Camelot Software Planning has been in the business for decades. Initially known as Sonic! Software Planning, it delivered the seminal Shining Force series. The company would later split from Sega and land a deal with Sony to develop the very first Everybody's Golf. With both sports and RPGs under its hat, Camelot would finally replicate its successes for Nintendo with Golden Sun, Mario Tennis and Mario Golf.
In the past 21 years, Camelot has only made one game that wasn't published by Nintendo, and this game came in a strange lull for the company. Between 1999 and 2005, Camelot developed 11 titles in partnership with Nintendo; it was a unique and powerful asset for the big N... so why was Golden Sun: Dark Dawn its only Nintendo related output throughout the entire Wii/DS era?
While greater conversations between the companies are up for speculation, Wii Sports was very likely a blow to Camelot's productivity. Mario Super Sluggers was the only sports title released on the Wii that would iterate upon games featured in Wii Sports – and even that didn't launch globally. Wii Sports was the identity of the system, and it seemed Nintendo didn't want anything crossing paths with it.
And so Camelot set out to develop an online golf game titled "I Love Golf". Although this project didn't get very far it later resurfaced as We Love Golf!, a much more traditional game than the initial pitch developed exclusively for the Wii and published by (wait for it) Capcom.
We Love Golf! may have no ties to Nintendo, but the DNA of Mario Golf is so prevalent that this is essentially the Wii's lost entry in the series. Course and UI design feel straight out of Toadstool Tour and it even takes steps to further the series with features such as online play (which Mario Golf wouldn't see for another 7 years)
On top of all this, Capcom even allowed the use of various costumes from its own IP. You'll see outfits from Street Fighter, Resident Evil, Ace Attorney and even Zack and Wiki! It's a bizarre game that many overlooked, but deserves a place in your Nintendo Wii collection. Thankfully, it's dirt cheap these days, too.
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so it's just...GOLF!?
Mario golf. Oh wait no, just golf
Who needs Mario when you have “CHORDS OF STEEL, HERE COMES JUSTICE!!”
I think if they'd gone all out and made it Capcom Golf and featured all the major Capcom characters (not just their costumes) it would've sold better tbh... have Megaman, Ryu and others on the cover. "We Love Golf" is such a generic shovelware sounding title!
Did..did they even advertise at all the Capcom's costumes or the Mario Golf influences?
Every screenshot here makes me wanna buy it, but I never saw anything about the game that pushed me into purchase it back in the day.
Sadly loved this game...
I remember it being advertised "enough" at the time. I'm a proud owner of this and loved what I played of it BUT I wish to this day that it did include classic controls. I would replay it more today.
And as far as I remember this was the only "fantasy" golf game to have online play, which I did use a lot. At the time I ws very much into Pangya on PC and BOTH Pangya games released on Wii did not have online, which was just baffling to me. As a result I got this game, but not Pangya on Wii.
I knew it existed, but never picked it up. Didn't realize that Camelot worked on it. Early in the Wii lifespan I picked up Super Swing Golf, which became my definitive golf game for the console. It felt like Mario Golf did on the N64 for me.
Never heard of this one, but had anyone else played the Super Swing Golf games that came out on the Wii?
I used to have fun with those games!
The key ingredient to making any game great isn't a license; it's a capable development team. Camelot (formerly Team Camelot over at Sega, where they made such amazing games as the Shining Force series) turned their eyes toward Golf after departing the company. They were responsible for the first Everybody's Golf (known as Hot Shots Golf here in the USA) for the original PlayStation, launching a franchise that's become one of Sony's best and most beloved. Shortly after that they made Mario Golf 64 for the Nintendo 64, which was yet another hit.
Again, the point here is that a great developer with a track record for excellence and passion about each and every project is the driving force behind what makes a game great. Everybody's Golf didn't need the Mario license to become hugely successful; it relied on increasingly great visuals, varied courses, and above all outstanding gameplay mechanics to do so. That same care went into making Mario Golf 64, otherwise it's unlikely we'd be talking about a sequel right now.
And for the record, I still sorely miss Team Camelot and (proper SRPG) Shining Force. The team's departure and its apparent circumstances (meddling from the higher-ups, which included bringing only Scenario 1 of Shining Force III's three incredible, interlocking Scenarios to the West, leaving us with an unresolved cliffhanger) was just one of many nails that Sega hammered into its own coffin during the 1990s and early 2000s.
Nice to see We Love Golf receive some attention. It is my favorite of Camelot's golf games. Such an overlooked game.
If I remember correctly, the Japanese release did not include online multiplayer. That was added for the English releases.
This game has some of my favorite courses such as Camelot Links, Luxor Desert, Skull Island, and that course with dinosaur fossils.
Great article, had seen the game in a shop or site i think.. but never made the connection... btw foir people going wild wiuth the run mode: it's in the ps4 version of everybody's golf too...
Bought it, played it, got annoyed by the motion controls, sold it. I wasn't impressed and would have liked a Mario Golf with classic controls much better. Oh well...
Those Apollo Justice, Chun Li and Jill Valentine 😂
Capcom should fund a Smash Bros clone developed by Sora/Hal Lab
“We Love Golf” sounds like such a generic title but you’d bet I’d pay for “Apollo Justice: Ace Putter”
Give me Zack and Wiki on the Switch, and take my money already!
Mario Galf ... Or just 3D Galf !
(When is Sports Story coming out....?!)
@romanista The Speed Golf/Run thing was also a mode in one (or maybe multiple) of the Tiger Woods PGA games on Gamecube
An article/video with content that interests me and opinions I agree with. Oh look, it's from Jon.
He saved this site tbh.
So its just a regular golf game then. Nothing to do with Mario Golf.
Honestly this article is as much of a stretch as when they said Totaku was an amiibo clone.
@AtlanteanMan
At least their departure and arrivals as a 2nd-Party developer for Nintendo heralded in one of the best RPG franchises screaming for a modern entry (alongside titans like Chrono): Golden Sun.
But Nintendo just won't give them the time to develop another RPG when their Mario Sports titles sell like hotcakes and "Golden Sun: Dark Dawn"… didn't. To be fair, it was released at the tail end of the DS's lifespan simultaneously with the announcement of the 3DS. People weren't clamouring for new DS RPGs, they were eagerly awaiting the next few months for Ocarina of Time 3D.
I saw the youtube video "article" of this and it actually made me want to play the game. I actually avoided as I already had the golf game I wanted.
I have a feeling that in Europe, this was published by Nintendo... I'm sure it came with a VIP code.
They really need to get on and make a new Golden Sun. Seriously. I'd take the originals remade in Chibi style like Pokemon Diamond/Pearl at this point. Just anything.
That make a lot of sense, a Mario Golf Wii would of cannibalized the Wii Sports game.
As for Golden Sun Dark Dawn, in hindsight it should of been delayed and moved to the 3DS. It would of given 3DS owners something meaty to play, the game would of gotten some more polish, and we may have gotten a Golden Sun 4 by now.
Would love to see some focus on the Shinning series again. Hopefully one day we will get anther Golden Sun game.
I liked this one, but it was very easy. If you were at least decent at Mario Gold, You'd have to go out of your way to not win a tournament by a large margin.
I did a double take when scrolling and seeing Apollo Justice golfing lol
I am kicking myself because I know I have seen the spine of this game at my local gamestop in the past and I never gave it a second glance, all the while disappointed that Mario Golf never appeared on the Wii. Turns out it did, and I just saw what looked like a shovelware money grab title and never even looked at the box to see that Camelot had made it. Haven't touched my Wii or Wii U in over a year, so at this point may just be smarter to wait for Super Rush and hope and pray that Speed Golf isn't the main mode.
Only 1 golf game is needed on Switch and we already have it.....Neo Turf Masters.
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