Thursday, June 04, 2015

 

Mario Golf: World Tour

Is this the first time a proper console-style Mario Golf game has been available on a portable?  I mean, the Game Boy Color and Game Boy Advance versions were basically 2D games like NES Golf, with very little in the way of hilly terrain except on the greens, and even then it was represented by arrows of varying size.

So yeah, it's really cool to have 3D Mario Golf in your pocket.  You can play as Waluigi.  It ticks all the boxes.

And Now, A Word About DLC

Wasn't I a Grumpy Gus when I found out that Mario Golf had more than half its courses locked away as paid DLC.  Ooooo, that Nintendo, they're taking a game, cutting it up, and selling it piecemeal!  If you want the whole game, you'll pay $45 when most 3DS games are only $40!  Grump grump grump grump grump!

But then you do some maths.  The basic game is $30, putting it under the price of most 3DS games and in line with earlier portable Mario Golf games, right down to the number of courses it comes with: four.  Moreover, this is an experience that's more in line with the home console versions than it is with the portable versions, so you're arguably getting more for your money right out of the box.

Then you look at the season pass, which gives you six additional courses and four more playable characters for $15.  And you know, more characters are fine and all, but six courses for $15?  That's as many courses as you'd get in a home console version for half the price of the portable version.  Add it all together and you have ten courses for $45.  Compare that to six courses (seven if you count Donkey Kong's Par 3 mini-course) for $50 back on the Gamecube.  And this version's portable.  Just looking at the raw numbers, it seems like a deal.

And then you think to yourself, do I even want the DLC?  Isn't Mario Golf sort of my kick back and wind down for a minute game?  Don't I usually just go for the first course anyway?

The weird thing about this new world of DLC packs is trying to figure out when you're getting scammed and when you aren't.  And Mario Golf is... fine?  The amount of game that you get in the box is fair for the price you pay, and the extra stuff is actually cheaper -- as you hope it would be, since you've already bought the main game engine.

So yeah.  I think this extends Nintendo's record for good DLC practices.  Good on 'em.

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