For the record though each course pack is £5.39 and the season pass for all three is £13.49, or £10.79 until the end of May. There’s six in all but as there are 10 courses included in the game already it doesn’t feel too much like withheld content. There’s also enough downloadable content to warrant Nintendo’s first season pass, with three additional characters and a number of extra courses adapted from the Nintendo 64 version.

though that’s also an option, with some of the Mario Open tournaments cunningly limiting you to a specific character or item.

If you’d rather just stick to playing as Mario and co. Playing earns you money to spend in the in-game shop and exclusive gear for your Mii, so it all feels pleasingly meaningful. games against your friends to community matches you can set up yourself and dedicated European and global tournaments. Unusually for Nintendo there’s a particular focus on an expanded range of online modes, from simple Vs. The gameplay is exactly what anyone buying the game would want and expect, and so the defining features become the array of options that surround it. We don’t think anyone plays golf, either virtually or actually, wanting bleeding edge innovation and much of World Tour’s appeal comes from it being the video game equivalent of a nice comfortable pair of slippers. There are also wackier courses based on various Super Mario games and stages, but again you don’t have to play them and there are plenty of other more realistic looking courses – although you’ll be missing out if you do as the fantasy courses are a great deal of fun and cunningly designed despite what they may look like.

Mario Kart style items are also entirely optional, just as they probably always should have been in actual Mario Kart. These can be turned off if you want and even if they aren’t they can only be used a limited number of times per course, so they don’t unbalance the game and actually add to the strategy. Where the Nintendo difference comes in is the ability to use a special Super Shot, which is both more powerful and accurate. That’s how the ‘Auto’ mode works anyway, if you put it in manual then you also have to press a second time on the way down to make sure your short flies straight, which is basically the way most older golf games have worked for decades. World Tour uses an old school power meter, so all you have to do is line up your shot and press a button when the meter hits the point indicated. Mario Golf: World Tour (3DS) – one of the less realistic courses

Mario golf world tour music lose