The Nintendo Switch is home to some pretty incredible collection of smaller indie titles. We’ve seen quite a few hidden gems over the years on the Nintendo Switch and even some titles for genres that rather niche these days. One of those genres is golf games and while there are a few staple franchises players might already know about, there’s a good range of party games and miniature golf titles that might be just as fun for non-golfers. With that said, the one title we really wouldn’t mind putting on here is the upcoming Mario Golf: Super Rush, but since that game is not out yet at the time of writing this description, here are some of the other golf games that are worth the purchase.

#7 Infinite Minigolf

While the Nintendo Switch is home to some great arcade and non-traditional golf games, PGA Tour 2K21 is the rare simulation on the hybrid console. I’ve been a series fan since PGA Tour 96 (on 3DO), even if my golf experiences on the last few Nintendo systems have been via Wii Sports or with Mario teeing off. About Press Copyright Contact us Creators Advertise Developers Terms Privacy Policy & Safety How YouTube works Test new features Press Copyright Contact us Creators.

Infinite Minigolf takes players through a variety of different arcade putt-putt courses. Players will control an avatar and attempt to complete the wacky and colorful courses which may be perfect for a wide audience both young and old. Meanwhile, the courses themselves are themed around a giant house with cardboard-style ramps, a Halloween style town, to a Christmas-themed world. While on the subject of the courses, scattered around them are a few power-ups for players to trigger such as rockets to speed up your ball. Players can even create their own unique courses for others to enjoy online.

#6 House of Golf

House of Golf is another simplistic miniature golf game where there’s not much to it. There’s no avatar or clubs, but you will be controlling the ball itself. Overall, both analog sticks control the camera and your aim for the ball while a single button press will determine how much power you’ll have when hitting the ball. Meanwhile, the level design is based around different parts of a home so you could find courses based around the garage with different work tables and tools. With that said, there are other rooms as well to go through courses such as the bedroom, lounge, and kitchen. Unfortunately, there is no online multiplayer here but you can still enjoy the game locally if you wish to challenge a friend.

Nintendo Switch Golf Story

#5 Super Inefficient Golf

Super Inefficient Golf is a unique style arcade game. Players ditch the clubs and the avatars and instead go through a tough miniature putt-putt game. Here players are controlling the ball, but rather than hitting the ball you’re going to be using an assortment of bombs. With these wacky courses full of curves, giant fans, and multiple tier landings, players are forced to figure out how to take their ball to the hole by using nothing but bombs. That’s right, players are strapping an assortment of bombs on the ball which can be triggered at any time during the course. You can strap several bombs to shoot it forward, set a bomb off to make it jump into the air, and continue activating bombs to navigate it towards your destination.

Nintendo Switch Golf Controller

#4 Golf With Your Friends

Golf With You Friends puts players into an arcade-style miniature golf game and come on, who hasn’t played a bit of putt-putt back in the day? Players will be controlling just the ball itself which can be altered to feature different cosmetics such as colors, patterns, or clothing to give it a bit of character. The same visual characteristics are brought to the actual set of levels as there are courses based around themes whether it’s set up to be a desert or located on a high-tech space station.

For those of you worried about the control system, there’s not much here to keep younger players away as it’s as simple as pointing the ball into the direction you would like to hit it from and then deciding how much power you’ll need to get around certain obstacles. There’s a wide range of style courses too such as loops, ramps, and hills so powering your way through each course won’t be the answer here. Instead, you’ll need to think strategically a bit on how to sink your ball into the hole without going out of bounds or taking as many hits as the opposing players. As the title suggests, this game is available for multiple players with the ability to go through a game with up to twelve players total online.

#3 Party Golf

Party Golf throws players into a 2D party-style video game. Here players are going through procedurally generated levels to get their ball into the hole before time runs out. As a result, the game is fast-paced and a chaotic blast. This is a simple game to pick up and play as well with players mainly just aiming their ball hit direction and adjusting the power needed to successfully get the ball into the hole.

Throughout the game, a leaderboard will show just who has ranked the most amount of points throughout the session intending to be the first player to receive 500 points. There’s also a pretty wide range of different game modes that can alter the mechanics and styles of maps so the gameplay can stay a bit fresh.

#2 Golf Story

Golf Story is going to be one of the more unique games on this list as it’s a bit of an RPG title. Players follow a story in which our protagonist seeks out to rediscover his love of golf by participating in a professional tournament. Now players are golfing against the best, meanwhile, each level you enter comes with additional side quests and secrets for players to uncover.

Since this is an RPG title, as you gain experience throughout the game, you’ll be able to upgrade different aspects of your character such as their skills, power, and accuracy. Gameplay mechanics for the actual golf phases during the title is based around a timing system where you’ll mash a button to set up different aspects of your shot such as accuracy and power.

#1 PGA Tour 2K21

PGA Tour 2K21 was known prior as The Golf Club franchise but it’s since going through a rebrand that granted the title to be included under the 2K Sports banner. This is a simulator-style video game with the title taking players through a variety of different courses around North America and facing off against several iconic PGA professional golfers. Mechanics are easy to get a grip on but those that are newcomers in general for this series will find that there is a ton of different helpful guides and tips that can be displayed on your screen.

These can give players some benefits in several areas to the course and hits but if you would like more of a challenge or simply lose the different indicators cluttering the screen, then you can turn off specific tips within the settings menu. While the main game is all about completing certain tournaments, there’s plenty, of course, challenges as well for players to make use of as well. This all will help give you a bit more money and experience in-game which can be used to unlock more cosmetics and gear for your character. I can’t forget to mention that there is a course creator option as well which will give players the ability to craft up their unique courses for others to enjoy online.

On Saturday, the world may have gotten its first look at an NES game officially running on a Nintendo Switch. You might think the weird thing about this news is how long it has taken for Virtual Console support to come to the Switch. But this isn't a Virtual Console story.

Turns out, this is somehow weirder. Your Nintendo Switch may already have a fully playable NES game just sitting inside of it.

The news has emerged from SwitchBrew.org, a depository of hacking and file-system analysis for Nintendo's latest console. After a major dump of 'title' names from the system's file system in July, users there discovered a 'title' in the system named 'flog.' The site's original stub about flog alleged that this title contained a fully fledged NES emulator, but it said nothing else.

Saturday's SwitchBrew update centers entirely around this mysterious flog entry, and it insists that this is an emulator wrapped around a single NES video game: the NES version of Golf first launched in 1984. ('Flog? That's 'golf' backwards!') According to poster 'yellows8' (who previously created his own Github depository full of 3DS system exploits), this copy of NES Golf is just sitting on every Nintendo Switch console in the world, and it's been designed specifically for Switch compatibility. Possible screenshots of the emulator in action, shown above, even demonstrate Joy-Con golfing motion controls.

This is particularly wild, as no emulated NES game, even during the waggle-heavy Wii era, has ever officially supported modern control updates like motion or touch-screen controls. Nintendo says that its upcoming online service will add online support for classic NES games, but it hasn't announced motion-control upgrades or other gameplay additions to classics.

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Yellows8 claims the emulator-wrapped game is installed on Switch systems dating back to the system's original 1.0 firmware. The user also writes that 'it's unknown what exactly triggers launching this title.' Could there be a button combo, Joy-Con motion command, or even Amiibo-driven unlock required? Or is this just a hidden proof-of-concept of Virtual Console fare soon to officially launch? And how exactly did yellows8 get these screenshots if the user couldn't load the hidden Switch game manually?

There's certainly the possibility that this is a prank or a fake, but that'd be quite the long con, based on the user's post and activity history at SwitchBrew and other Nintendo-hacking depositories. Should this news be true, it'd be a rare example of a traditional console having games hidden within its operating system. Android, on the other hand, has snuck hidden, unlockable games into its OS. Microsoft Excel has them both soundly beat in terms of an early and weird example.

Update, 7:55 p.m. ET: In responding to Ars Technica's questions, the researcher yellows8 claims to have personally tested the version of Golf found pre-loaded on Nintendo Switch. Yellows8 did not confirm exactly how the game was accessed, other than to describe the access as 'unofficial'—meaning, the game was accessed in a way that an average system user might not be able to replicate. (Whether 'unofficial' access means root system access, a hardware or software hack, or another exploit remains unknown.) Yellows8 also confirmed having played the game using both traditional Joy-Con buttons and motion control.

A Nintendo representative was unable to offer an official company response as of press time. (Instead, the rep offered a 'ha!')

Further Update, Sept. 19, 9 a.m. ET: Twitter user Pixelpar has posted a video purporting to show Golf running on the Switch. Pixelpar followed up to say he's 'looking into what triggers it now,' which is certainly an odd thing to say for someone who supposedly already triggered it himself. Supposed unlocking methods posted by hackers are maddeninglyvague at the moment.