ESPN Final Round Golf 2002 - Ignore the Name, I Swear it's Good!

4/03/24

Sport games! For many consoles, especially those in the 2000s, feel like the prime example of ‘annualized shovelware’. Now, that’s probably an unfair description, but I’ll be blunt; typically, I don’t like sports games. Now, I’ll partake in a bit of a fun, Mario-ised round of golf, or indulge in my current hyperfixation in the form of a WWE game, but I’m just not a sports guy, and though the Game Boy Abyss, I feel I’ve kind of ignored them up until now. And honestly, considering I pulled it randomly from a list, ESPN Final Round Golf 2002, a game with a genuinely atrocious name, ain’t that bad. Solid throughout, if a little dry, Final Round Golf will satiate those looking for some non-Mario golf on the Game Boy Advance, if perhaps do little more.

The most interesting thing about Final Round Golf is the fact that this version of the game is in actuality a reskin of a Japanese title called Golf Master: Japanese Golf Tour. In every way that counts, they are pretty much identical games - golf, golf, and more golf, with the only real difference being the characters in Golf Master taking a more anime-esque look to them. Otherwise, as far as I can tell, both from in-game info and online, there really aren't any major differences between the two. Reskins of this fashion fascinate me - I vaguely understand stuff like Doki-Doki Panic becoming Mario Bros. 2, but were anime-looking characters the real deal breaker for this game? Also, I feel a little bad describing this as the most interesting thing about Final Round Golf - there’s nothing really *bad* about the game, but ultimately it’s exactly what you’re getting on the tin. It’s decent, it’s satisfying, but it’s that; golf. On that note, why is it specifically ESPN? Did ESPN really want in on having their name thrown on some Japanese golf game? Fascinating, really.

It’s certainly a little spartan in the content department, though what’s here is good. You’ve got five courses, each with more than a dozen holes, each course having its own general look and aesthetic. You can engage with these courses in a couple of ways. The main meat of the game is in its Tournament Mode, where you’ll compete against dozens of other golfers in a simulated tourney, but you’ll only be visually seeing your own shots. At the end of each course, you’ll be ranked by how far above or below par you are, and get rewarded accordingly. There’s also Stroke Play, where you can set up your own games against the computer, or against friends, and Match Play, which… I honestly can’t see much difference between that and Stroke Play (god, I’m smirking like a teenager every time I write that), as Match Play seems to be the same, except without the ability to add Computers into the mix. And… that’s really it - your main form of progression will just be unlocking each course via the tournament mode, but there’s not a lot here unless you want to just enjoy some good gold, and with how solid - if, perhaps, uninventive this game’s golf is - you should remain satisfied. Strangely enough, during its reskin from Golf Master to Final Round Golf, an entire mode was removed, one where you only start with a certain selection of golfers, with you unlocking them by defeating each one in succession. You’re still doing the same things as the other modes of the game whilst unlocking them, but it’s odd that Final Round Golf just opts to have every golfer unlocked from the jump.

Final Round Golf takes the same approach to golf pretty much every game involving the sport does; aim towards where you want your ball to go, press A, let your bar charge as far as you want to go, then time it so the bar returns roughly to where it begins. It’s a tried and true system, and it works as well in Final Round as it does anywhere else. No bells, no whistles, just… golf, I guess. It just took me a little bit to grasp the general ‘physics’ of Final Round Golf - the kind of things you have to figure out in most golf games. How much the wind affects your shots, how far your shots will go,how hard you need to stroke when you’re on the green. In the latter case, in games like Mario Golf, you have to hit pretty gently, otherwise the ball will just clip over the hole and I’ll prob rage quit the game there and then. In Final Round, I found that when you’re aiming for the hole, it’s actually pretty lenient in the other direction; hitting softly, trying to precisely hit as far as I needed. This resulted in several moments where the ball, in a visual sense, was practically floating on air, 0.9 feet from being in the hole, and so I quickly learnt to lean on the harder side. Beyond my machinations with the green, I quickly learnt how to deal with the wind and the sheer power of the shots, and whilst I only played the first two tournaments, felt I picked up the game pretty quickly. With a (again, terrible) title like ESPN Final Round Golf, I envisioned an incredibly technical, full-on golf simulator crammed onto the GBA, but this is a fairly accessible, pick up and play golf game that’ll probably work for players of all ages.

I also can’t help but gush at how much I like how this game looks; considering this is a GBA title, they couldn’t really provide the 3D golf experiences now pretty commonplace in the N64 and PS1 libraries, it manages to deliver a decent facsimile of it. The process of teeing up, loosing your shot depicts your character in a pseudo-3D environment, the almost searingly bright colors of the course alight around you, complete with almost dreamlike clouds Of course, the visuals of picking a place to tee off towards and your ball actually soaring across the course is all depicted from a top down view, but it’s a seamless, and understandable, enough transition that I find little to complain about. The music is simiarly an absolute banger, with a beat and energy that wouldn’t find itself out of place in the more energetic moments in a Phoenix Wright game. Seriously, for a game as solid, yet cookie-cutter as Final Round Golf, why does the soundtrack go so hard?! Seriously, I’m just gonna throw the soundtrack below this paragraph, give it a flick through, you won’t be disappointed.

Due to a general lack of documentation about this game online, I’m a little unclear about the progression of unlocking further courses; you start with one, eighteen-hole course from the jump, and after winning that tournament (by a lot, not to toot my horn; -7, with my nearest opponent only managing a 0), I earned cash that, whilst not seemingly able to spend in any store, automatically unlocked the next course. Maybe it’s kind of like Mario Golf 64, where outright winning a tournament will give you the resources to unlock the next, whilst getting second or third will only give you a fraction of that amount? Not a hundred percent sure, but if so, it’s a perfectly serviceable gameplay loop, especially for a more pick up and play format.

Ultimately, despite being someone who doesn’t play, no care for, most sport games, I don’t mind Final Round Golf. It’s certainly not something I’ll be finding myself coming back to anytime soon, but that has little to do with the game itself. I’m not a sports guy, gaming or otherwise, but ESPN Final Round Golf is genuinely a decent game. Sure, it’s a bit simplistic, and perhaps too easy, in its mechanics, but it’s a nice pick up and play golf game that doesn’t require too much thought, perfect for a car trip or just letting your mind wander a little bit. Honestly, it might be the audio-visual experience that gets you in the zone correctly, but either way - ESPN Final Round Gold might very well be the best golf game on the GBA without Mario ahead of it… and even then…?

Thanks for reading my review of ESPN Final Round Gold 2002 on the Game Boy Abyss! Decent surprise this time, not gonna lie, I really don’t have high hopes for the majority of non-Nintendo sport games, but if more get me the way Final Round Gold did, I’ll be a happy man. Either way, you’ll find me over on Twitter @Lemmy7003, or you can email me at mgeorge7003@hotmail.com or cckaiju@gmail.com if you have any questions or requests. Thanks again for reading, and I’ll see you next time.