006 · GOLF

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00:00 From tee to green, you've never played golf like this.

00:19 Welcome to Nostalgia, the only podcast that plays and reviews every NES game released in North America, in chronological order. I'm Mike. I'm Sean. I'm Joe. Nice. And Joe is once again joining us via satellite. And today's episode is all about golf. So guys, let's talk about some initial impressions. What do you got, Sean? I was actually pleasantly surprised by golf. That is just, you know, that's very rewarding to hear because you were the person I was most worried about going into this. Joe and I have talked a little bit on the side about golf and not in depth to the podcast, but like I was worried. I was like, maybe Sean won't be like as crazy about this game. Now, why do you say that?

01:00 That's a, that's a topic for the post show maybe. Um, but let's hear that. Let's hear some more of those initial impressions. Uh, well, I think that, um, this just, I think that this is actually the first game, um, that got golf, right? Um, cause I did a little, I did a little research on what kind of games came out for like, I don't know, like the Atari and the Intellivision and they look hideous. Okay. And, uh, just, I think the fact that you have so many variables to choose from between like club selection and dealing with the wind and, uh, the actual, um, courses, you know, they're basic, but they do look cool.

01:43 Um, that this is probably with the technology that they had the best, um, this is the best approximation of golf that I think that they could have done. Okay. Joe, what do you got? Uh, yeah, I mean, I kind of, I was also pleasantly surprised. I, at this point we've played two other major sports games, a football game and a baseball game. And I think golf really got it as accurate as it could compared to the other two, especially. Um, but yeah, it was, it was just a fun game. You know, it was fun golf game.

02:14 Awesome. All right. So I, I had to, uh, do a little bit of research before I played this. And I just have to mention, uh, that going into this, I had some huge expectations because, uh, golf was designed by Shigeru Miyamoto, uh, of Super Mario Brothers, Legends of Zelda, all that kind of fame.

02:30 Uh, programmed entirely by, uh, Satoru Iwata, um, president of Nintendo, uh, and also known for so many programming tricks. And, uh, just that, that was incredible on its own, but also all of the sound design in the game is done by Koji Kondo, uh, the Legend of Zelda composer. So you have like three huge names on, on this game already, and I haven't even touched it. So of course I have big expectations for it.

02:57 Uh, and when I played, and I'm not a golf guy by any means, but when I played, I, I immediately wanted to know more about how to play this game, how to do it correctly, how to get my score down. Like it, it was intriguing enough because similar to how you were always saying like minimalist football, minimalist baseball, this is minimal golf, but it's minimal golf done right. Like it feels rewarding. So I think like with that, I'll just go really quickly about the objective of the game. For those of you that don't know, uh, it plays exactly.

03:27 It plays exactly like real golf. Uh, you play all 18 holes, nine in nine out, and you try to score the lowest score possible by getting your ball in the hole. Uh, that about covers up the objective.

03:40 So let's talk about, uh, the gameplay. Uh, anybody want to give some gameplay thoughts? Yeah. Um, yeah. Okay. No, this is all you, Joe. All right. Um, well, no, I, I just wanted to say that I think the, um, the only thing that initially I thought was a little bit of a hindrance, but really the only problem I had with the gameplay was, um, was turning when you, when you try and turn your angle, it's a pretty, uh, it's a pretty big angle. Like, like sometimes it's like a compass.

04:08 Yeah. You know, you only have like, I don't want to go 45 degrees this way or whatever it is. Like I want to kind of go in between, you know, Northwest and I had, uh, I had that problem too, or at least perceived problem. I think that becomes a lot more of a problem too, though, with the wind. Yeah. Like when wind is not in your favor.

04:26 Once I took a look at the manual and realized that you can, uh, you can curve the ball, it kind of got a lot easier to kind of correct for that. Like I'd be like, Oh, I'll be here. But since I can't go in between, I'll just kind of go a little to the left and curve it a little to the right. I did find the curve. The curve is great, but I did find that to sometimes, especially at first, like once I got it down, it was good, but sometimes a little bit of guesswork on which direction. Oh, totally. The ball is going to curve and how much it's going to curve. Yeah. Uh, that's actually, I discovered that because again, I don't usually read the manual.

04:58 Um, uh, I, I discovered that by just like being bad at it real quick. Like I was curving accidentally and then I realized like, Oh, okay. So this is basically, uh, how you get that fine tuning. If you, if you really want to like, uh, uh, get around that bunker, um, or make sure you land on that Island correctly. Right. So, um, I think it was, and once I, once I realized that that was a part of the game, like that added so much more depth.

05:26 Yeah. There's even, uh, going on with that too, with the curve, there's also like a, and I don't know if this is the right word, but like a top spin too, where if you hit early enough, you can, um, you know, you're kind of hitting the ball up higher. So it's, it's actually fighting against the wind a little better to keep that like straight line going. Uh, if so, if you're hitting on the power meter, if you click it, like a lot of, power and then kind of quick click again, pretty quickly, like before you ever get back to like your center white meter, if you click around there, it'll actually kind of shoot like a pop-up instead.

05:59 Because when I like a club thing though. Yeah. Yeah. It's with the clubs. Yep. Okay. Yeah. Cause there's the, um, I guess the W is for wood. Is there's the, the PW and S is for iron. Sorry, I'm not a golf double. No, no, it's for wood and iron. Yep. Right. So there's a PW and an SW. What are those? Yes. Anyone know? I have no idea. And I did not care to research, but I only, I exclusively use those in the bunkers. Yeah. No, I think, uh, I always thought it was like, yeah, power wedge and like, uh, soft wedge, soft wedge.

06:30 We are not golf. Sounds like a great sandwich. Yeah. Yeah. We're clearly showing that we're not golf people, but that says something that we're not golf people. And we all like this game. Yeah. Um, another little, uh, ingenious piece of, uh, design was how they let you know, um, what kind of slope you're on, on the green. Like at first I thought like, okay, I thought this was just their little texture for showing that you're on the green. Right. Um, but no, like those are arrows that are pointing, um, where the slope is going. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. There were little, little V's on the green.

07:01 Yeah. Definitely thought the same that they were like a texture. Yeah. Right. And it, it wasn't like an, destructive, like, Oh, here's the arrow on the middle of the screen. It felt like it was part of the environment that looked like it was. So I was talking about the simplistic nature of the game and I really wanted to kind of break this game down. So I did break it down into just seven elements and I'd love to share them with you guys.

07:20 So there's five things you control and there's two things you don't control. And that makes up the entirety of the game. You control your stance, your club, your swing, your force, and your putt. You don't control the things that are outside are the wind and the obstacles. And that makes up the entirety of the game. You can describe the whole game in just those seven things. And I think that something about that while relaxing was also like incredibly like, like satisfying to see all work and continue to be like, Oh, I got to try it this way. This time I got to use this club instead. Like, Oh, the wind is more powerful.

07:56 On this course this time. So I can't get away with using the nine iron, you know? Yeah. I think that a lot of, a lot of people now with just the design philosophy of just more content, more content, more content.

08:11 people will see the fact that there's only 18, the old there are only 18 holes and there's not another course. Like they'll see that as a demerit for the game, but I don't know about you, but my first playthrough, I had like 60 above par. Oh yeah. No, I was awful, especially because I just really didn't even understand like which club to use. Like I was using the one wood for the first shot on everything. And then I would just kind of like think like, Oh, this is, I'm pretty close. I should probably, you know, scale down a little bit. And then I hit like, yeah, I'd overshoot it. I was like, I thought I scaled down. Yeah, exactly. No, you really have to like scale it.

08:51 I'll be honest. I pretty much only use the one wood, the two wedges and the putter. I never used an iron. You never used an iron. I don't know how you did that. That's incredible, Joe. I was, I was almost exclusively using irons after my first one wood. Wow. But I was always shooting for max power too. Like, like here's why. Okay. Let me explain real fast. Cause I feel like this is definitely worth mentioning. This game is changed by the manual. And we say that a lot, but when you look at the manual in this game, it actually has a section that describes how far each club will drive in yards in the bunker and in the green. So you can kind of assume like, okay.

09:31 Cause it does tell you that you're like 343 yards away from the, from the hole. Now I wish my one wish for golf on the NES would be that they would have been able to dynamically change that as you got closer. So you would know how many more yards you had to go. It always says, it always says the same amount. So whatever it was from the start now that makes it kind of like guesswork, but it was also kind of fun too. I was like, okay, well I hit it 180 yards. So I've still got another 200 yards to go. So I still should use the one wood.

10:03 So one thing that, um, I don't think they should have included the, uh, the yardages per, per club. I think that, um, you, that should just be something that you get the feel of throughout the game. Like, oh yeah, I've been using this club and like in my past experience, it allows me to, to go about this far. Or I definitely won't overshoot it if I use this club because it only, it usually only goes about this far. I think that, um, you feel a lot better about your own skill. If you've just, if, if you've like figured this out by yourself, I think.

10:37 Especially because you could be shooting with different powers. So you might, you know, kind of have a preference with things, you know, you can kind of get your own. Yeah. And I think that's why it's okay that they included it. Cause there's still a manner of like, you know, and nothing is guaranteed either. Like there's still a matter of preference for your clubs. But I think like for me, and this, this might just have been a me thing, but I was kind of having a tough time understanding which club I should use.

11:01 Unless I was referring to the manual. Like it did help to kind of be like, okay, I want to hit this 170 yards. And it was like, not easy for me to just be like, oh yeah, that's the three iron. Like, you know, it's like, I would have, I had to keep going back. I didn't, I couldn't memorize them. Yeah. I think that's why I sort of, yeah. I feel like if I played. I think that's why I sort of stuck to the same couple of clubs because. Okay. Because you knew the power of those clubs. Yeah. I didn't want to keep looking back at the manual. And I was like, okay, I can just adjust how hard I hit this one.

11:29 And, you know, these ones do different things. But probably if I were to be playing more often, playing someone like really competitively, I would have to like actually start looking at the other clubs. But, but, you know, I was kind of playing this multiplayer with, with my sister. And we both started out really bad and both started getting a little better and a little better as we learned the different like intricacies of the controls. Yeah. Going back to like kind of how many things like you input and how many things change and stay the same.

12:00 I think even though you've got one course and yeah, there are really only these few things that change from play through to, from play through to play through. I do think that there is a lot of replay value just because I don't know anybody that's going to pick up this game and like just be good at it. No. Yeah, for sure. Even if you know golf. Yeah. I still feel like you're going to be surprised by it. Yeah. Right. Especially the, the, I mean, just, just your swing.

12:29 You have, I mean, for a little context too, there's like you, you press A once to start your backswing. You press A again to start coming, you know, to start your forward swing. And then you press A. Yeah. I think this game actually codified that as like the actual way to play, make, make golf a game. Right. And what surprised me though was you press A a third time because there's like a little meter. And when, when your meter reaches like a little white spot, you want to press A a third time.

12:56 That's the ball. So that's like where you want to impact the ball. And what I learned later on was if you, if you hit, if you're early on the impact, it slices, it curves to the right. Yes. And if you're late, it hooks, it curves to the left. And if you hit it in the, in the white spot, it's a straight shot. So that like changed the game for us. Yeah. They're getting a lot out of that one meter. It kind of, it kind of makes me wish that like, and this is ridiculous, but if like baseball on the NES had that power meter, you know, where it's like, you kind of are like winding up for your pitch and then it comes down, you know, it's like so much of like what golf is implementing here could have been used in almost every other sports game.

13:35 Now the, the only thing that kind of bugged me a little bit about, it doesn't really bug me. I think it works great. I love the control system, but if I think about it logically, the, um, where you hit the ball has kind of become a timing thing. Like where you hit the ball, it has, has to do with when you press a, which doesn't really translate to golf. I mean, I don't know another way around it, but, um, which doesn't, doesn't bother me because I don't play golf and it was still fun. Again, I'm kind of glad that this wasn't like perfect.

14:03 Right. When I stepped back to think about that, I was like, wait a minute, that's not how golf would work, but I think it's not having fun. I think it simulates as much as it should. And it leaves all the other stuff, um, on the floor where, where at least if you're trying to play a video game where it belongs.

14:20 How did you guys feel about putting? I liked putting. Um, I think that, uh, I had more fun putting than I did, uh, on the rest of the field or I'm sorry, on the, on the rest of the course. Um, just because it's a lot more like you're given more information. Um, you are given more information, but I would argue sometimes that like, you know, as long as you don't get an out of bounds or a water hazard, making it to the hole, isn't that tough? It does become tough when you wind up on the green for the putt and you're far from the hole because the power of like what you, you know, like what you have to guess about.

14:59 And I think that's rewarding. I'm not saying it's bad. I'm saying like the putting for me was harder than the actual, like getting to the hole, like driving through. I would usually get to the hole in three strokes, three to four strokes.

15:11 It can definitely get tough when you're far away, especially with like the roll of the green. Like if you, because if you miss and then, and then you go downhill, you're just going to go, I mean, sometimes it takes you off the green. Right. And then you have to get back onto the green. And I never, I never was able to putt into the, into the hole from the overview screen, but I was actually one time very proud of this. I was able to use the PW club and actually hit it into for no for like from the overview screen, hit the PW into the hole and get the Eagle. Oh, wow. Like it was a surprise Eagle. I wasn't expecting it at all. I was having a terrible game. I had, I had, yeah, I, that was the same game that I had a, like a plus 60. I did get it.

16:00 there's a lot in this game that makes you feel like you've accomplished something. When it connects, when it all connects and you could be having a bad game. And when you get that one hole, you're like, oh yeah. Like, I can't believe I just did that. It's very therapeutic. Anybody want to talk about like a hole in particular that they found challenging? You don't have to know the whole number, I guess. Maybe just like describe it. I just remember there was one where I actually, I wasted like seven strokes because they're all OB. They were all out of bounds. And like, it's not because, not like a water hazard where it'll just put you to the closest

16:39 point on like the coast. You just have to keep trying. And everything I was doing was just hitting that one tree. And I'm like, but I'm just next to the tree. Let me just, let me just put from, not put from the tree. Let me just hit from the tree. Right. No. Nope.

16:52 And there's, there's kind of like more of an advantage to getting a water hazard than an OB because at least the water hazard will place you near it. Exactly. And they both only count for two strokes. So it's like, sometimes it's like, yeah, I'll just take the water hazard. Yeah. Might get closer. Yeah. I was, I was impressed with the variation of the, of the different holes. I mean, there was, you know, there were, there were like a couple with like a few little islands and you can kind of decide which islands you, you know, how many islands you want to hop. If you want to go like the easy route.

17:18 Right. But you got to probably take more strokes or if you want to risk a water hazard and go on. I was, I was pretty, this is just like one of those little small touches that I like, but in the manual, it actually contextualizes all the holes. I thought that was the best part. I saw that. That was so cool. That was, everybody should take a look. I'll link it in the show notes. Everybody should look at this because like just the idea that they, that they didn't just come up with like 18 separate holes, but they said like, no, this is how it would look at an actual golf course. That's phenomenal.

17:50 I love it. And I think for me, the hardest, and this might be the one Sean was talking about, but I can't say for certain, it was only like a 250 meter course, like from the hole to you. But there was a kind of like a bridge of trees in between you and the circle where the hole was. So you had to kind of figure out like just the right club to hit it. So this way it wouldn't land in that first batch, but it would at least go over that batch of trees and into that second area.

18:22 And for me, that just became tricky because I was so used to using the one wood and powerful clubs like that, that to start off with a guess was kind of tough. I think for that one, I was using like the three iron just to start it. Even that might've got me out of bounds, like the furthest.

18:38 Is that the hole where there's like the circular clearing in the woods? Yeah, but no, that's another hole that is, that's another hole that's very challenging, but that's the best way to go about that hole is getting in that circular section. But it's really, it's really one of those risk reward things because that, that little clearing is calling to you. And every time I tried to swing for it, I got it out of bounds.

19:00 Right. And it's two strokes in your back at the beginning. You know? So I found out that a one wood full power gets you kind of right in the center there as long as you hit a straight shot. Wow. So that's what I always did whenever I came to that hole. I was like, once I, once I figure that out. Joe's written strategy guides to golf. Yes. I was on the, I was writing the strategy guides to golf.

19:22 And we were talking about, um, was it two episodes ago? We were talking in duck hunt about how, um, no one keeps track of high scores and stuff like that. I was keeping track of my score. Oh yeah. And I was pretty satisfied that after like six or seven hours of playing this game, which is a lot, but I loved golf. Um, after six to seven hours of playing this game, I landed a negative two to finish. And it just, it just felt so good. Wow. That's great. But can I just say that there was, there was one, one night, I don't remember what I texted you about, Mike, I texted you about something, but you responded with a picture. I think it was in a group text. You responded with a picture of you playing golf and you said every night.

20:05 Oh yeah. So that says something about your, uh, your enjoyment of this game. That's true. I really, I really got more out of this game because, uh, to Sean's point earlier, it feels good when you're playing well in this game. Like it became satisfying to like start off. First game. I think I got like Sean said, like in the sixties and then to get it all the way to it got down pretty quickly. Once I got the manual, cause I was referring to the yardage, but like even seeing like single digits and then finally getting closer to zero. And then I'll be honest, that negative two was just, you know, it's something else.

20:39 It had to be over the moon. Yeah. It was, it was, I took a picture of it, sent it into the, to the chat actually. Okay. Um, but that's not like normal. I'd say my normal game is like eight, you know, but still like eight above is not that bad. We've actually got a little video, uh, just to keep everything, um, just to remind us of stuff, uh, as we're, as we're doing this, uh, uh, this, this podcast, we've got a video of, of just somebody playing golf running. And that course, I forgot the whole, um, 11, whole 11 is the one that made me go like 10 strokes over. Okay.

21:14 Yeah. Um, but also like going back to like, yeah, we weren't keeping a score in duck hunt because like, we're just, it's just a random number assigned to birds. Like, yeah, this is golf. This is a game worth keeping score. Right. It's supposed to keep score. Right. Well, so for me, I think I didn't, uh, didn't really keep track because I was playing with a second player. So I was just like, did I win or did I lose? Like that was, yeah.

21:35 So I kind of forgot what the scores were afterwards, but I know at first it was definitely very bad for both of us. And then it kind of got better as we played. Uh, any other stray thoughts before I move on? Got it. You got to call out, uh, the Mario stand in. Oh yeah. Yeah. That, that is an interesting thing that eventually like later on in the NES's lifespan, they would just put him in like on the cover of the game and he's sporting like an awesome America suit. Like it's like pinstripes with, uh, not pinstripes. It's a, it's like the American flag as an outfit. That's what he's wearing. But like, this is Mario, right? This is like Mario.

22:09 I guess he seems like an ageless being, but I feel like this is Mario after he's married Peach and he let himself go. So in the NES timeline, cause we're building this out. So this is after, this is definitely after Duck Hunt. After Duck Hunt. This is a post Duck Hunt world, uh, after all the ducks are gone. Yeah. All the ducks are gone. All the ducks have been hunted. You know, things just haven't gone well because one, he's alone. He's not, well, unless you know what? You're right. He might have his brother there. Does this take place? And also outside of this golf course, there's just an endless abyss of darkness.

22:44 So, so we have to wonder what happened. Yeah. Um, I have a question though. He's definitely let himself go. Oh, look at that. Look at his body. Maybe this takes place even after Duck Hunt 2 for Nintendo Switch that we were talking about. That's true. Because we were talking about that in the other episode and maybe that explains like the darkness and like why Mario's alone just reduced to golf. Maybe Mario created the darkness. Maybe he's like an antagonist in Duck Hunt 2. This is a limbo of sorts. I think we have to move on now though.

23:13 Um, and so I want to move on with an incredible thing worth talking about is that even if after all this praise that we've given to golf, if you're like, I'm not going to play a game, graphics are garbage, not enough to it. I would encourage you to dig up the copy that we know you have of Wii Sports because everybody owns a copy of Wii Sports. Like anybody who bought a Wii has Wii Sports. Some people that don't even have a Wii have a copy of Wii Sports. Yeah. That's true. It's just lying around.

23:39 Wii Sports, um, has a, has golf in it as one of the sports. And one of the like many courses that you can go to is called Classic. And that is a exact replica of golf for the NES. This game, the course is exactly the same in 3D. Pretty much the same concept though, unfortunately with motion controls. Yeah. So not as satisfying as clicking your power meters. You will have to like wind up a swing, uh, with your, with your Wiimote.

24:07 Uh, but I just thought that was really cool that they did that as like an homage to, uh, golf on the NES. I mean, this is a game that's probably very important to Nintendo because as we mentioned, you have Miyamoto, Iwata, and Koji Kondo all, uh, working on this game. So this is probably something very important to them. Yeah. When, when you said that, that they all worked on this game too, then that's when it like clicked. I was like, that's why this game, this random golf game is so good. It's actually so good.

24:32 Uh, and to Sean's point too, uh, and this is covered on the blog post on the website. Um, the website of course being NostalgiaCast.com. Nice. Uh, thank you. Uh, the, the golf game here, there were two other games, also golf that came out in Japan on computer systems around the same time. And they all kind of play exactly like this. And it is kind of a conspiracy that all three of these games came out of Japan at the same time when nothing like this had ever been agreed upon.

25:02 But it says something that the Nintendo version is the one we remember. Oh yeah. You know, no one, no one, we can't even play them. They never came to North America, those other two, but it's just incredible that like they, they had the idea, but they couldn't perfect it in the same way that the geniuses that Nintendo could. Geniuses.

25:22 Uh, and then before we move on to the essential games list, I have to mention of course that, uh, on Nintendo switch, since it's relevant right now, uh, it was in the news a while ago. I don't think it can be done anymore, but golf is the only, uh, NES game that's currently, uh, possible to play on the Nintendo switch other than the first system versions that they've been putting out. But that's because it was put in by Nintendo as a tribute to Iwata after his passing.

25:50 Okay. Really cool here for a minute. Uh, if you set the clock and you're not online, cause it's the only way it would know otherwise. If you set the clock to J, uh, July 11th, the day that, uh, Satori Iwata passed, uh, if you perform his direct action when he did in the Nintendo directs, the directly to you, if you do that with the joy con, with the right joy con, uh, it will load up a golf on the NES,

26:16 uh, for switch. I believe since then they've taken it out. It wasn't, it was just kind of like a nice thing. I think that they wanted to have for themselves. I don't think they wanted people to get access to it and figure it out. But of course people were able to figure it out. But I just think that like, that is such a touching tribute, uh, to a legendary programmer and president of Nintendo. And it's just such a cool way to honor his legacy. You gotta love that they, that they kind of bury things like that in there. It's, it's very cool. Yeah. Very cool. Uh, okay. And with that, it's time to move into the essential games list.

26:52 All right. It's the essential games list. And you know what that is by now. You got your PS4, you got your Nintendo switch, you got your PC and you know, you're playing games like Doki Doki panic literature club. That's not the name of the game. That's two games mixed together. But I had to say it. Um, you're playing games like that in your backlog and you're like, huh, I wonder if golf for the NES is worth playing. And to be honest, you're a pretty strange person. Yeah. Just have that random thought. To have that random thought, but also to be playing Doki Doki literature club and be like, what about golf? Like, yeah, this, this literature club is great, but I'm kind of more interested in golf simulation.

27:29 Hitting the links. Yeah. Hitting the links. So, uh, we're going to tell you right now if it's essential and by essential, what we mean here is it, was it good for its time? We mean, is it worth playing today? Okay. So Joe, walk me through it. All right. So, I mean, I will say, I think that this is, you won't regret playing this game. You'll definitely, it's definitely a lot of fun and I, we've all been very high on it. And, uh, I, I really liked it a lot, but I think that there's not, there's a good chance that really other golf games are going to be as fun that came out later. So as much as I say, this is definitely worth playing.

28:04 I don't know if I would necessarily say it's essential today. So you're holding off just because you think there might be a better golf game worthy of the essential list? I think it's unlikely that, that there aren't any golf games that did this as well because, because fundamentally it all comes down to, it's a very simple thing. But are you saying then that I'm asking you, are you saying that a golf game will definitely make your essentials list? It just has to be better. Oh, I'm not saying an NES golf game. I'm just saying that like, there probably, you could probably boot up your PS4 and play a golf game. What you're getting out of, gotcha. Okay. Right. You could probably boot up PS4 and play a golf game and,

28:38 I just wanted to make sure of the clarification there. Right. I'm sure there are bad golf games, but I'm sure there are golf games that are at least as good. And if not better, maybe you can now turn 360 degrees instead of, you know, so the little things that, uh, that bugged us about this might be fixed. And honestly, like, I still think this is a great game. I still think you should play it. I don't know if it's, if it's a must today.

29:00 Gotcha. Uh, okay. And I'll go, uh, just to spice it up a little bit. Uh, I don't, I shouldn't, I shouldn't always go last. I shouldn't always have that, uh, flavor. You don't have that power. Right. Um, so for me, I don't know. I don't know why I became obsessed with this game. I don't like golf. All right. Golf isn't really for me. I, I got a really sore shoulder. The one time I like went to like just even drive a driving range. Like I've never even played golf, mini golf. No one's good at that. Like, you know, like that's just the thing that people play.

29:34 Um, well done unless you take it seriously. All right. Okay. Uh, which is true. So I'm sorry to all the mini golf people I insulted. Um, this game simplifies so much of golf, but it also retains a surprising bit of depth.

29:47 Uh, there's so many choices you can make. And at the same time, they broken it down to only those seven elements that we talked about earlier. But, uh, even if the game is rewarding, I just feel like it's still just a 2d NES golf game that just because I'm someone who didn't like golf and enjoyed it, I can't guarantee that non golf fans all over the world are going to be playing NES golf and be like, this is just a fundamentally good game. Like we can't say that with certainty just because I do think that what, what has been improved on since then, similar to Joe's point, like I've tried some of the PGA tour golf games and I do think that they improve on the idea of golf while still keeping it pretty simple.

30:30 You know, nothing is ever as complicated as playing real golf. And that's, that's good. We would never want a video game to be as realistic as the actual experience. It should be a gamified element of it. And for that reason, I think that while golf was super fun for me and I had a great time with it, I can't recommend this as like a definitive NES game. Yeah. I think, um, I actually, um, behind the scenes requested to go last because I could feel myself, um, getting really amped up over this game.

31:02 And I knew I was, I was getting drunk off of golf. Um, I really didn't want that to, um, make me do a regrettable decision and putting it on the essential games list. Right. Um, but because I did have a lot of fun, I just like sports games and I'm going to be a lot higher on sports games than I think most of us will be. Um, just because I, I love the history of, uh, I've talked about this before with baseball and tenured fight, like the history of the evolution of trying to simulate the same thing.

31:37 Um, and I think that because of that extended history of sports games outside of any console, um, we, there should never, maybe there'll be an exception, but I don't think that there's going to be a sports game on our essential games list just because there's always going to be a better version. Right. Like, uh, PGA tour, uh, with Tiger Woods, like those games. I mean, yeah, they're all kind of samey, but they're a lot better than this game. Um, and same with every other sport, I think. And I think like to that point, we're, we're kind of giving it a resounding play it. If you're a fan of NES games, you know, like I, I definitely think it's worth trying if you're interested in the NES.

32:22 Uh, but I don't think that like, I can recommend this to someone who's like, just, just like, you know, Oh, I like retro games. And it's like, you know, uh, yeah. I want to play golf. Like, you know, it's like, ah, not this, you know, not, not, not this. This is the primitive version of everything that's going to come after it, but it just, we're just so impressed at how well it does it. Right. It seems like we all kind of recommend the game, but can't say it's, it's a must. Right. You know? Yeah. Play it.

32:52 It's great. It's fun, but you don't have to, you know, it's not, you're not going to miss out on like something, something that's necessary, you know? Yep. All right. Uh, and that's all the time we have for this episode of Nostalgia.

33:05 Join us next time for Gyromite and be sure to play it yourself if you can. For more Nostalgia, please subscribe to our podcast wherever you listen and be sure to check out NostalgiaCast.com. That's N-E-S-T-A-L-G-I-A-Cast.com. There you'll find links to the show and show notes as well as our other platforms such as Twitch, YouTube, Twitter, and Facebook. Thank you so much for your support of Nostalgia. We thank you for spending time with us. I'm Michael Esposito. You can find me on at Esposito Film on Twitter, and I'll talk to you soon.