Captured on Nintendo Switch (Docked)
Fans of Everybody’s Golf have had to twiddle their one-gloved thumbs for a while now, waiting since 2017 for a new official entry in the series. Mashing together the series’ previously regionally distinct names (Everybody’s Golf and Hot Shots Golf), Everybody’s Golf Hot Shots has finally stepped up to the tee. Have series newcomers Hyde (Tamagotchi Plaza) hit a hole in one, or is this more like a triple bogey? Well, a bit of both really.
For almost all of its history, Everybody’s Golf was developed by Clap Hanz and published by Sony. Hyde is in the driving seat now, with Bandai Namco on the publishing side, unlocking the series from PlayStation for the first time. However, they’re clearly working from the same playbook, keeping what works best in the series while adding some novel ideas of their own.
The Everybody’s Golf series combines deceptively detailed physics and subtle controls with cartoonish characters. It absolutely works as a pick-up-and-play party game, but equally rewards deeper engagement. The basic controls involve facing where you want the ball to go, then pressing ‘A’ three times to set power and accuracy.
Captured on Nintendo Switch (Handheld/Undocked)
That works well for a breezy round of golf, but once you start getting into the intricacies of spin, accounting for the wind, and working with the slopes of the course — and, as your stats develop, exploiting silly shortcuts like using the fairways of other holes, skipping across water, or bouncing along paths — the skill ceiling leaves lots of space to have fun.
Everybody’s Golf Hot Shots follows this formula with gusto. There are more than 25 characters to unlock, and 10 regions on the World Tour. You can now choose a caddy to accompany you on the course – this gives a face to the previously disembodied voices offering encouraging comments after teeing off, putting advice on the green, or squeaks of dismay when you fluff a shot.
The core game mode is Challenge, which sets up short tournaments or versus matches, and winning them levels up and unlocks more courses. World Tour, meanwhile, is a bizarrely story-led setup. Fairly tedious cutscenes present odd tales — a girl seeking stardom, a hostile takeover of a golf theme park — somehow circuitously resulting in the repeated need to play golf. It seems the devs know what they’ve done here, as the option to turn off all cutscenes is front and centre. Online play makes a return, although no games were available while testing.
Captured on Nintendo Switch (Handheld/Undocked)
The biggest addition is Wacky Golf, which lets you play with obstacles scattered around the course, play a game stealing your opponents’ clubs, or have a round of “boom golf” where your ball may spontaneously explode after any shot, sending it flying in a random direction. These were fun for a bit of multiplayer, but ultimately throwaway. When it comes down to it, the core of the game is well balanced – these quirky ideas only interfere.
For those looking to get deep into the game, a loyalty system lets you develop individual characters by playing as them, unlocking special skills and abilities. You can purchase food, which boosts stats like power or spin, and can be shared across characters, letting you spread progress instead of getting stuck with one overlevelled main. Essentially, you can fatten up one character by feeding them on the winnings of another.
Now, all of this so far would suggest that we have a solid Everybody’s Golf on our hands, and series fans will be all smiles. Here comes the big ‘but’, and it’s all about performance on Switch. This is a game all about pressing a button at just the right time, and for that you need fluid visual feedback. I felt a lack of smoothness made accuracy suffer. I went back to my PS TV to compare with the 2011 entry in the series and definitely found that to be smoother.
Captured on Nintendo Switch (Handheld/Undocked)
What’s worse is that using special skills — decorated as they are by fancy graphical effects — dropped the frame rate even further. Those special shots are supposed to get you out of difficult situations, but they’re too risky to be usable on Switch. I tried out Switch 2 and things were noticeably better. However, the overall frame rate was not improved. I got used to it, but the game deserves better.
Even with these performance limitations, trees look simplistic, there’s heavy level-of-detail pop-in, and grass textures are flat. The lighting and colours are nice, with night golf now an option, but I would take just about any visual cut to get smoother performance. One footnote here is that Bandai Namco revealed some of the foliage textures were produced using generative AI. Looking at the results, it’s hard to imagine that any added efficiency was worth the loss of cred from using the controversial technology.
The soundscape of the game is chaotic. The swings and strikes and the tuneful rattle of the ball into the cup are all delightful, while the music is like a corny jingle from a Tokyo convenience store. Over the top of everything, your multiple caddies and players make extremely caricatured remarks – often all at the same time. There’s no way on Earth that Hyde didn’t realise how bonkers it all sounds, so you have to take it as a stylistic choice – one that strangely grew on me, I must admit.
Conclusion
Everybody’s Golf Hot Shots carries on the series traditions with solid courses, a robust character levelling system, and the appropriate level of silliness. However, the experience is uneven on Switch. Fans may enjoy it in short bursts, but technical issues and patchy presentation stop it from being the standout entry it could have been.