Get ready for non-stop action as you take on 18 holes of the most realistic video-golf game ever - TurboGrafx-16 Power Golf.
(this comes straight from the manual - I could never make up such cheesy goodness on my own)
Power Golf is the next game on my TurboGrafx journey, and hey, after Moto Roader, anything else has got to be better, right? ....RIGHT?!?
Honestly I didn't know what to expect when I first started up Power Golf, and my first run was pretty damn rough. (I actually had to consult the manual to just figure out how to hit the damn ball.)
There are three main modes in Power Golf. Stroke Play, where you play to get the lowest number of strokes possible, and is the "typical" mode you would expect in a golf game. Then there is Match Play with two options: Normal Match, where you compete for each hole either against another player or the CPU, or Club Match, where you compete for each other's clubs based on who wins each hole. Finally there is Competition, where play happens in the form of a contest. You can either play with Two or Three Players, but you can't choose CPU for that mode, so make sure you have some IRL friends with you.
After selecting the play mode you choose between three different characters, each with their own strengths and weaknesses.
The first character is a man with standard power and standard swing speed (the timing you need to swing and hit the ball - slower is easier and faster is harder).
The second character is a woman with lower power and a slower swing speed (so its easier to get the timing you want, but the ball doesn't go as far).
The third character is a man with higher power and a faster swing speed (so the ball goes farther, but it's harder to get the swing timing right).
I tried all three characters and they're all fun in their own right, but it is certainly easier to start with the female character, since I could get the timing just right on the swings and make the ball go where I wanted (generally).
Like most golf games you have to take both the wind speed and direction into consideration for each stroke (both speed and direction change each stroke, which honestly is a little strange).
You press the I button to start your swing, then you press it again to set the power (as close to the left hand side of the bar as possible), then you press it one last time when it gets as close to the red target area as possible. If you press the last one too early it will be to the left of the target area and the ball will slice to the right (the farther away from the target, the more it will slice), and if you press it too late it will be to the right of the target area and the ball will slice to the left.
Sometimes you want to slice the ball because the shot you are making is curved in nature, but you have to make sure to take the wind speed and direction into account when choosing which direction to slice in and how much of a slice you want. It's a little complicated to get right, but very satisfying when you nail it.
Of course, like any golf game, it also has your standard water hazards, sand bunkers and out of bounds areas (oh, and trees you can run into on the course). Sometimes I like to use the bunkers to my advantage to stop the ball near the green, then use the sand wedge to get it as close to the hole as possible. Granted, there are likely better ways to approach it, but for this novice that seems to work ok.
You can view my very first (and very rough) gameplay in the YouTube video below: (I promise I got better after this)
I ended up playing quite a few matches of Power Golf, and I did end up getting much better at timing my swings and selecting the right clubs for the situation at hand. I'm sure if I had gotten this game back in the day it would have been a fun diversion between more hardcore games on the TurboGrafx.
After the horror that was Moto Roader, I actually had a lot of fun with Power Golf. I was AWFUL to start out with but eventually I started getting quite a bit better, where I got to the point where I could generally get the ball to go where I wanted and had fun playing it.
Next on my TurboGrafx journey is...
Until next time Turbo Troops...
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