Original Release: Sony, 1999, PlayStation
Other Releases: PSP / PS3 (2007)
With original developer Camelot poached by Nintendo, Sony turned to Clap Hanz to take over the IP and the initial transition was a bit rough.
Hot Shots Golf 2 (PS1, Sony, 1999)
Where to Buy: Amazon
How to Emulate: coming soon!
Review by: C. M0use
Second verse, same as the first. Hot Shots Golf 2 came out almost two years after the original, but it’s virtually identical to the first game. You start out with a tiny roster of characters and have to challenge the CPU to matches to unlock more, there’s a tournament mode … only thing missing really is the goofy-golf course.
Honestly, I can’t even tell if there’s new features in the gameplay. Backgrounds look a little nicer and the game loads everything and moves along maybe a bit more smoothly. The tradeoff is that the characters use a more stretched-out Claymation style, and this may be a wholly subjective thing but I just think they look more unappealing than the original game. Just a lot of weird, dumpy designs. This one does have Sweet Tooth and Gex as unlockable characters, though, but be warned it takes a hell of a long time to get them unless you’re already a master of the first game.
It’s really a pick-em between this game or the original. If you’re looking for a basic, casual PS1 golf game they’re both solid choices, if dated at this point and maybe a little too simplistic. I’d give the original the nod for having more appealing characters and the mini-golf course. But if you’re not dead set on a PS1 game for some reason, I’d just jump to the later games or a Mario Golf game as putting in both of these is a little too much janky guesswork.
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