakes than a Novice CPU, however still makes them frequently.	Initially Available
Expert	An opponent that makes mistakes but doesn't do so too often, being able to get out of rough easily on occasion.	Initially Available
Semipro	An opponent that has little flaws in its game, only rarely mis-hitting.	Unlocked by collecting 90 Star Coins in Challenge Mode.
Pro	An opponent with almost no flaws in its game, correctly hitting every shot.	Unlocked by collecting 100 Moon Coins in Challenge Mode.

Speed Golf

A Mii is ready to tee off in Speed Golf.

Instead of counting strokes, the player's score is determined by how much time is taken to sink the ball.

Point Tourney

Scored via a modified version of the Stableford scoring system. The player is awarded eight points for an albatross or a hole in one, five for an eagle, three for a birdie, two for a par, and one for a bogey. A double bogey or worse scores zero.

Challenges

Main article: List of Mario Golf: World Tour challenges

Each of the game's courses, including downloadable courses, have ten Star Coin challenges and ten Moon Coin challenges (the latter are more difficult, and unlocked by earning 90 Star Coins). They take the following forms:

Star (or Moon) Coin Collector - A Star (or Moon) Coin is placed somewhere on a hole. The player must hit the coin with the ball, then complete the hole in par or better.

Ring Master - Multiple rings are placed around the hole. The player must hit the ball through all of the rings, then complete the hole in par or better.

100 Coins - A three-hole challenge where Coins are placed around each hole. The player is given a number of shots two less than the hole's par, and attempts to hit the ball into 100 coins over the course of the three holes. (Gold Mario is banned from this challenge due to having the Gold Flower attached to him at all times.)

Score Attack - The player must complete nine holes of stroke play, and match or beat the given target score.

Character Match - A nine-hole match play competition against a Mushroom Kingdom character with a set difficulty. Winning this match also unlocks the star version of that character for use.

Time Attack - The player must complete three holes within the given time limit.

Point Challenge - A three-hole challenge. On each hole, Club Slots are spun, which limits the player to no more than three clubs (plus a putter) for the duration of the hole unless the player lines up three Stars on the slots, in which case they will have all of their clubs available. One way to make this happen is to stop the first two slots on Stars, making the third slot spin fast and always land on a Star no matter when it is stopped. Point Tourney scoring applies, and the player must earn at least the given target number of points within the three holes.

One-On, One-Putt Challenge - Sky Island only. If a tee shot misses the green, the challenge is failed. If a birdie putt is missed, the challenge is failed. To succeed, the player must clear all holes consecutively by landing the ball on the green in the first stroke (the fringe will not count), then putting the ball into the cup for the next. Getting a hole-in-one will also mark the hole as cleared.

Vs.

This is the game's multiplayer mode. Local play is available for up to four players, but it does not support download play. During multiplayer, all players play at the same time, which speeds up play significantly because players do not have to wait until it is their turn to play. However, all players must finish the hole before they are allowed to move on. Players can see the ghost shots of other players and on-screen icons also show how the player's shots measure with the other players' in terms of distance. Players can send taunts or cheers to each other by pressing icons, as well as emoticons. Matches with online friends and community matches can also be played from this menu.

Skins Match

In addition to Stroke Play, Match Play, Speed Golf, and Point Tourney from the single-player mode, Skins Matches are playable, though exclusive to multiplayer. They are very similar to Match Play in that the goal is to earn the most points. However, this mode can be played by 2-4 players, and rather than having a set point goal, the player with the most points after a set number of holes wins. This mode does not support simultaneous play.

Castle Club

The main lobby of the Castle Club

Castle Club is a story mode where the player's Mii tackles different tournaments (similar to the story modes from previous handheld Mario Golf games). The building is the Mushroom Kingdom counterpart to real-life golf country clubs. To the left and right of the entrance are the boys' and girls' locker rooms respectively. At the center of the lobby are two staircases leading to the basement, where the player can enter regional and world tournaments and ask the purple Toad for advice on golf terminology. To the left of the doorway to the Castle Club's exterior is the boutique, where the player's Mii is able to use Coins to buy equipment that will affect its stats, such as drive distance and shot trajectory, similar to the Mii customization feature in Mario Tennis Open. The player can change his/her gear by accessing the pause menu from anywhere in the Castle Club, or by going to the locker room of the Mii's gender and pressing when in front of the locker. Above the boutique is the Royal Room, where most of the Super Mario playable characters can be met. Located opposite the boutique is the gym, and on top of that is the trophy room. Just outside the Castle Club is the Caddie Master's booth where the player can sign up for a handicap tournament. After completing that, the player will be allowed to compete in tournaments, located on the Forest Course, the Seaside Course, and the Mountain Course in that order. The entrances to these courses are located to the right of the booth, and when the player goes into one of them, he/she can either go for a stroke play (front tees are used) or the course championship (back tees are used). Completing either of these modes can raise or lower the player's handicap, and when a tournament is won, the player appears in the Royal Room to receive his/her trophy from Princess Peach.

The entrance to the Forest Course outside the Castle Club

To the left of the Caddie Master's booth is the Royal Garden, which has pipes leading to the six Mario World courses, and a passageway to the Royal Room. Entering these pipes will put the player in a practice round on any of the courses, where the player uses the front tees, starts out with a few items and can grab more from Item Boxes around the course, and hits the ball through coins that appear as well. At the far left of this garden is an aura which will summon Kamek when the player approaches it. Kamek can exchange play coins for game coins, change his/her dominant hand, allow mulligans (the ability to redo strokes), or change the player's swing type, all at a cost of a huge amount of coins. After all three course championships are won, Costume Challenges will begin appearing in the Royal Garden, where players can unlock costumes by completing objectives such as collecting a certain amount of coins, finishing in a short period of time, and beating a target score using Club Slots, all on Mario World courses. Unlike in Quick Round, where the challenges only cover three specific holes and the front or back tees are used, Costume Challenges take place on all nine holes and tournament tees are used. To the right of the main course entrances is an area with entrances to training grounds where players can take a golf tutorial (no gate) and practice their drives (purple gate), approaches (blue gate), and putts (green gate). The practice sessions come in different levels, and the goal is get the ball as close to the pin as possible -- or even sink the ball -- to earn practice points. Succeeding 20 times in the training games each for drives, approaches, and putts will give the player costumes of Bee Mario, Cloud Mario, and Boomerang Mario respectively. Past the practice grounds is the entrance to Sky Island, where the player takes on the One-On, One-Putt challenge, which requires the player to get the ball onto the green in one shot, then putt that ball in the next for nine consecutive holes. If the ball misses the green or just lands on the fringe, or the putt is missed at any point, the challenge is failed. Upon completion, the course will be unlocked and a 18-hole version can be played in Castle Club in its stead. Taking the One-On, One-Putt challenge again and clearing all 18 holes will award the player with a Propeller Mario costume.

Toad's Booth

Hosted by a blue Toad, this is primarily where players can purchase downloadable content. Records for each game mode, including the number of eagles, albatrosses, and holes-in-one made, can also be viewed here. Players can also visit this booth to learn how to play the game, and see a glossary of golf terminology.

Online tournaments

The Castle Tournament gold trophy.

Mario Golf: World Tour features a variety of online tournaments for players to take part in. They can either be made by Nintendo with golf gear as participation prizes (barring DLC tournaments), by other players from across the world in the form of Private Tournaments, or made by Callaway Golf in partnership with Nintendo. SpotPass must be turned on for tournaments to be entered.

After playing through a tournament, the player must upload their score in order for it to be ranked (by score then order of submission) in the leaderboard which can be viewed at any time during the tournament period. Tournaments can be played an infinite amount of times until the deadline has been met, allowing for continuous improvement of a player's score. Most tournaments last for two weeks, those on downloadable courses are one week long, and major tournaments last for almost a month. After a deadline ends for a tournament, the final standings can be viewed in an award ceremony, and both a trophy (gold for the top 10%, silver for the top 20-30%, and bronze for the top 40-60%) and coins are received depending on how the player places. Gaining a trophy in certain regional or worldwide tournaments will allow the player to enter one of four yearly major worldwide tournaments (such as the Castle Tournament or Star Open) that reward the player with a more impressive trophy and a larger coin payout.

Trophies earned from Regional and World Tournaments in the Castle Club appear on the shelf at the back of the trophy hall (a maximum of ten normal trophies can be on display at any one time), and trophies from major tournaments appear in the glass display towards the center of the room. Gold trophies appear beside the screen in the middle, silver ones are seen farther from it, and bronze ones are placed at the far sides of the hall. World tournament trophies appear towards the middle and those for regional tournaments are placed at the sides. The higher the end ranking the player got in a tournament, the closer to the middle its trophy is placed.

Official online tournaments were concluded with World Tour Final, which started on December 20, 2018, and ended on January 10, 2019. Despite this, official online DLC tournaments remained available, with the final DLC Trial Tour 98 on Mario's Star having entries allowed until December 31, 2030, a placeholder date which remained until the Nintendo Network service was shutdown on April 8, 2024.

Here are the types of tournaments created so far:

Tournament	Tournament type	Course Range	Mode	Origin date	Coin reward	Tees	Wind
Fixed-Character Tournament	Mario Open	Mario World	Stroke Play	May 1, 2014	30,000	Regular	Normal
Limited-Character Coin Rush	Mario Open	Mario World	Coin Collector	May 1, 2014	27,000	Regular	Normal
Limited-Item Coin Rush	Mario Open	Mario World	Coin Collector	May 1, 2014	27,000	Regular	Normal
Regional Tournament	Regional Tournament	Castle Club	Stroke Play	May 1, 2014	36,000	Back	Normal
Regional Point Play	Regional Tournament	Castle Club	Stroke Play	May 1, 2014	19,000	Regular	Normal
Regional Near-Pin	Regional Tournament	Castle Club	Stroke Play	May 1, 2014	18,000	Regular	Normal
World Tournament	World Tour	Castle Club	Stroke Play	May 1, 2014	24,000	Back	Normal
DLC Coin Rush	Mario Open	Downloadable Courses	Coin Collector	May 1, 2014	45,000	Regular	Normal
Limited-Item Tournament	Mario Open	Mario World	Coin Collector	May 8, 2014	30,000	Regular	Normal
DLC Tournament	Mario Open	Downloadable Courses	Stroke Play	May 8, 2014	48,000	Regular	Normal
Regional Double Peoria	Regional Tournament	Castle Club	Stroke Play (Double Peoria)	May 15, 2014	18,000	Regular	Normal
Regional Handicap	Regional Tournament	Castle Club	Stroke Play (Handicapped)	May 15, 2014	19,000	???	???
Regional Speed Golf	Regional Tournament	Castle Club	Speed Golf	May 22, 2014	19,000	Regular	Normal
Regional One-On, One-Putt	Regional Tournament	Castle Club	One-On, One-Putt Contest	May 22, 2014	18,000	Regular	Strong
Callaway Tournament	Regional Tournament	Castle Club	Stroke Play	May 22, 2014	72,000	???	???
Expert Tournament	Regional Tournament	Castle Club	Stroke Play	???	38,000	Back	Strong
Major Tournament	World Tour	Castle Club	Stroke Play	June 12, 2014	54,000	Tournament	Normal
Open Coin Rush	Mario Open	Mario World	Coin Collector	June 12, 2014	27,000	Regular	Normal
Open Tournament	Mario Open	Mario World	Stroke Play	June 12, 2014	30,000	Regular	Normal
Regional Driving Contest	Regional Tournament	Castle Club	Best Drive Contest	July 10, 2014	18,000	Back	Strong
World Tour Final	Mario Open	Castle Club	Stroke Play	December 20, 2018	54,000	Tournament	Normal

Regional Tournaments

In the Castle Club's basement, the player's Mii can go into a pipe on the red entry machine to join Regional Tournaments. These restrict participants to those in the chosen region(s). The clothing prizes for these tournaments are obtained individually, and are themed after the playable characters (not the downloadable ones), and some enemies and items. Additionally, Callaway Golf has teamed up with Nintendo to produce Callaway-based regional tournaments, which will give the players sponsored Callaway Gear for the Mii to equip during the tournaments and to keep afterwards.

Double Peoria - Players try to get the best net score, factoring in their handicap.

Handicap Tournament - Players try to get a score which can make the biggest improvement in their handicap.

Expert Tournament - Designed specifically for advanced players, the courses in these tournaments have narrower fairways, more obstacles, deeper bunkers, and Tournament Greens, and no flight path is used. These tournaments are played on the front nine of one of the Castle Club courses and the back nine of another. Hole 1 or hole 10 is started with.

Near-Pin Challenge - Players try to get the ball as close as possible to the pin in a single stroke. The ball must land on the green for the distance to be recorded. This tournament can be played on Sky Island, on either the front nine or back nine, and the holes are done in the normal order. It also takes place on any nine par-3 holes from the other courses, which are played in a random order. The One-On, One-Putt Challenge music is used for this tournament, and the Sky Island flag is used no matter what course is being played on.

Driving Contest - One-hole tournaments which are done on par 5 holes. Players are only given one stroke to hit the ball as far as possible. The ball should land on the fairway for the distance to be recorded.

World Tournaments

On the other side of the Castle Club's basement, the blue entry machine has a pipe leading to World Tournaments, which pit the player against the whole world. The clothing prizes for these tournaments are earned in complete sets and designed like Nintendo gaming devices and themed after the major tournaments.

Major tournaments are like the expert tournaments, only that the flight path is turned on. Four of these happen every year. The Castle Tournament is in the Forest Course, the Star Open is in the Seaside Course, and the Moon Open is in the Mountain Course. In these tournaments, the holes are played in the regular order. The World Championship takes place on all three courses at once, six holes being played on for each course, and the holes are done in a mixed order.

Mario Open

In addition to Castle Club Tournaments, Nintendo has also created Mario Open tournaments which allow the use of Super Mario characters, and are played on Mario World courses and downloadable courses. Tournaments in this category cover nine holes, so on the downloadable courses, either the front nine or back nine are played on. All of these tournaments are world tournaments, but they award pieces of clothing for the Mii in the same way as the regional tournaments. Mario Open tournaments are stroke-play or coin-collecting tournaments, and when there are no item restrictions, players start out with three different items. Fixed-character tournaments limit players to using a specific character, and that character is not allowed to have a star rank. In limited-item tournaments, players can only use a particular item, and they start out with five of it. Players can also make their own unofficial Mario Open tournaments under rules of their choice for other players to enjoy.

Downloadable content

Mario Golf: World Tour was one of two Mario games on the 3DS to provide paid DLC, the other being New Super Mario Bros 2.

Mushroom Pack
Description: Toadette takes up the clubs in the first DLC pack for the game. You'll also get two brand new courses to play: Toad Highlands and Koopa Park. This pack will definitely grow on you. Release Date: May 2, 2014 Price: US$5.99 / CAN$6.49 / €5.99 / £5.39 / AUS$7.80 / ₽239 Blocks: 447 Courses: Toad Highlands: Toad Highlands from Mario Golf now graphically updated, with Toad-shaped hedges and Toad Houses. Koopa Park: Koopa Park from Mario Golf now graphically updated, taking place at sunset and with Koopa Troopa balloons. Character: Toadette
Flower Pack
Description: Delicious! The Layer-Cake Desert and Sparkling Waters courses are perfect complements to each other in this pack. You'll also snag the character Nabbit from New Super Mario Bros. U. Release Date: May 22, 2014 Price: US$5.99 / CAN$6.49 / €5.99 / £5.39 / AUS$7.80 / ₽239 Blocks: 447 Courses: Layer-Cake Desert: Shy Guy Desert from Mario Golf updated with the look of Layer-Cake Desert from New Super Mario Bros. U. Sparkling Waters: Yoshi's Island from Mario Golf updated with the look of Sparkling Waters from New Super Mario Bros. U. Character: Nabbit
Star Pack
Description: The two stellar courses in this pack will have you driving deep into Mario's Star and playing through the Rock-Candy Mines. Need even more star power? How about Rosalina as a playable character! Release Date: June 19, 2014 Price: US$5.99 / CAN$6.49 / €5.99 / £5.39 / AUS$7.80 / ₽239 Blocks: 482 Courses: Rock-Candy Mines: Boo Valley from Mario Golf updated with the look of Rock-Candy Mines from New Super Mario Bros. U. Mario's Star: Mario's Star from Mario Golf with a Super Mario Galaxy theme and changes in layout. Character: Rosalina
Season Pass
Description: Can't decide what new courses and characters you want? You can get all three (as they are released) by buying a Season Pass! You'll also get the Gold Mario character to use immediately. If you buy all three packs separately, then you'll get Gold Mario when the Star Pack is released in June. Release Date: Starts May 2, 2014 and downloads new courses and characters as they are released. Price: Until May 31, 2014: US$14.99 / CAN$16.49 / €11.99 / £10.79 / AUS$15.60 After May 31, 2014: US$14.99 / CAN$16.49 / €14.99 / £13.49 / AUS$20.90 / ₽599 Blocks: First Wave: 489 Second Wave: 933 (including first wave) Third Wave: 1373 (including first and second waves) Courses: First Wave: Toad Highlands: Toad Highlands from Mario Golf now graphically updated, for example with Toad-shaped hedges and Toad Houses. Koopa Park: Koopa Park from Mario Golf now graphically updated, for example taking place at sunset and with Koopa Troopa balloons. Second Wave: Layer-Cake Desert: Shy Guy Desert from Mario Golf updated with the look of Layer-Cake Desert from New Super Mario Bros. U. Sparkling Waters: Yoshi's Island from Mario Golf updated with the look of Sparkling Waters from New Super Mario Bros. U. Third Wave: Rock-Candy Mines: Boo Valley from Mario Golf updated with the look of Rock-Candy Mines from New Super Mario Bros. U. Mario's Star: Mario's Star from Mario Golf with a Super Mario Galaxy theme and layout changes. Characters: First Wave: Gold Mario and Toadette Second Wave: Nabbit Third Wave: Rosalina
Free-Trial Course Pack
Description: Release Date: May 2, 2014 Price: Free Blocks: 370 (as of June 19, 2014) Courses: Character: None

Demo

On April 17th, a demo of the game was released on the Nintendo eShop for Europe, making this strictly the second Super Mario game (preceded by Mario & Luigi: Dream Team) to have a publicly released demo for download. The demo was later released in North America on April 24. It uses 873 blocks when downloaded and offers ten uses (fifteen for the North American demo).

The demo lets the player go through a tutorial covering camera and shot control or play through either holes 1, 2, and 3 of Seaside Course, holes 1, 2, and 6 of Wiggler Park, and holes 1, 5, and 6 of Yoshi Lake. The demo also allows the player to play the Star Coin Collector mode on hole 9 of Peach Gardens, and the Ring Master mode on hole 14 of Mountain Course. The only playable characters available are Mario, Peach, Yoshi, and Bowser.

Nintendo 3DS eShop description

American English version

Go clubbing around the world with Mario™! Tee off as your favorite Mario or Mii™ character while challenging players online. Shoot into warp pipes and dodge piranha plants in Mushroom Kingdom areas or take a shot at the nature-themed courses.

Power-up your shots with special items to burn past pesky plants, blast over gaping chasms, or freeze water hazards. The new Castle Club has both naturalistic and Mario-themed courses, a training area to hone your skills, and a pro shop where you can get unlockable gear and outfits.

Test your skills in a gauntlet of course challenges, play with friends locally (using emoticons to cheer them on), or take on players around the world in online real-time tournaments.

British English version

Grab your clubs and bring fun to the fore in Mario Golf: World Tour on Nintendo 3DS family systems! Join Mario and friends for engrossing golf action on your own, or tee off with players from all over the world in thrilling online multiplayer matches. The Mario Golf series is known for combining deceptively deep golf gameplay with ideas you could only find in a Mario game, and Mario Golf: World Tour is no exception! Master a range of courses sure to test even the most experienced player. It's not all lush greens and blue skies though - take to the fairway on sandy shores, or shoot for the pin on courses inspired by the world of Mario!

Critical reception

Mario Golf: World Tour has received generally positive reviews among critics. IGN gave the game a score of 8.6/10 (a "great" rating). They praised the game's learning curve, training options, quantity of unlockables, and multiplayer, but criticized the map in Castle Club, saying it was "confusing". Joystiq gave 3 stars out of 5, being more critical, while praising the basic gameplay and online options, criticizing the Castle Club, opining it as sparse and dispensable, while also opining that the game as a whole was too safe in its approach. Thomas Whitehead of Nintendo Life compared Mario Golf: Word Tour favorably to Mario Tennis Open. He praised the game for a perceived sense of attention to detail, as well as its skill curve. He gave the game a score of 9/10. The game was scored 83% by Official Nintendo Magazine. Mario Golf: World Tour currently averages a score of 78 out of a possible 100 on Metacritic.

Reviews
Reviewer, Publication	Score	Comment
Brian Albert, IGN	8.6/10	"Mario Golf does a great job of showing you the ropes, and the challenges and multiplayer keep you coming back."
Andrew Hayward, Engadget	3/5	"Nintendo has already confirmed plans for an extensive slate of add-on courses, which should add some welcome variety into the mix. However, a bulk of extra locales won't make up for a lack of ambition on developer Camelot's part, as Mario Golf: World Tour – like Mario Tennis Open before it – takes a too-conservative approach, as if notching par was the only end goal."
Thomas Whitehead, Nintendo Life	9/10	"Whether you want to settle in for a 15 minute blast around some challenges, or a longer spell carefully constructing a new record score, this satisfies either desire. On top of that, it has possibly the most impressive online setup we've seen to date in a first-party Nintendo game."
Henry Gilbert, GamesRadar+	4/5	"Mario Golf: World Tour may lack innovation, but it provides easy-to-grasp golfing fun and a slew of unique stages. It's a solid game that will keep you coming back for more."
Aggregators
Compiler		Platform / Score
Metacritic		78
GameRankings		78.47%

References to other games

• Super Mario Bros.: The loading screens portray various golf scenes that use sprites from this game. The music used in Cheep Cheep Lagoon is a cover of the underwater theme. The music of Bowser's Castle has some parts of the castle theme in it. The overworld theme is heard in part of the music for the credits.
• Super Mario Bros. 3: The music used in Sky Island is a cover of this game's Athletic Theme. A Super Leaf clothing set and Tanooki Mario costume appear, with golf clubs and balls to go with them.
• Super Mario World: Baby Yoshi and Reznor costumes appear, with golf clubs and balls to go with them.
• NES Open Tournament Golf: A costume, golf clubs, and a golf ball appear based on Mario's attire in this game.
• Super Mario 64: The music of Bowser's Castle has parts of this game's Bowser level music. Additionally, the stained glass portrait of Peach appears on hole 16 of Mario's Star as terrain.
• Mario Golf (Nintendo 64): Toad Highlands and Koopa Park return with an updated appearance, while the other four main courses appear in a new iteration. In addition, Peach's Eagle and Birdie animations are similar to her hole-in-one animation from this game as, while she celebrates, her sports uniform turns into her trademark dress (although, in that case, it was deliberate instead of accidental).
• Yoshi's Story: Yoshi Lake appears to be based on this game, even using a cover of the title screen as the music.
• Donkey Kong 64: Some of Diddy Kong's voice clips are recycled from this game.
• Mario Golf: Toadstool Tour: The major tournaments function much like the Star Tournaments in this game. The coin-collecting matches are similar to Quick Cash mode in this game. The availability of Petey Piranha and Koopa Troopa costumes, golf clubs, and balls recalls how they were playable characters in this game. Sky Island has a similar layout to Congo Canopy.
• Mario Golf: Advance Tour: The Castle Club has a similar layout to the Marion Clubhouse from this game. Sky Island has a similar layout to Elf's Short Course.
• Mario Power Tennis: Many voice clips are reused from this game.
• Mario Kart DS: The music of Peach Gardens is a cover of the theme used in this game's Peach Gardens.
• Super Mario Galaxy and Super Mario Galaxy 2: Mario's Star has elements from these games, and various Luma characters appear in Rosalina's post-hole animations. The music used in Wiggler Park is a cover of the Honeyhive Galaxy music. Bee Mario, Cloud Mario, and Luma costumes appear, with golf clubs and balls to go with them.
• Mario Kart Wii: Some voice clips are reused from this game.
• New Super Mario Bros. Wii: A Propeller Mario costume appears, with golf clubs and a ball to go with it.
• Donkey Kong Country Returns: The DK Jungle course is heavily based on this game. Donkey Kong's Eagle/Albatross/Hole-In-One animation features him in a silhouetted jungle setting referencing the silhouette levels that originated from this game.
• Super Mario 3D Land: A Boomerang Flower clothing set and Boomerang Mario costume appear, with golf clubs and balls to go with them. A Tail Goomba appears along with regular Goombas on hole 13 of Mario's Star as terrain.
• Mario Kart 7: Rosalina's voice clips are recycled from this game. Gold Mario's artwork is based off Metal Mario's artwork in this game, only with a golf club instead of a stack of tires.
• Mario Tennis Open: Mii customization returns from this game. The overall structure of the game is like this one, with sound effects and icons borrowed from it.
• New Super Mario Bros. 2: Gold Mario appears as a playable character. Moon Coins reappear. A Fox Luigi costume appears, with golf clubs and a ball to go with it. The background of Mario's Eagle/Albatross/Hole-In-One animation is the same as that of World Star.
• New Super Mario Bros. U: Layer-Cake Desert, Sparkling Waters, and Rock-Candy Mines are downloadable golf courses of places that originated in this game. A Boss Sumo Bro costume appears, with golf clubs and a ball to go with it. Nabbit appears as a playable character. His Eagle/Albatross/Hole-In-One animation features him running through a series of levels based on this game, complete with HUD.
• Super Mario 3D World: Mario's and Luigi's character icons appear as terrain on hole 18 of Mario's Star, while Toad's appears on hole 12.

References in later games

• Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS: A trophy appears depicting Mario in his Mario Golf: World Tour appearance. The trophy itself is even titled "Mario Golf: World Tour."
• Super Smash Bros. Ultimate: One of Peach's victory poses resembles her Hole-in-One/Eagle animation in World Tour, only without her parasol. Similarly, one of Daisy's victory poses resembles her Birdie animation. In addition, the music track "World Tour", which plays during national tournaments, appears as an unlockable music track on Super Mario-franchise stages except for Mario Kart-themed stages.

Trophy description from Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS

Trophy Mario Golf: World Tour

Category: Series Related

Looks like Mario is really on his game today! Or he just sent his ball off the course and into the trees—it's hard to tell. Getting a ball out of the rough is part of golf! It adds a bit of adventure to the game, though the undersea course in this world tour probably adds more. (American English)

Mario looks like he's having a good game here! Or maybe he's just whacked his ball out of sight and into the trees. It's anyone's guess, really. Well, getting a ball out of the rough can still be fun. Things like that give the game a touch of adventure, which is something this world tour is just full of – especially the underwater course! (British English)

Regional differences

In the British English version of Mario Golf: World Tour, the exclamation marks are missing from the animation for Birdie, Eagle, and Albatross. One is present in the Hole-in-One animation, however. The Hole-in-One text that appears in both English versions are different, the British English version having "HOLE-IN-ONE!", whereas the American English version has "HOLE IN ONE!!", leaving out the dashes.

The character select screen also has multiple differences in the distance for each character, as the letters size vary for different versions, with the British English letters being bigger than the American English letters. The abbreviation for "Yards" is also different, with the American English version having "yd." and leaves a space between it and the number, whereas the British English region uses a "yd" abbreviation with no space between the numbers and letters.

Pre-release and unused content

Main article: List of Mario Golf: World Tour pre-release and unused content

In some pre-release screenshots, the animations for "Birdie" or "Bogey" had orange circles and letters, whereas in the final game, they're blue. The letters and wording was also different in the final version, with different colors, fonts and sizes. Many holes where different, either moved or changed completely. Dark transparent boxes were also added behind the wording of certain course information, and some things were moved to different parts of the screen.

Staff

Main article: List of Mario Golf: World Tour staff

Mario Golf: World Tour was created by staff at both Camelot and Nintendo, with localization teams from both Nintendo of America and Nintendo of Europe also involved, the latter organization involving sixteen translators to bring the game to a variety of languages. Both Shigeru Miyamoto and Koji Kondo were involved as supervisors. Finally, while she was not listed in the game's credits, Kerri Kane portrayed Rosalina via recycled and previously unused voice clips from her earlier work on Mario Kart 7.

Gallery

For this subject's image gallery, see Gallery:Mario Golf: World Tour.

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  Mario, Luigi, Peach and Toad

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  Seaside Course

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  Mario's golf ball

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  Mario's club

Media

Cheep Cheep Lagoon

File infoMedia:MGWT Cheep Cheep Lagoon.oga 0:30

Help:Media • Having trouble playing?

Quotes

Main article: List of Mario Golf: World Tour quotes

Announcer

• "Nice on!"
• "Wow! Nice Albatross!"
• "Congratulations!"

Names in other languages

Language	Name	Meaning	Notes
Japanese	マリオゴルフ ワールドツアー[?] Mario Gorufu Wārudo Tsuā	Mario Golf: World Tour

Trivia

• Cheep Cheep Lagoon and Koopa Park are the only courses whose greens do not have square designs; instead, they use a wavy design and a hexagonal design respectively.
• The course (and mode) music for this game continues after shots on the green and post-hole animations, unlike in previous games, where the music restarts when entering a new hole (there even being a tune for hole overviews).

External links

• Premiere Trailer from Nintendo Direct.
• Official North American website
• Official European website
• Official Japanese website