is a

golf Golf is a club-and-ball sport in which players use various Golf club, clubs to hit a Golf ball, ball into a series of holes on a golf course, course in as few strokes as possible. Golf, unlike most ball games, cannot and does not use a standa ...

video game A video game or computer game is an electronic game that involves interaction with a user interface or input device (such as a joystick, game controller, controller, computer keyboard, keyboard, or motion sensing device) to generate visual fe ...

developed by

Nintendo is a Japanese Multinational corporation, multinational video game company headquartered in Kyoto. It develops, publishes, and releases both video games and video game consoles. The history of Nintendo began when craftsman Fusajiro Yamauchi ...

and

HAL Laboratory formerly shortened as HALKEN, is a Japanese video game developer based in Chiyoda, Tokyo. It was founded on February 21, 1980 by Mitsuhiro Ikeda. The company started out developing games for home computers of the era, but has since establishe ...

and published by Nintendo for the

Nintendo Entertainment System The Nintendo Entertainment System (NES) is an 8-bit home video game console developed and marketed by Nintendo. It was first released in Japan on 15 July 1983 as the and was later released as the redesigned NES in several test markets in the ...

. It was originally released for the

Famicom The Nintendo Entertainment System (NES) is an 8-bit home video game console developed and marketed by Nintendo. It was first released in Japan on 15 July 1983 as the and was later released as the redesigned NES in several test markets in the ...

in Japan in 1984, with a port to the

Nintendo VS. System The is an arcade system that was developed and produced by Nintendo. It is based on most of the same hardware as the Family Computer (Famicom), later released as the Nintendo Entertainment System (NES). As Nintendo was planning to release the ...

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 in North America in 1985, and for the

Famicom Disk System The commonly shortened to the Famicom Disk System, is a peripheral for Nintendo's Family Computer (Famicom) home video game console, released in Japan on February 21, 1986. The system uses proprietary floppy disks called "Disk Cards" for more ...

in 1986 in Japan. ''Golf'' was the best-selling sports game on the NES/Famicom, and was re-released across many years for different Nintendo consoles. It was hidden in the

Nintendo Switch The is a video game console developed by Nintendo and released worldwide in most regions on March 3, 2017. Released in the middle of the Eighth generation of video game consoles, eighth generation of home consoles, the Switch succeeded the ...

firmware as an

Easter egg Easter eggs, also called Paschal eggs, are eggs that are decorated for the Christian holiday of Easter, which celebrates the resurrection of Jesus. As such, Easter eggs are commonly used during the season of Eastertide (Easter season). The ...

as a tribute to the game's programmer, the late

Satoru Iwata Satoru Iwata (; December6, 1959July11, 2015) was a Japanese businessman, video game programmer and producer. Beginning in 2002, he was the fourth president of Nintendo, as well as the chief executive officer (CEO) of Nintendo of America from ...

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 is a scoring system in the sport of golf. In the regular form of stroke play, also known as medal play, the total number of strokes is counted over one or more rounds of 18 holes. In a regular stroke play competition, the winner is the ...

or the two-player selections of doubles stroke play or

match play Match play is a scoring system for golf in which a player, or team, earns a point for each hole in which they have bested their opponents; as opposed to stroke play, in which the total number of strokes is counted over one or more rounds of 18 h ...

. The player is then placed at the tee of the first of 18 holes. In 1991, Nintendo identified the golfer as

Mario Mario (; ) is a Character (arts), character created by the Japanese game designer Shigeru Miyamoto. He is the star of the ''Mario (franchise), Mario'' franchise, a recurring character in the ''Donkey Kong'' franchise, and the mascot of the Ja ...

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 regions of the world. It is Nintendo's fifth major home game console, f ...

game '' Captain Rainbow'' identifies the golfer as ''Ossan'', which happens to be one of the generic hero names during the development of ''

Donkey Kong is a video game series and media franchise created by the Japanese game designer Shigeru Miyamoto for Nintendo. It follows the adventures of Donkey Kong (character), Donkey Kong, a large, powerful gorilla, and other members of the List of Don ...

''. The

Game Boy The is a handheld game console developed by Nintendo, launched in the Japanese home market on April 21, 1989, followed by North America later that year and other territories from 1990 onwards. Following the success of the Game & Watch single-ga ...

conversion would feature Mario on the Western cover art, but not the Japanese version.

Development and release

In 1983, the

had only three launch games, and its library would soon total seven, including ''Golf''.

Shigeru Miyamoto is a Japanese video game designer, video game producer, producer and Creative director#Video games, game director at Nintendo, where he has served as one of its representative directors as an executive since 2002. Widely regarded as one o ...

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 known for releasing numerous titles across video game consoles, home computers, and mobile phones. Headquartered in the Midtown Tower in Tokyo, it also maintained an office in the Hudson Building in Sapporo. F ...

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 The commonly shortened to the Famicom Disk System, is a peripheral for Nintendo's Nintendo Entertainment System, Family Computer (Famicom) home video game console, released in Japan on February 21, 1986. The system uses proprietary floppy disk ...

on February 21, 1986. It was re-released for the Nintendo e-Reader for the

Game Boy Advance The (GBA) is a 32-bit handheld game console, manufactured by Nintendo, which was released in Japan on March 21, 2001, and to international markets that June. It was later released in mainland China in 2004, under the name iQue Game Boy Advanc ...

in 2002. Both the NES and Game Boy versions were released on the

Virtual Console The Virtual Console was a line of downloadable retro video games for Nintendo's Wii and Wii U home video game consoles and the Nintendo 3DS family of handheld systems. The Virtual Console lineup consisted of titles originally released on pa ...

. It was re-released on the

via

Nintendo eShop The is a digital distribution service for the Nintendo Switch and the Nintendo Switch 2, and formerly available via the Nintendo Network for the Wii U and Nintendo 3DS. Launched in June 2011 on the Nintendo 3DS, the Nintendo eShop served ...

on October 25, 2019, by Hamster Corporation as part of its ''

Arcade Archives is a series of emulated arcade games from the late 1970s, 1980s, 1990s and early 2000s developed and published by Hamster Corporation. A sub-series called focuses on re-releasing Neo Geo titles in their original arcade format, unlike many s ...

'' series. ''Golf'' can be unlocked in the 2001 video games ''Dōbutsu no Mori'' for

Nintendo 64 The (N64) is a home video game console developed and marketed by Nintendo. It was released in Japan on June 23, 1996, in North America on September 29, 1996, and in Europe and Australia on March 1, 1997. As the successor to the Super Nintendo E ...

and ''

Animal Crossing is a social simulation video game series developed and published by Nintendo. It was created by Katsuya Eguchi and Hisashi Nogami. The player character is a human who lives in a village inhabited by various anthropomorphic animals and can ...

'' for

GameCube The is a PowerPC-based home video game console developed and marketed by Nintendo. It was released in Japan on September 14, 2001, in North America on November 18, 2001, in Europe on May 3, 2002, and in Australia on May 17, 2002. It is the suc ...

. The latter supports Advance Play using a

GameCube – Game Boy Advance link cable The GameCube Game Boy Advance cable is a video game accessory manufactured by Nintendo which is used to connect the Game Boy Advance (GBA) handheld console to the GameCube (GCN) home console. Depending on the games it is used with, the cable may f ...

, allowing ''Golf'' to be played on a Game Boy Advance. The game is a hidden

in the pre-4.0 firmware of the

, in tribute to Satoru Iwata, who 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 memorial of Iwata's death, and then the user moves

Joy-Con Joy-Con are the primary game controllers for the Nintendo Switch, a hybrid video game console. A set of Joy-Con consists of two individual units, each containing an analog stick and an array of buttons. They can be used while attached to the mai ...

controllers to imitate the "Direct" hand gesture that Iwata popularized during his tenure as main host of

Nintendo Direct Nintendo Direct is a series of online presentations 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 ...

presentations. This version exclusively has the option for motion controls.

Reception

''Golf'' was successful during its initial release, with positive reviews from critics and was the tenth best-selling game released on the system. Sales were numbered at over 4 million copies in total, with the Famicom version alone yielding 2.46 million copies sold in Japan. ''Golf''s 1989 port on the

received a positive review from ''

AllGame RhythmOne , a subsidiary of Nexxen, is an American digital advertising technology company that owns and operates the web properties AllMusic, AllMovie, and SideReel. Blinkx was founded in 2004, went public on the Alternative Investment Market, ...

'', who rated the Game Boy version with 4 out of 5 stars.

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 ''Golf''s 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 game was released in North America along with the Wii on 19 November 2006, and in Japan, Australia, and Europe the fo ...

'', the "Classic" courses in '' Wii Sports Resort'', and in '' Clubhouse Games: 51 Worldwide Classics''. The player-controlled character Ossan appeared in the 2008 Wii game '' Captain Rainbow'' where he is portrayed as a smelly middle-aged man who is terrible at golf. Players must find his lost golf club as well as help him play well again. As part of HAMSTER Corporation's ''

'' series, ''Golf'' was released on

on October 25, 2019.

Notes

References

External links

*
''Golf''
at NinDB

on the

40th Anniversary page {{DEFAULTSORT:Golf (Video Game) 1984 video games Arcade Archives 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 Classics games Nintendo VS. System 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