Original Release: Nintendo, 2001, Game Boy Color
The final official release for the Game Boy Color, Mobile Golf basically just added new courses and characters to Mario Golf but offered online play via a Japan-only peripheral
Mobile Golf (GBC, Nintendo, 2001)
Where to Buy: eBay
How to Emulate: coming soon!
Review by: C. M0use
The last game ever officially released for the GBC was this spinoff of Mario Golf, made by Camelot and using the same engine with new courses, characters and music.
So it’s essentially a Mario Golf extra levels pack, but it drops that game’s “RPG mode” in favor of using the Japan-only Mobile Adapter GB for internet connectivity; in this case, being able to play against other people online, and download some DLC packs.
The gameplay is identical to Mario Golf, so if you already made up your mind on that one this game won’t do anything to change it. It is a fairly hefty amount of new content for fans of that game, though, but you’ll need a little prep to access all of it: it has a fan translation to English, and the online DLC stuff is no longer available without downloading a pre-unlocked save file or using Gameshark codes.
If you haven’t played GBC Mario Golf, it’s a little different from the N64-and-on console branch of the series, but the same basic pattern of all 8- and 16-bit golf games: everything is about the precise timing of the slider bar, and just playing around with the game to get its unique feel for how hard to hit the ball in different situations. These games are arguably the best of this type ever made, but they are frustratingly fussy sometimes about swing timing, and the effect that putting hills and wind have. Definitely easier to deal with save-scumming on an emulator to replay a hole than playing in their original form!
Links
Source code for fan translation
The GBE Plus emulator has some support for Mobile Adapter GB online play
Mobile Golf Perfect Guide scans
Videos