Mario Golf: Super Rush goes to New Donk City with free update today

By Joseph Yaden August 5, 2021

Mario Golf: Super Rush is getting its first free update today, August 5. It will include a new mode, character, course, and improved features.

This comes by way of the official Nintendo of America Twitter account, which features a quick video for the new update.

Recommended Videos

🏌️ Fore! #MarioGolf: Super Rush scores a free update later today.

✔️ New mode: Ranked Match
✔️ New character: Toadette
✔️ New course: New Donk City
✔️ Improved motion controls

Look forward to more updates later this year!https://t.co/CzZfh5IVLl pic.twitter.com/wmhyajIVNO

— Nintendo of America (@NintendoAmerica) August 5, 2021

Most notably, the update features Toadette as a brand new character who touts her devastating special move that sends the ball flying with force. Beyond that, the previously announced New Donk City course is coming, which is based on the fictional city in Super Mario Odyssey.

The free update also includes a new Ranked Match mode, which will allow players to test their skills in a more competitive sense. The Ranked mode keeps track of a player’s points, wins, and other stats that one can aim to improve. Those who reach A- or higher gain access to multiple Yoshi colors, including blue, red, or yellow.

Finally, this update aims to improve motion controls, though Nintendo hasn’t specified what that entails. As it stands, the motion controls work well enough but could certainly stand to be improved due to how finicky they can sometimes be.

Nintendo reiterated that more updates would be added “later this year,” though it’s unclear when and what to expect from them specifically.

Mario Golf: Super Rush debuted back in June and has already become the second bestselling game in the series, reaching 1.34 million copies sold. It sits just behind the original Mario Golf for the Nintendo 64, which has sold around 1.47 million copies since 1999.

Topics

Joseph Yaden is a freelance journalist who covers Nintendo, shooters, and horror games. He mostly covers game guides for…

Gaming

Super Mario Bros. Wonder almost featured a realistic Mario and surfing

A Wonder Effect appears in Super Mario Bros. Wonder.

Last year, Nintendo brought Mario back to his 2D roots with a surprise new game, Super Mario Bros. Wonder. The critically acclaimed platformer was an instant crowd-pleaser thanks in no small part to its namesake feature, Wonder Effects. These power-ups completely transformed Mario’s world, letting its developers experiment with wacky ideas from wiggling pipes to singing Piranha Plants.

The notoriously secretive Nintendo has now peeled back the curtain on how those creative swings came to be. The company hosted a panel about the game’s development at this year’s Game Developers Conference. In it, Producer Takashi Tezuka and Director Shiro Mouri went in depth about how it built Wonder Effects. The panel included some wild ideas that ended up on the cutting room floor – enough to fill a sequel.

Gaming

Mario vs. Donkey Kong remake’s new levels feel right at home

Mario and Donkey Kong stare each other down in Mario vs. Donkey Kong.

When it comes to Mario, Nintendo has remake fever. The publisher is currently on a hot streak as it revisits some of the series' cult classics. We got a strong remake of Super Mario RPG last November and a new version of Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door is on the way this year. In-between those beloved titles, we're getting a full remake of Mario vs. Donkey Kong, a unique Game Boy Advance puzzle-platformer. It's something of a 20th-anniversary edition considering the original launched in 2004.

Ahead of its launch, I played through the remake's first four worlds. For the most part, they're 1:1 recreations of the original's levels, with a charming visual boost that's not far off from what we saw in Super Mario RPG. What I wouldn't realize at first, though, is that one of those worlds was an entirely new addition made for the remake. That's how naturally its new content slots in to a very faithful recreation.
Tiny changes
Like Super Mario RPG, Mario vs. Donkey Kong's Switch remake isn't trying to mess with fans' nostalgia. The core gameplay loop is entirely unchanged here: Mario moves through bite-sized 2D platforming levels turned into small puzzles. Each level has me finding a key and bringing it to a door, before sending me to a second screen where I need to rescue a mini Mario toy. I watched a YouTube video of the original game's World 1 after beating the remake's and it was almost identical.

Gaming

Our favorite Switch games of 2023: Tears of the Kingdom, Mario, and much more

Link stands behind text that says Best Switch Games 2023.

If 2023 was our last full year with the Nintendo Switch, what a heck of a sendoff it got.

The rumor mill has been buzzing for months now, claiming that Nintendo plans to reveal and release its Switch successor next year. While that’s a rumor you should take with some skepticism, there’s good reason to believe it may happen. Nintendo reportedly showed off the system to developers behind closed doors at Gamescom this year, and the Switch’s current 2024 lineup feels like the final drop we’d get right before a new system. The Switch could be old news this time next year.