Mario Sports games are a beloved Mario spin-off series that have been in a hiatus for quite some time – especially on consoles. The last Mario Golf game was nearly a decade ago on the 3DS with World Tour and we haven’t seen a Mario Baseball or Strikers game since the Wii era. However, with Mario Tennis making its way onto Switch in 2018 with Aces, it was only a matter of time before another Mario Sports game debuted on Switch. Now, Nintendo is getting players back onto the golf course for Mario Golf: Super Rush, but sadly, it’s not exactly a grand return.
Mario Sports games have always been seen as top-tier options for some couch party fun that lets friends duke it out in popular sports games with some Mario twists. Throughout both my high school and college years, Mario Superstar Baseball was a staple for times where my friends wanted to go head-to-head, and the entire internet has been asking for a new Strikers game for years. For the most part, they offer incredibly fun game modes, a wide variety of characters, places to play that fit right within the Mushroom Kingdom, and are easy to pick up and play but equally fun to master. In its most basic form, Super Rush offers this same amount of fun.
There’s a solid selection of characters for players to head onto the course featuring some usual suspects, fan-favorite newcomers like Pauline, and delightful underling picks like Chargin’ Chuck and King Bob-omb. It’s also nice that you can still add in your Mii to the mix, but this roster is way too small. With every character being available at the start, there’s no one special for players to unlock and frankly there are some glaring omissions. How did usual sports game staple characters like Birdo, Petey Piranha, or any other Donkey Kong character not make the cut? Sure, DLC is always an option, but Nintendo isn’t always the best at supporting their game post-launch.
It’s also disappointing that there are only six courses available to play on and the hazards they offer don’t really do much. It’s cool to see some Pokey enemies scattered through the Balmy Dunes to have to curve your shots around and some small Bob-ombs walking around Bowser Highlands. There are even some interesting environmental hazards in the form of some thunderclouds on Wildweather Woods. However, most of these obstacles are pretty easy to avoid and barely, if ever, affect the gameplay. Honestly, the courses as a whole are pretty barren and lifeless with very few Mario characters roaming around or cheering you on. There are not even any fun actions happening in the background and it makes these courses kind of boring. It’s certainly odd to see these courses not feature as much Mario shenanigans as possible, but it could be a reflection of this entry adding more realistic golfing mechanics to the mix than Mario stuff.
Maybe it’s just because I haven’t teed up a Mario Golf game in a while, but it was surprising to see how deep the golfing gameplay was. Golfing here isn’t just hitting the ball down the fairway and changing clubs every now and again, there’s actually a lot of shot shaping. Players can add topspin and backspin, even super backspin, as well as curve their shots around obstacles or just to get a better position. Even on the putting green, players will find a much more scientific looking overlay that allows them to identify slope direction and if they’re hitting uphill, downhill, or are on even ground. The addition of the lobbing wedge in your arsenal is key though as it’s pivotal in getting out of deep bunkers or getting over taller obstacles. It’s definitely great that Super Rush offers some deep gameplay that allows players more strategic options when hitting the ball, but it’s not without its issues.
The overlay used for putting isn’t exactly the easiest to get a read on at times as it’s a bit of a struggle to figure out exactly how hard the slope is. Also, although there are a lot of options when it comes to how you want to hit the ball, doing all these things can be a little complicated. With curving the ball and adding spin needed to be done in a certain time frame before the ball is hit, it can make certain shots feel more panicked than they need to be, and the game definitely asks players to do a lot in one swing. However, it’s not too long until you quickly master these mechanics and are able to utilize the depth of Super Rush’s gameplay to your advantage. Oh, and just a quick pro tip, just stick to button controls because the motion control’s learning curve is way too steep. Look, it’s cool that Nintendo always offers new ways to play, but it’s really tough to find a consistency in power when it comes to your swing or adding curve and spin. Also, motion controls take away one of the more Mario elements sprinkled into the gameplay through Special Shots.
Special Shots are Mario additions that are a staple with Mario Sports games and allow for players to mess with one another’s shots. While most just knock other balls away, there are some that stand out. Bowser Jr.’s special shot creates a smokescreen wherever it lands and can even block out where the hole is. Yoshi’s special shot turns any balls near it into eggs while Rosalina’s turns them into star bits making your opponent’s next hit not roll correctly. Wario’s special shot can generate a lightning cloud that can heavily affect the next shot. Luigi even pulls out an ice flower to make wherever his ball lands an ice patch that will have balls that come after it bounce right off. There definitely isn’t as strong of a variety in the Special Shots as there should be, but there are some good standouts, nevertheless. There’s also a Special Dash that comes into play for the other modes that allow players to chase their ball across the course.
Outside of standard play, there are a few added modes that feel much more party-based and could be a blast with friends. Speed Golf is definitely the premier mode for Super Rush with how it makes Special Dashes and Shots incredibly key. In this mode, everyone tees off at the same time and then ensues in a mad dash across the course to be the first to get their ball in the hole. Speed Golf definitely lets players create chaos for one another in fun ways and actually contains some very balanced scoring that still prioritizes sinking your ball in fewer shots over just mindless hitting. There’s also Battle Golf where nine holes are available at the start and players will compete to get their ball in three of the holes before their opponents. It’s highly competitive and genuinely feels like a true Mario mode with the obstacles and power-ups it offers. It’s something that gives off Toy Field vibes for Mario Baseball fans. These three modes, standard play included, can all be played either local or online and come with some good quality of life improvements.
Players can choose the number of holes they want to play rather than just be stuck to 18. They can allow everyone to take their shots at the same time rather than have everyone go one at a time. They can also choose which hole they want to start from and turn on/off special shots if they want to play a more honest game. There’s also a lot of customizability for searching for online games that allow for players to get into the kinds of game they want. Super Rush definitely allows for a lot of things for players to make their own across three of its very solid game modes. However, there’s one absolutely glaring fault that opens up a bunch of other issues when it comes to Super Rush’s adventure mode.
When it comes to Mario Sports adventure modes, one that always stands out for me is the one in Super Sluggers. Super Sluggers offered an adventure mode that felt incredibly rewarding with its unlockables, was constantly fun in the ways you explored the map, and featured a decent premise. Super Rush’s is a complete atrocity in comparison, and it blows my mind how Nintendo let it come out like this. It’s essentially an elongated tutorial that’s frustrating and barely features a real story. It makes you endure long matches that suck the fun out of playing and has you do so much Speed Golf that you become completely turned off by it. The map is absolutely barren and rough to navigate. Also, why does it look so crummy? Nintendo has been putting out some of its best-looking games recently on the Switch through the likes of New Pokémon Snap and Paper Mario: The Origami King and Super Rush looks like it was backlogged on the Wii U or something. There are some good ideas here by adding in boss battles and having a level system that improves your performance, but it’s all presented poorly through the Mii.
The Miis just are devoid of charm or personality making the adventure mode completely bland. It’s a shame that Nintendo puts the Miis in places where they don’t belong and they’re a big reason the adventure mode is an unimpactful and boring slog – which is a grave shame considering a small studio like Sidebar Games created an immensely charming and lovable golf adventure in Golf Story. Honestly, they should get the chance to do a Mario Golf game because they would probably kill it.
The Mii also presents a major flaw in the level system since that progress carries over into the modes meaning that the Mii is incredibly overpowered and far more skilled than the other characters. It’s honestly so bad that the game is forced to include an option to turn off Miis in online play and it takes way too long to unlock the other characters’ club sets for it to be balanced. It adds very little replayability to the other characters and frankly, to the game as a whole since there are horrible omissions made when it comes to game modes.
There are no online player tourneys – which is pretty shocking considering how popular it was in World Tour on the 3DS. There’s not even a mini-golf mode or some kind of course creator to add a greater reason to keep playing. Honestly, once you touch on all the modes and characters, there are very few reasons to keep playing, a truly sad statement for a Mario Sports game.
Super Rush is far from a bad entry in the Mario Golf series, but it is massively disappointing. It’s truly a lesser sequel that adds in some great gameplay mechanics and interesting new modes, but also comes with some disappointing elements that detract from the overall experience. The hope for a great Mario Baseball and/or Strikers game in the near future is definitely still alive, but hopefully Nintendo is more ambitious about the love and care they give to it that this game didn’t get.
