GAME CLEAR No. 227 -- Family Computer Golf: U.S. Course

2025-05-28 15:45:07 video games game clear nintendo hal laboratory family computer family computer disk system

Family Computer Golf: U.S. Course (1987, FC Disk System)

Developer: HAL Laboratory
Publisher: Nintendo
Clear Version: Family Computer Disk System
Clear Platform: Family Computer Disk System
Clear Date: 5/14/25

Why should I care?
Mario wears his silly little American flag outfit in this one.

Nice on!

I’ll keep this one brief — I shot 44 over par on the eponymous U.S. Course. As “GAME CLEAR” goes, that makes this one somewhat fraudulent, but there’s not really any stated objective in the game, so I’m considering playing a round as “beating” this game.

My struggles with this game initially made me consider it to not be very good, but it could be that it’s actually the world’s most accurate golf sim. I am terrible at golf in real life (though I enjoy it), so the fact that I constantly found the trees, water, and bunkers in this game could speak to its realism.

If you come into this expecting the ease of dialing up a masterful shot that you may be familiar with from the more recent Mario Golf games, you will be sorely disappointed. If you come into this game expecting to curse at the heavens over your ineptitude, you’ll have a wonderful time.

One neat thing about Family Computer Golf (including the other title, Japan Course) is that it was released as part of a nationwide contest in Japan. Players could register their personal information onto the disk and then take it to a Disk Fax machine at various locations throughout Japan to have their score sent to Nintendo. The top 1000 performers were awarded with cool prizes like gold Punch-Out!! cartridges and even a special limited edition of Family Computer Golf. I’m sure my clean 44 over would’ve lit up the leaderboards back in the day.

The previous owner of my cartridge had indeed put their contact information on the disk (and lived in Shinjuku, where I bought the game), but it doesn’t seem that they ever actually made it to a Disk Fax machine because that should have unlocked a hidden female golfer character for use. I only seem to be able to pick boring ol’ Mario. Alas!