Poor Tecmo! You see, they decided to release the first non-pack in golf game for the Nintendo Wii, which really gives them an advantage but a lot of pressure. With Tiger not on the Wii yet, this gives Tecmo a chance to put up a franchise game. However, with Wii Sports Golf being a pack in, it sure does make it difficult to go right out and drop another $50 on a game genre that you have already when you bought your Wii.

Of course, the Wii Sports golf game isn’t very in-depth, while Super Swing Golf has quite a few options to enjoy. Interestingly enough this is one of the first golf games that I’ve played that has a backstory. You are on Pangya island and the people were saved because all of the residents needed to put everything into the Mystical Phoenix Ball and if they put this Phoenix Ball into the one hole in the force field that was keeping them captive the would eliminate the bad guys. This of course happened and to celebrate, the residents created a Pangya festival which celebrates this great event. The game that they play (hitting a ball into a hole) is basically golf and now the residents have invited you to the island to play. Well I can say that someone was probably whacked out of their mind when they came up with this backstory, but you never know what to expect from the Japan videogame community (I say that with admiration).

Getting back to the game – in the single player mode you can select a straight Stroke Play game, a Match Play game or the story mode called Pangya Festa. You are limited to the number of Match Play tournaments you can just from at the beginning however you’ll be able to unlock more as you play through and win. There is no online play but there is multiplayer stroke and match play as well as an interesting game called Balloon Pop. You can use one Wii-mote for multiple players in all games but Balloon Pop which requires simultaneous play.

There’s a shop where you can purchase upgrades like Caddies and this being a Tecmo game, you have to have new costumes, right? There’s also a lottery game at the shop. You also have a room for your stuff, appropriately entitled, “My Room.”

The story mode is a neat idea – don’t confuse it for a typical career mode though. It is similar but you are only playing short rounds of golf at the beginning – 3 rounds of match play for example. As seems to be common with these golf games, the computer rarely misses, makes amazing shots from the sand and can sink those 30 foot putts with ease.

The control is good and bad with Super Swing Golf. You can either go with the old fashioned swing meter where you start and stop it, or you can go with the virtual golf club swing. It’s done a little differently here – your backswing determines your distance and you can see how long you are trying to hit the ball before the downswing. Once you are at the right distance, you press the A button and then begin your downswing. If you keep the Wii-mote straight and don’t turn your wrists in, you’ll get a pretty good shot. Driving and chipping and even using irons are fun. The bad is when it comes to putting. It seems rather difficult to get the ball in the hole from those long distances. One could say it’s a lot like real golf, and I don’t mind that, but the beginner computer should duff it every once in a while too, you know?

I will say that the beauty of this game is that you can muff shots like in real golf. I have hit a shot off a tee using a driver that goes 30 yards. My first thought, was hey, something is definitely wrong with my swing because I’m just as bad in real life. I finally got the hang of it though and it actually became a lot of fun to play (both Wii golf and real golf).