It has occurred to me more and more that I should talk about emulators. Long story short, Dolphin is the current most robust emulator for GameCube and Wii games, and Mario Golf: Toadstool Tour falls in that category. The most recent updates (from 4.0-5XXX onward) have turned MGTT into a very playable game with only a few minimal graphical goofups. As far as I can tell, aside from those and the inherently faster loadtimes, playing using an ISO is essentially identical.

EDIT: Dolphin is now legal for RTA speedruns of this game. See the most recent post. However, while I barely condone the use of emulators and especially downloaded ROMs or ISOs from dubious sources (legalities aside, that's your own decision to make), I can understand the value in using Dolphin.

Should you decide to use it, it should work very well as a research tool. It works best if you're the kind of person capable of deciphering code and writing scripts to help break the game down further. It is also great in that you can create save-states so that you don't have to retry so often if you miss the mark you're trying to hit. These could be especially useful in teasing out Ace strats, dunks, and other optimal speedrunning strategies. If you would prefer to use Dolphin for these purposes, I have no qualms. In fact, I have used Dolphin to capture HD screenshots for the icons in my splits (You can make wallpapers if you play around with the camera in Free Mode and hold Start during your shot).

TL;DR: DOLPHIN IS LEGAL! It is also very useful for research.

I WANT YOU! To enlist in the MGTT strat-finding tech-dissecting squadron!

In short, there are many things we still don't know about this game.

• It would be fantastic to have empirical data on how the game runs fastest. It could be pre-2004 GameCube, newer GameCube, white Wii console or other Wii console (not Mini since that has no GameCube support), but it's hard to know for sure.

• It would be excellent to figure out if using top-ball Impact Points is really faster than normal shots and what empirical effects Spin has on time.

• I would appreciate any support in searching for Ace strategies on the Par 3s. I define this as any repeatable strategy involving no change of aiming (though if you have a strategy involving a simple reference such as the gridlines, that will work but it'll cost some time), no wind (rain and no rain separately) and precise marks hit with 0% RNG that yields a Hole-in-One. We have these largely down for Mario at Lakitu Valley, and that's about it. Any other combination of character (un-Star for any% and Star Boo for Peach's Castle and Bowser Badlands) and hole is up in the air. Of course, there is no guarantee past Lakitu Valley that you'd be able to carry these strategies out because of Wind and other RNG, but it's always worth keeping an extra strat in your pocket. There is always the possibility of finding the exact correct club/power/impact combination to dunk the ball directly, but unless you know that strat exactly and there's no wind, it would not be worth the time investment.

If you have any questions or helpful information that enhances our understanding of the game, please leave a Reply! A sub-Hour run is potentially achievable if we can break this game down to its most nuanced elements, and that would be a huge milestone.

Hello, and welcome to the Forums for Mario Golf: Toadstool Tour on Speedrun.com

This thread is dedicated to discussing strategies and metagames used to take down the Tournaments from a New-Game file. This primarily describes "Any%", but it can also pertain to "Unlock Characters" to unlock Boo after 50 Badges and "100%".

Feel free to discuss such things as character selection (e.g. the merits of using DK or Bowser over Mario or vice versa), hole strategy (Ace strats for Lakitu Valley, quickest/safest ways to Birdie tough holes, etc), risk/reward theory, whether it's worth the time to attempt a Chip-In or dunk versus just shooting as quickly as possible, Give-Up spreads (skipping a hole after duffing the drive in exchange for triple Par, saving time but adding strokes), the potential time-save of shooting low with added Backspin (or not?), or anything else that comes to mind.

This game has become deeper than any of us have ever realized and we have yet to fully exploit everything to create what we would consider "optimal" runs. Not even close. I would appreciate any input to expand this thread as much as possible. Thanks for reading!

Hello, and welcome to the Forums for Mario Golf: Toadstool Tour on Speedrun.com!

This is the thread for discussing optimal strategies for speedrunning Ring Attack (especially 1-player Ring Attack, but multiplayer is open for discussion as well). This game mode is featured in the "Ring Attack", "Unlock Characters", "100% Ring Attack", and "100%" categories, and it can offer significant time-save if you can practice and execute effective strategies.

Please feel free to discuss and ask about anything from the easy to the difficult. Your input on holes such as "Donuts, No Ponds!", "Hunkering Bunkers", "Phunky Pharoah", "Dolphin Dreams", "Chain-Chomp Caution!", "Mushroom Doom", "Star Light, Star Bright", "Bowser Jr's Breath", and "This is a Volcano!" are especially welcome, as those can prove to be tricky to do quickly and consistently.

This video compiles my best strats in one "Theory Run", so hopefully it gets things started.

Hello, and welcome to the Forums for Mario Golf: Toadstool Tour on Speedrun.com

I am probably the most maniacally devoted player of this game on the planet and I want to share this passion with others. I have already crafted several guides on the strange art of speedrunning Mario Golf: Toadstool Tour, and I hope you have browsed some of these already. I know that some of these are still a work-in-progress and require some expansion with supporting videos.

Are there topics/techniques/metagames/etc. that you think should merit a guide? I'd be happy to answer questions in the most comprehensive matter possible. Also, if you have video to share on something interesting, I'd be happy to embed it for you.

Go, and learn! And most of all, have fun!

Welcome to the Mario Golf: Toadstool Tour forums on Speedrun.com

While I was watching a player who goes by "TheJackster1676" on Twitch, I noticed that he was playing the PAL version of the game which felt noticeably slower. It felt like he was playing better than what his final time would suggest, as there were several impressive chip-ins scattered throughout that potentially saved 30+ seconds over a typical any% speedrun.

I have done some research about European GameCubes, Wiis, and Mario Golf: Toadstool Tour. What I am finding is that there isn't an in-game/system way to force 60Hz speeds while playing MGTT on a PAL system. When I asked TheJackster1676 why MGTT felt slower and Double-Dash (another game he plays) felt normal, it was because Double-Dash supports 60Hz PAL, but Toadstool Tour doesn't. This is a shame.

I have a dilemma. I am noticing that Europeans are interested in the game in addition to the typical American and Japanese audience based on viewer commentaries on YouTube and Twitch. However, their version of the game is slower by default. I know some gamers get around this by playing the NTSC versions (DeathBasket is a UK player who uses NTSC and/or NTSC-J games). But not everyone does. How should we as a community support these players?

Should I create a separate column for PAL times? Is there a conversion ratio (60:50?) that is applicable to convert times in this situation? Or would it be necessary to only solely accept times from NTSC versions of the game? I am not familiar with speedrunning conventions and have no precedent to go on.

Another point to consider is that the PAL version of the game came out significantly later and looks and feels different to the previous NTSC version, especially in regards to the camera. I don't know if this affects speedrunning, so I would like to see discussion in this matter as well (Yet another tidbit: If a 100% speedrun is performed on the PAL version, another dialog would appear at the end of the Star Bowser Championship indicating the unlock of the Ace CPU difficulty).

TL;DR: MGTT in PAL form is slower. What should we do about it?