is a golf-based

sports simulation A sports video game is a video game that simulates the practice of sports. Most sports have been recreated with a game, including team sports, track and field, extreme sports, and combat sports. Some games emphasize actually playing the sport (s ...

video game Video games, also known as computer games, are electronic games that involves interaction with a user interface or input device such as a joystick, controller, keyboard, or motion sensing device to generate visual feedback. This fee ...

developed and released by

Nintendo is a Japanese Multinational corporation, multinational video game company headquartered in Kyoto, Japan. It develops video games and video game consoles. Nintendo was founded in 1889 as by craftsman Fusajiro Yamauchi and originally produce ...

in 1984 for the Famicom in Japan. Later the same year, it was ported to the

Nintendo VS. System The is an arcade system developed and produced by Nintendo from 1984 to 1990. It is based on most of the same hardware as the Family Computer (Famicom), later released as the Nintendo Entertainment System (NES). Most of its games are conversio ...

as ''VS. Golf'' or ''Stroke and Match Golf'', released in arcades internationally, followed by another arcade version called ''VS. Ladies Golf''. The original was re-released for the

NES The Nintendo Entertainment System (NES) is an 8-bit third-generation home video game console produced by Nintendo. It was first released in Japan in 1983 as the commonly known as the The NES, a redesigned version, was released in American ...

in North America in 1985, and for the Famicom Disk System in 1986 in Japan. The game was re-released across many years for different Nintendo consoles. It was hidden in the

Nintendo Switch The is a hybrid video game console developed by Nintendo and released worldwide in most regions on March 3, 2017. The console itself is a Tablet computer#Gaming tablet, tablet that can either be docking station, docked for use as a home video ...

firmware as an Easter egg as a tribute to the game's programmer, the late

Satoru Iwata was a Japanese businessman, video game programmer, video game designer, and producer. He was the fourth President (corporate title), president and chief executive officer (CEO) of Nintendo from 2002 until his death in 2015. He was a major contr ...

Gameplay

The main player wears a white shirt and shoes with blue pants and uses a white ball, while the second player wears a red shirt and shoes with black pants and uses a red ball. The player selects either single

stroke play Stroke play, also known as medal play, is a scoring system in the sport of golf in which the total number of strokes is counted over one or more rounds of 18 holes. In stroke play, the winner is the player who has taken the fewest strokes over the ...

or the two-player selections of doubles stroke play or match play. The player is then placed at the tee of the first of 18 holes. In 1991, Nintendo identified the golfer as

Mario is a character created by Japanese video game designer Shigeru Miyamoto. He is the title character of the ''Mario'' franchise and the mascot of Japanese video game company Nintendo. Mario has appeared in over 200 video games since his creat ...

in a gameplay guide book. Nintendo's

Wii The Wii ( ) is a home video game console developed and marketed by Nintendo. It was released on November 19, 2006, in North America and in December 2006 for most other Regional lockout, regions of the world. It is Nintendo's fifth major ho ...

game ''

Captain Rainbow is an Action-adventure game, action-adventure video game developed by Skip Ltd. and published by Nintendo for the Wii. The game was released exclusively in Japan on August 28, 2008. The game puts players in the role of Nick, an ordinary guy, who ...

'' identifies the golfer as ''Ossan'', which happens to be one of the generic hero names during the development of '' Donkey Kong''. The Game Boy conversion would feature Mario on the Western cover art, but not the Japanese version.

Development and release

In 1983, the Famicom had only three

launch games This list includes terms used in video games and the video game industry, as well as slang used by players. 0–9 A ...

, and its library would soon total seven, including ''Golf''.

Shigeru Miyamoto is a Japanese video game designer, producer and game director at Nintendo, where he serves as one of its representative directors. Widely regarded as one of the most accomplished and influential designers in the history of video games, he is ...

said he was "directly in charge of the character design and the game design", and

said he was the only programmer. ''Golf'' has been re-released on many other consoles after its release.

Hudson Soft was a Japanese video game company that released numerous games for video game consoles, home computers and mobile phones, mainly from the 1980s to the 2000s. It was headquartered in the Midtown Tower in Tokyo Midtown, Akasaka, Minato, Tokyo ...

released a conversion of the game for the Japan-only PC-88 and Sharp X1 in 1985. ''Golf'' was converted to the Japan-only Family Computer Disk System on February 21, 1986. It was re-released for the Nintendo e-Reader for the Game Boy Advance in 2002. Both the NES and Game Boy versions were released on the

Virtual Console A virtual console (VC) – also known as a virtual terminal (VT) – is a conceptual combination of the keyboard and display for a computer user interface. It is a feature of some Unix-like operating systems such as Linux, BSD, illumos, Unix ...

. It was re-released on the

in the

Nintendo eShop The Nintendo eShop is a digital distribution service powered by the Nintendo Network for the Wii U and Nintendo 3DS, and by a dedicated online infrastructure for the Nintendo Switch. Launched in June 2011 on the Nintendo 3DS, the eShop was en ...

on October 25, 2019, by

Hamster Corporation is a Japanese video game publisher, with office located in Setagaya, Tokyo, Japan. The game division of Toshiba-EMI Limited spun off Hamster Corporation in November 1999. On the Japanese PlayStation Store, more than 200 titles are distribut ...

as part of its

Arcade Archives is a series of emulated arcade games from the late 1970s, 1980s, 1990s, and early 2000s for PlayStation 4, Xbox One, Microsoft Windows, and Nintendo Switch, published by Hamster Corporation. A sub-series called is focused on rereleasing Neo Geo ...

series. ''Golf'' can be unlocked in the 2001 video games ''Dōbutsu no Mori'' for Nintendo 64 and '' Animal Crossing'' for

GameCube The is a home video game console developed and released by Nintendo in Japan on September 14, 2001, in North America on November 18, 2001, and in PAL territories in 2002. It is the successor to the Nintendo 64 (1996), and predecessor of the Wii ...

. The latter supports Advance Play using a

GameCube – Game Boy Advance link cable The GameCube Game Boy Advance cable (DOL-011) is a cable used to connect the Game Boy Advance (GBA) to the GameCube (GCN). Depending on the games, the cable may facilitate unlocking additional content, turning the GBA into a second screen, turning ...

, allowing ''Golf'' to be played on a Game Boy Advance. The game is a hidden Easter egg in the pre-4.0 firmware of the

, in tribute to Satoru Iwata. Iwata was the sole programmer of ''Golf'' (as one of his first projects for Nintendo) and later became Nintendo's CEO. It can be accessed on the Switch home menu if the system clock is set to the July 11 anniversary of Iwata's death, and then the user moves Joy-Con controllers to imitate the "Direct" action that Iwata popularized during his

Nintendo Direct Nintendo Direct is a series of online presentation or live shows produced by Nintendo, where information regarding the company's upcoming content or franchises is presented, such as information about games and consoles. The presentations began i ...

. This version exclusively has the option for motion controls.

Reception

'' AllGame'' rated the Game Boy version 4 out of 5 stars. The Famicom version yielded 2.46 million copies sold in Japan.

Legacy

''Golf'' is the first golf video game to feature a power and accuracy bar for swinging the club, which has been used in most golf games since. Three-dimensional versions of ''Golfs courses appear in the nine holes of ''

Wii Sports ''Wii Sports'' is a 2006 sports simulation video game developed and published by Nintendo for the Wii video game console. The 1.0 (pre-release) version of the game was released in North America along with the Wii on November 19, 2006, and the 1. ...

'', the "Classic" courses in ''

Wii Sports Resort ''Wii Sports Resort'' is a 2009 sports simulation video game developed and published by Nintendo for the Wii video game console, and is a sequel to ''Wii Sports''. It is one of the first titles to require the Wii MotionPlus accessory, which was ...

'', and in '' Clubhouse Games: 51 Worldwide Classics''.

Notes

References

External links

*
''Golf''
at NinDB {{DEFAULTSORT:Golf (Video Game) 1984 video games Famicom Disk System games Game Boy games GameCube games Golf video games NEC PC-8801 games Nintendo Entertainment System games Nintendo arcade games Nintendo games Nintendo e-Reader games Nintendo Switch games Nintendo Vs. Series games PlayChoice-10 games Sharp X1 games Video games developed in Japan Virtual Console games Virtual Console games for Nintendo 3DS Virtual Console games for Wii U Multiplayer and single-player video games Video games scored by Hirokazu Tanaka Video games scored by Koji Kondo Video games designed by Shigeru Miyamoto Mario Golf Hamster Corporation games