Nintendo Dives Into The World Of Season Passes With ‘Mario Golf: World Tour’

For the most part, Nintendo has stayed away from downloadable content until very recently. Adding new level packs in games like New Super Mario Bros 2 and Pikmin 3 amongst others have served as the company’s way of testing the waters with paid expanded content, but it looks like they’re going all in with Mario Golf: World Tour for the 3DS.

If you happened to steer clear of the many Mario spinoffs that have been released over the years, I assure you that Mario Golf has traditionally been one of the better ones. After playing a demo at Wondercon this year, it seems like everything is essentially the same as previous years on the Mushroom Kingdom greens. New power shots accompany the tried and true two click swing mechanics of most mascot golf games of this nature, where pressing A in sync with the power and accuracy meters result in better shots. The demo had standard tournament mode, coin mode where players collect coins with their swings, and ring mode, where the goal is to hit the ball through, well… take a guess.

Fun times were had, but you can’t expect too much change from a golf game.

It was just as fun as I remember it, if not a little familiar. But the most significant change to the series won’t come until release date, when Nintendo launches their first DLC Season Pass with the title. DLC is a sensitive subject for many in the gaming community. Some see it as a great way to expand on a game, while others see it as a cash grab that can be used as an excuse to hold back content for the purpose of selling it later. While some might have seen Nintendo’s attempt at the business strategy as the end of times, their approach with Mario Golf seems to be pretty reasonable.

Adding 108 holes and four extra characters to a game that already features 126 holes to play on, the $15 or $5.99 that the individual packs cost can almost double the amount of content. Starting on May 2nd, (the game’s release date, which is usually a DLC cardinal sin), players can pick up the Mushroom Pack, which comes with Toadette. The Flower Pack with Mario Galaxy star, Rosalina, and the Star Pack with New Super Mario Bros U newcomer Nabbit, will release in the coming weeks. Those who buy the pass will gain exclusive access to Gold Mario, who comes with the Golden Flower power up, causing his shots to generate coins as they travel! Buying all of the individual packs will unlock him as well, but only once the last pack is released.

All Gold Everything

While this is all well and good, some fans might still see this as nickel and diming, (which I admittedly did too at first), but considering the game is already being sold at a discounted price of $29.99, including the season pass makes it about five dollars more than a standard 3DS game for double the content. Combined with the online functionality and tournaments that it promises to bring, and it’s looking like a pretty good deal. To top it off, each pack will have demo versions so you can try before you buy. That’s something every piece of DLC should have if you ask me. I could have saved a decent amount on crappy Rock Band tracks if I had known they had boring track layouts.

So what’s the verdict on Nintendo’s approach of their first season pass? Do you think other companies should follow this model, or do you think it’s a slippery slope leading to us having to pay for our special worlds in later installments? Let us know, and be sure to check back for a full review of Mario Golf: World Tour in the days after its release.