Fans of the Mario Golf franchise were surprised when a Nintendo Direct in February 2021 revealed the next entry in the series: Mario Golf: Super Rush. Three months later to the day, Nintendo released a new trailer for the game unveiling many of the new features that will be coming to this long-awaited sequel.
The new Mario Golf: Super Rush trailer also goes back over some of the features already announced, including motion controls and the new tools available to players. It confirms that there will be 16 characters in the game as well as maps based on zones throughout the Mario games, including Bowser's Castle and Dry Dry Desert. The trailer also confirms that iconic Special Shots will be returning, as well as intuitive tools that help players understand the lay of each course. There will also be new Special Dash abilities for each character used in two new modes: Speed Golf and Battle Golf.
Speed Golf appears to be a free-roaming mode where players must golf at the same time while dealing with obstacles, like special dashes from other players and course-specific hazards. There will also be a Battle Golf mode, which is played in an arena with nine holes that each player must compete for simultaneously. Additionally, there will be a single-player Story Mode in Mario Golf: Super Rush where the player controls a Mii as they improve their standings and play bosses for clout and skill points – the leveled-up Mii is then playable in other game modes.
Mario Golf: Super Rush will have several online features, as long as the player has a Nintendo Switch Online membership. While up to four players can play the game on the same Nintendo Switch console, players can also play with each other remotely and take part in online tournaments. The ability to play with friends online at the same time is new to the Mario Golf franchise, but online tournaments were present in Mario Golf: World Tour.
The last entry in the Mario Golf series was Mario Golf: World Tour for the Nintendo 3DS released seven years ago in 2014. Mario Golf games are typically released around the same time as Mario Tennis games, but it's been about three years since Mario Tennis Aces for the Switch was released, the longest gap between the two franchise releases in Nintendo history.
The announcement of Mario Golf: Super Rush was a surprise to many but was considered by some to be the highlight of the February 2021 Nintendo Direct. Many Nintendo fans were expecting much larger reveals in the Direct, such as Zelda fans who were particularly ravenous for more Breath of the Wild 2 news. The spin-off sports games are just as beloved as the main Mario series for many fans, though, and the new game modes and features of Mario Golf: Super Rush will surely satisfy fans who have waited for seven years.
Mario Golf: Super Rush will be released on June 25, 2021, exclusively for the Nintendo Switch.
