Gamecube purists may disagree, but the Game Boy Advance is the Nintendo system to have of late. One perfect example is how Mario Golf Advance Tour outshines its (admittedly lackluster) cousin on the Gamecube, Mario Golf Toadstool Tour. Camelot married beginner-friendly-yet-robust golf with RPG elements reminiscent of Golden Sun, and the result, while possibly disappointing to golf veterans, can hook anyone interested in having fun with a GBA.

Advance Tour, like its Game Boy Color predecessor Mario Golf, doesn't actually prominently feature Mario, the Mushroom Kingdom, or any of its denizens. (Players dying to play as Mario, Peach, and such can do so in the Quick Play mode, but most of the courses have to be unlocked in the Story mode.) Instead, the player takes on the role of a beginning golfer, out to rise to the top of the circuit. To do this, they wander about the smallish world, competing in tours and attempting basic (although not necessarily easy) minigames, gaining levels from experience gained in these challenges.

Fans of this series will already be used to the light-on-the-Mario approach. Both Mario Golf and Hot Shots Golf fans will be familiar with the three-click stroke controls: One tap to start, one tap to control stroke strength, one tap to control stroke direction and ball spin. It doesn't allow for the precision of analog stroke control, but, given the GBA's lack of an analog stick or trackball, this is probably the best control scheme possible. Newbies can

Balancing the problems with the experience-level system are the variety and quality of the minigames. Each area has a section devoted to putting, driving, and irons challenges, and extra areas are devoted entirely to special courses. One bonus course requires the player to put each shot through sets of inconveniently placed gates, another one is an insanely long par 4, and so on. Regular golf courses are fine, but the various minigames are what gives Advance Tour its longevity.

For those sick of (or frustrated with) the minigames, Mario Golf: Advance Tour does have some interesting connectivity and multiplayer options. Advance Tour links to its GameCube cousin, Toadstool Tour, for some fairly uninteresting character transfer options and unlockable characters. More interesting is the single-GBA multiplayer, allowing a single cart and system to be used for up to four players. Gamers who happen to already have multiple systems and carts can use link cables or the upcoming wireless adapter (making this the first game released in the US to use the wireless adapter), but only players who want to use their levelled-up character would have a reason to do this.

Advance Tour is, incredibly obviously, using the Golden Sun engine. In the overworld areas, the isometric view, the subtle scaling effects, and the character design are all taken from Camelot's set of off-the-shelf tools and styles. The golf isn't quite as derivative-looking; the various views, from behind-the-golfer to high-altitude camera, make good use of the GBA's (admittedly limited) graphical facilities. Heavy use is made of pre-rendered 3D sprites and scaled bitmaps, but the whole thing holds together attractively.

The sound doesn't quite hold together as well. Music is blippy and peppy in the Super Mario tradition, making listening to Advance Tour just as colorful as playing it. The sound effects mar this, however; the tiny bits of announcer speech get repetitive very quickly, and the sounds of a club striking the ball or the ball striking turf are never convincing are sometimes glitchy. The squeaky Camelot "speech" that accompanies dialogue boxes is still amusing, though.

Mario Golf: Advance Tour is a surprisingly robust golf game, marred only by the overly-forgiving RPG-style character levels. It is a fine successor to the original Mario Golf on the Game Boy Color, and will be plenty of game for any fan of the series or any golf newcomers. Golf sim fans will probably want to give this one a rental first, but everyone else should definitely give this one a look.

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