Mario Golf: Toadstool Tour, is a 2003 sports video game developed by Camelot Software Planning and published by Nintendo for the GameCube. It is the sequel to the 1999 Nintendo 64 title Mario Golf, and is the third game in the Mario Golf series. It was released in North America on July 28, 2003, in Japan on September 5, 2003, and in PAL regions in 2004.
Toadstool Tour is a golf game featuring characters and elements from the Mario series. There are 16 playable characters in total, each with a set of golfing statistics defining their style of play. The game's main mode involves the player competing in tournaments to obtain new features, although there are alternative modes consisting of a training session and variations to the golf format. This includes "Ring Attack", requiring the player to hit the ball through
rings of varying sizes while remaining on or under par.
There are seven courses in the game, with the later versions featuring more complex terrain and exotic features. The more advanced courses offer a higher frequency of difficult terrain and elevation, The music was composed by Motoi Sakuraba, who previously scored Mario Golf. The game was displayed as a playable demonstration in the E3 convention of 2003. Toadstool Tour became part of the Player's Choice label in 2004, which offers a reduced price to games that have sold more than one million copies.
Reception
Toadstool Tour received a positive reaction from critics, although it was criticised for being too similar to its predecessor.
Many reviewers criticised Toadstool Tours use of camera, especially when the ball's presented route would ignore obstacles. In 2009, Official Nintendo Magazine remarked "Perfect controls, lovely visuals, a classic character roster... what more could you want from a sports game?", placing the game 53rd on a list of greatest Nintendo games.
Sales and awards
GameSpot named Toadstool Tour the best GameCube game of July 2003.
By July 2006, Toadstool Tour had sold 830,000 copies and earned $26 million in the United States. Next Generation ranked it as the 72nd highest-selling game launched for the PlayStation 2, Xbox or GameCube between January 2000 and July 2006 in that country. Combined sales of Mario sports games released in the 2000s reached 2.5 million units in the United States by July 2006. Toadstool Tour sold 1.03 million units in North America as of December 27, 2007.