Mario Golf: Super Rush’s speed mode looks like golfing with Mario Kart
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Mario Golf: Super Rush’s centerpiece feature looks to be Speed Golf, a blend of real-world speed golf gimmick events with Mario Kart inspired power-ups. The mode gets a 90-second closeup out of a five-minute overview trailer Nintendo published Monday morning.
In Speed Golf, all players tee off at once, and are racing to finish the hole the fastest. Obviously, this places pressure on players — go ahead and whack the ball and get running, or carefully study your shot so you hit fewer altogether? PGA Tour 2K21 introduced something like this in March with its Divot Derby multiplayer game.
But Mario Golf: Super Rush threads in a stamina meter, power-ups to recover stamina, and a race to the ball where players can implement a unique speed dash or interfere with their opponents. (We see this in action around the 3:05 mark, thanks to Waluigi and his fabulous disco getup).
Battle Golf is the special-event topper for Speed Golf, putting players in a giant arena where the goal is to “claim” holes (by having the most current, lowest-stroke total on one). Capturing three holes is a win. Speed Golf’s meta-game of dashing and special shots features prominently in Battle Golf, too.
Lest you think Mario Golf: Super Rush is entirely fixated on arcade play, check out the 1-minute mark, where the game’s shot gauge will give a player an idea of how the ball’s trajectory will be affected when you’re hitting it off the side of a hill, down a hill, or trying to reach a green that’s above you. Other golf games have called out these effects when players set up their shots, but mainly in an oblique way. This makes the guessing game of where to aim a little more intuitive.
Of course, this is Camelot Software’s golfing follow-up to 2018’s Mario Tennis Aces, so you’ll see an expansive cast of 16 characters, with special abilities and attributes, and customizations galore. There’s also a narrative-style mode called Golf Adventure, which onboards the user to Mario Golf: Super Rush’s unique challenges and style of play, while also allowing them to upgrade their characters for multiplayer modes.
Mario Golf: Super Rush launches June 25 on Nintendo Switch.