NES Open Tournament Golf Review (Nintendo Entertainment System)
~by tankMage (July 2024)
Score: 9.5/10 (Excellent)
The best golf title on the NES by a long shot.
NES Open Tournament Golf (NES Open from here out) is easily the best golf game I’ve played on the console. It even gives golf games on more powerful consoles a run for their money. The gameplay is intuitive (yet offers challenges), the graphics are top tier NES, and there’s multiple courses. I can’t tell you how nice it is to play a golf title with more than one or two courses. It also has an auto-save feature that was really ahead of its time.
The only thing working against NES Open is that Nintendo could have done a a bit more with it. For example, it would have been awesome if Luigi, Peach, and other characters from the series were playable with their own talents. For example, Mario could be a balanced golfer, Luigi could excel at driving, and maybe they could have made Peach super accurate. That said, the game is great and I’m not going to blame Nintendo too much for not adding something that looks good in hindsight. Maybe they even had a similar plan in the works and couldn’t do it. To NES Open’s credit, there are plenty of opponents for players to challenge in Match and Tournament Modes, which certainly keeps the game from getting dull.
A golf game that pushes the limits of the NES!?
One of the things that really impressed me about NES Open is its graphics: They’re just about perfect and must have really dazzled NES owners back in 1991. The courses are cheery and inviting looking thanks to great color work. All of the golfers have their own designs and stroke animations, which is fairly impressive all things considered.
But the truly impressive aspect of the visuals is the way they animated the ball. Hit the ball into a sand trap and a full screen animation of it dropping into the sand will play…well maybe that’s not a great example. Better yet, get the ball near the pin and an animation of the ball rolling into (or past) the cup will play. These cutscenes can lead to some tense moments as the ball rolls towards the cup after a putt. Overall, the graphics do a great job of making the game more exciting.
A perfect compromise between simplicity and complexity.
By now I’ve reviewed several NES golf titles. Some of these games featured intricate mechanics that took quite a while to master. Others basically limited players to choosing a club and pointing the golfer in the right direction. NES Open takes the middle road by giving the player options, but not so many that they become overwhelming. You can choose how fast you want to swing, which determines how quickly the meter moves, and what club you want to use. There’s also the option of hitting the ball with a mid, top, or back shot. It’s really easy to set these options up so you can make a stroke without fussing around in menus and they are pretty intuitive. Consequently, NES Open is easy to pick up and play, but also has some meat on its bones as far as strategy goes.
Multiple courses and game modes? Sign me up!
For whatever reason, many of the golf games made in the 80s and early 90s I’ve played so far offer only a few courses. NES Open features three courses set in the USA, Japan, and UK. These courses are quite distinct from one another and become progressively more challenging as the player moves from the US to the UK. This alone is commendable.
Players are also given several game modes to choose from. These include Strokes, Match, and Tournament. In Strokes you can casually play through any of the three courses. Match sets the player against one of four computer controlled characters who vary in skill levels or against up to three other human players. Tournament is a competition that offers cash prizes and pits the player against all of the computer controlled opponents or other players.
The best sounding golf game on the NES.
As usual, Nintendo delivered when it came to the sound track and effects. Each course has its own Mario-esque theme song, which doesn’t come out to very many tracks. However, the quality of the music makes up for the poor selection. The sound effects for the club striking the ball, rolling into the cup, etc are about as good as they can get on the NES. At the end of the day, you’re probably not going to find better sound work in a golf game on this console.
Built in saves!
One of the coolest features of NES Open is its save system. The game automatically saves on every hole, which was really ground breaking at the time. It also saves your career record and the caddie will even critique your performance, telling you if you’ve improved or not and by how much. It goes without saying this is a nice touch that adds a bit more value to the game as a whole.
Play this if you like golf games!
I’ll be honest, I haven’t played very many golf games and I have a sneaking suspicion there are plenty of titles that were made for 16-Bit consoles that blow NES Open out of the water. That said, this game is very good and has an old school appeal that can’t be replicated. In fact, it should probably be counted among the top 200 NES/Famicom games. I know that doesn’t sound like much of a complement, but there’s over 700 official NES releases and even more if you count Famicom, so making it into the top 200 isn’t bad at all. At any rate, give NES Open a try, it won’t let you down!
Thanks for reading my review of NES Open Tournament Golf!
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