Mario Golf Super Rush was recently released on June 25, 2021, and has offered players the trademark over-the-top fun that fans have come to expect from a Mario sports game. Unfortunately, reviews for the game have been mixed, exemplified by its current 72 critic score and 6.1 user score on Metacritic. Criticisms of the game have varied, though one persistent issue has been a perceived lack of content for the game's hefty price tag.
Thankfully, Nintendo has promised that further content will be released down the line, including new courses and playable characters. Fans have already been discussing which characters they hope are implemented in the game, as many familiar faces have been left off of the game's roster.
10 Petey Piranha
Petey Piranha seems like a safe bet to appear as a DLC character, as the mutant has been playable in multiple sports games in the past, including Mario Strikers Charged and Mario Super Sluggers.
Petey Piranha made his first appearance as a boss in Super Mario Sunshine and has since appeared as a villain in numerous other releases such as Paper Mario: Sticker Star and New Super Mario Bros.
9 Shy Guy
Shy Guys are one of the many entries on this list that make an appearance in the game as background NPCs but aren't playable characters.
Like Petey Piranha, Shy Guys have been playable in numerous sports titles before, such as Mario Power Tennis and Mario Kart 8 Deluxe, so there's a very good chance that they'll be playable in the Super Rush at some point. Interestingly, Shy Guys didn't make their first appearance in a Mario game, but in Yume Kōjō: Doki Doki Panic, a non-Mario game that would later be released outside of Japan in an altered state as Super Mario Bros. 2.
8 Funky Kong
The Donkey Kong and Mario franchises have always gone hand in hand, with Mario making his first-ever gaming appearance in the Donkey Kong arcade game from 1981.
Unsurprisingly, Donkey Kong is playable in Mario Golf Super Rush, though his charismatic friend Funky Kong is yet to appear. Funky Kong has been a playable character in three Mario sports games thus far: Mario Kart Wii, Mario Kart Tour, and Mario Super Sluggers.
7 Goomba
Another set of characters that make an appearance in Mario Golf Super Rush as background NPCs are Goombas, the iconic gaming fodder who never seem to get a glimpse of the limelight.
Granted, Goombas aren't the most glamorous characters in the Mario franchise, though if Crash Team Racing Nitro-Fueled can make a Checkpoint Crate a playable character, then it only seems fair that Mario's long-running nemesis' get their moment to shine.
6 Hammer Bros.
Hammer Bros. seem like an obvious choice for Mario Golf Super Rush, as their signature hammers would make great impromptu golf clubs for a special move. The characters have appeared as enemies in tons of Mario games, with their first appearance being in the original Super Mario Bros.
Hammer Bros. have also been playable characters in previous sports games, including Mario Strikers Charged and Mario Super Sluggers. In both games, they use their hammers to strike the ball.
5 Link
As one of the few gaming heroes who has a brand value comparable to Mario's, Link seems like a perfect choice to include as a DLC character to tantalize players into investing further in the game.
Link made his first appearance as a playable character in a Mario game with Mario Kart 8 and Mario Kart 8 Deluxe, so the chances of him switching universes again don't seem too far-fetched.
4 Professor E. Gadd
One of golf's most appealing features is that it can be played professionally by people of almost all ages. Whereas footballers, MMA fighters, and basketball players all have to cram their careers into a couple of decades, golfers can have careers lasting half a century, and the sport is often enjoyed casually by those well over 60. Suffice to say, Mario Golf Super Rush may be the perfect game to introduce Professor E. Gadd, the scientist from Luigi's Mansion, into the world of Mario sports games.
3 Dry Bones
Dry Bones are a recurring enemy of the Mario series that first appeared in the game Super Mario Bros. 3.
The characters resemble Koopa Troopas but have a severe lack of skin or organs. Consequently, the enemies are easy to knock down but very difficult to kill as they can reattach themselves and come back swinging. The enemies have appeared as playable characters in numerous Mario Kart and Mario Party games in the past, so there's a good chance that the skeletal creatures will be playable in Mario Golf Super Rush sooner rather than later.
2 Baby Characters
The Mario baby characters seem to divide opinion amongst fans, with some people loving their designs while others see them as an easy way for Nintendo to expand roster numbers.
Although their collective place is divisive, it's fair to say that the leading character, Baby Mario, has earned his spot. The character first appeared in the highly regarded Super Mario World 2: Yoshi's Island and has remained a leading character in the Yoshi's Island series since.
1 Diddy Kong
It seems that Diddy Kong may be grounded in the Mario universe, as he doesn't join Donkey Kong as a playable character in Mario Golf Super Rush. In reality, Diddy Kong's exclusion from the game is presumably because Nintendo wanted to hold back a big-name character so that the upcoming DLCs aren't viewed as an afterthought.
Diddy Kong's first gaming appearance was in the critically acclaimed platformer Donkey Kong Country, while his first playable appearance in a Mario game was in Mario Golf: Toadstool Tour.