Golf

There are few golf games in existence that provide the kind of nostalgia bomb that Golf on the Nintendo Entertainment System does. Often referred to as "Black Box Golf" due to the packaging that all first-party NES launch games had, Golf is often one of the first golf games any retro gamer has ever played, if not THE first. (Note: It wasn't my first; mine was the previously reviewed Great Golf on the Sega Master System.) Funny enough, I personally had never played it until recently; thus, I'm looking at it without the rose-tinted nostalgia goggles. Fortunately, this veteran can still hang with the new blood for the most part.

The fictitious course presented checks all the same boxes as the one in Great Golf. Look for plenty of sharper-than-usual doglegs and multiple tough island-hopping holes. Wind conditions are very random in speed and direction as well as how much they impact shots. The biggest difference is that it is WAY too easy to go out-of-bounds in this game. The tree lines have all been programmed to be out-of-bounds, even when they cut across the fairway. Even touching one pixel of a tree gives the O.B. penalty. That gets very infuriating.

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Otherwise, the game is very solid for an NES launch game. The three-click mechanics work well enough although the margin-of-error on the impact point is very thin. Being just a pixel out of the white zone on the meter can produce an irritating slice or hook. Fortunately, the impact point becomes very generous when cranking down to the irons and wedges. Strangely, the aiming when driving is quite stilted compared to when putting. While the targeting reticule moves very smoothly on the green, aiming during drives is limited to just sixteen directions. The way certain holes are set up demanded a level of fine-tuning that the game just doesn't provide. The controls are very easy to pick up. This is one of the easiest golf games to play from the era even if the game itself can get very frustrating. It also plays very fast. Shot animations are very smooth, and sticking with the top-down view of the hole prevents the slow-rendering of games like Great Golf or Jack Nicklaus Turbo Golf. Even the very basic visuals and sound effects have charm to them. Unfortunately, while the game has both stroke and match modes, only two people can play which is a shame considering Great Golf supports four players with shared controllers.

"Black Box Golf" has held up reasonably well. It plays fast and easily though it can also be more than a bit unfair at times. While it can be a hard sell for those who didn't grow up in the NES era, it can still provide fun for the older pros. While this old vet may not win tournaments these days, it can still put on a decent showing.