Everything Old is New in Super Video Golf
G O L F A N D C H I L L
I remember playing hours and hours of Bandai Golf: Challenge Pebble Beach for the Nintendo Entertainment System. Most of the game was probably a little bit much for my little 8 year old brain to handle, but the classic “3-button swing” system was simple and addicting.
HotShots Golf for the PlayStation and Outlaw Golf for Playstation 2 were my favorites for golf games. I know that I have at least consecutive years of Tiger Woods PGA Tour for PS2 in storage. The EA Sports PGA Tour games are classics on their own, but I think they will be remembered for breaking away from the classic button/timing based swing systems and using an analog joystick “flick-stick” style. It was basically the home version analog to the arcade Golden Tee Series… which I never got into for fear of injuring myself trying to get that perfect power shot. The Tiger Woods games had the BEST soundtracks, though. Surely, it was late 90s/early 2000s top 40s and pop stuff, but they don’t make them like they used to.
If I were to take off the rose tinted glasses we’d find that all of the EA games of that era had the same music. Burnout 2, 3, & Takedown, SSX 3, Tiger Woods Golf, Need for Speed (the early Criterion ones) all had the same “angsty teenager friendly” setlists.
Anyway, tldr - I’m a big fan of video game golf.
Overview-
Super Video Golf, from Trederia Games, pays homage to video game golf from days past while also elevating the genre above and beyond today’s average $60+ “AAA” golf games (which I think is only PGA Tour, but still). Super Video Golf fully embraces that old school retro golf game goodness.
I am still very early in my SVG career, but it has hit me right in the nostalgia feels and has my full attention. I have only scratched the surface of what Super Video Golf has to offer, but it already has Steam Workshop support and a fully featured character creator. You can also put hats on your character, so…. already a 10/10.
Presentation-
Super Video Golf has graphics. It goes for that low-poly, chunky pixel model, PS1 style. It pulls it off pretty well, while having it’s own distinct style. There are a ton of video filters which can give it an early Voodoo engine, CRT, Pentium II type vibe as well. You can play this on an ultrawide 4K monitor, but it is right at home at 640x480 on a Trinitron, or even portably on your 7” SteamDeck screen.
Audio-
The sound in Super Video Golf is “appropriately crunchy.” When you get the timing right you’ll get a Hot Shots Golf-style announcer excitedly commenting on your skills. “Great Shot!,” but it comes through in that ultra compressed Super Nintendo/Sega Genesis voice that has that perfectly satisfying lo-fi crunch to it. While not licensed top 40s, the background music soundtrack is sublime. I am a sucker for chillhop, lofi vibes and that is everything that SVG gives. The menu music bops around with a punchy beat straight out of an old pc adventure game. The music out on the links is full on chill 80s elevator music on a midi machine. Very SimCity 2000. My musical taste is pretty eclectic, so I may be biased on the topic of “is the music good or not?” I love it, but I can definitely see some players turning it off and subbing their own background in. Honestly, I may do that myself from time to time. I did pick this up during the Steam Couch Co-Op Sale, but if I had known the soundtrack was less than $2 I would’ve bought the game + soundtrack combo.
As I stated, I’m still pretty early on in the game but the gameplay is easy to understand and pickup. I knocked out a few rounds in freeplay and got a few in on the career as well. Easy club selector, classic 3-button swing mechanic, and super generous putting minigame; not much more I would ask for. There’s an XP system and a daily log-in counter too, so I’m interested to see how those work and what kind of unlocks are on the horizon. Super Video Golf is in a full 1.0 release state but the developer, Trederia Games, is committed to the community and posting updates regularly (they’re super cool on bluesky too). Update patches have been added every few weeks along with posts on the steam page outlining the changes.
Issues-
I found the menu to be a little too simple, if that makes sense. There are a ton of features that are buried or not explained super well. It has multiplayer but I couldn’t figure out how to play it. Maybe it’s just a jump-in/jump-out, rolling style multiplayer setup, but the menu doesn’t really make it clear. Or, it’s so clear I just didn’t understand it. However, the leaderboard system is a rolling style setup and that’s about all I can understand about it. I think it’s monthly seasons, but I am still confused by the full page explanation of how it all works. Surely, these are things that will get updated in the next few weeks/months so it’s not a big deal. I only like to chase leaderboards in extremely short intervals anyway.
Can it run Linux-
Technically speaking, the game runs flawlessly for me on Linux. Super Video Golf is SteamDeck Verified as well. I’m running Nobara 41 with an AMD RX 6600 and Intel i5-9600K and have had no problems.
I look forward to recording and streaming more gameplay in the near future! I will likely stream it on YouTube at a much higher bitrate to try and capture more of the game’s details. I feel like my first video on it rendered VERY washed out, pixelated, and doesn’t do it proper justice.
If you like video game golf or have a soft spot for retro vibes I would certainly recommend giving Super Video Golf a look.