Welcome to VC Weekly, N-Europe’s guide to the wonderful world of Nintendo’s download service. Written by Sam C Gittins

If you like Mario and Golf then rejoice, otherwise look away now and hope for some more interesting releases next time, you never know Nintendo might be listening. Anyway enough from me and on with the game!
 
Available for download this week we have...     

NES Open Tournament Golf

 
Price: GB £3.49, EU €4.99
Publisher: Nintendo
Developer: Nintendo R&D2
Released: 1992
System: NES
 
Golf... a game of seriousness, of skill, of precision and err yeah it's not actually that exciting at all; so it's no surprise that Nintendo decided to release this Mario themed variation of the popular sport as one of their more original takes on the sports based genre.

At its core this is still very much what it portrays itself to be; a golf game where you get to play on three worldwide courses incorporating USA, UK and Japan. Each course varies in difficulty and you can opt to change the overall rank from amateur to pro which creates a nice learning curve for those wanting to rise through the ranks as well as catering for those who just simply want to play a quick round of golf.

Beyond the standard persistent pursuit of putting that is the main game; alternative offerings include Stroke Play which when separately undertaken (as opposed to being part of tournament mode) is solely goal focused and Match Play where playing as Mario you get to face off against Luigi in a bid to win the most holes. Should you prove successful in beating Luigi you then get to compete against four original generically named characters (Steve, Mark, Tony & Billy) who each vary in difficulty from Beginner to Pro respectively.

While graphically it's not much to look at by today's standards it still made full use of the limited colour palette that the NES provided to create a decent representation of the sport for its time and even today it has a certain charm to it. Gameplay is suitably solid with accurate mechanics that work well and while there are now better golf games available such as the Mario Golf franchise and most recently Wii sports; this title could easily be seen as the forerunner of sorts and is comfortably competent for the 8-Bit title that it is.

NES Open is a title which delivers what you'd expect it to; a competent game of golf that anyone can enjoy. Fun in both single and multiplayer mode with that added brand of Nintendo humour courtesy of Mario & Co thrown in for good measure; this is classic retro golf which provides an entertaining experience.

Verdict : Neither a hole-in-one or a bogey, simply on par.

That's it for another installment of VC Weekly which will return again soon. So until then, enjoy the rest of the week and Game On!