As more tidbits of news and character renders come out, Mario Golf: Super Rush creeps ever closer towards release. Nintendo may have struck gold with this golf-themed title, as it was considered the strongest showing at the Nintendo Direct that revealed it. Fans have been waiting for a new Mario Golf title since Mario Golf: World Tour on the Nintendo 3DS, and many more would claim to have been waiting since the GameCube’s Toadstool Tour or the GBA’s Advance Tour in 2003 and 2004. Mario is considered the premiere video game jack of all trades for a reason; even his sports spinoffs have huge fan followings.
Adding on to the hype are the new designs the cast is sporting. Thus far, every revealed playable character, save for Yoshi and Donkey Kong, have been seen sporting very fashionable new outfits. It’s all variations on typical golf wear, but with the cast’s signature colors and personalities on display, it’s hard not to admire their style. Miis are also replacing the traditional Mario Golf original characters, and will be featured prominently in the story mode. However, with all the talk of characters, there have been some odd reports and leaks regarding a couple. Namely, it seems like the classic boss character King Bob-omb will finally be playable in a console Mario game.
What Happened
On February 17th, 2021, a Nintendo Direct was held that included the reveal of the new Mario Golf game. After the presentation had concluded, Nintendo posted the trailer on its YouTube channel, opened pre-orders, and put some information up on the pre-order page on its website. This all seems like standard stuff so far, but the dirt is in the details. In the process of combing over the available information for the game, fans noticed something odd: there appeared to be a playable character referenced on Nintendo’s website who was not in any other marketing material. Specifically, that character was King Bob-omb from Super Mario 64.
This bizarre tidbit followed up a couple lines introducing Speed Golf, the new mode where up to four players can golf simultaneously. The mode takes elements from Mario Kart, as it is a race where players can use various special abilities to get ahead of other players. The original quote is as follows: "Luigi, for example, can freeze the green and King Bob-omb can pelt the course with bombs." A day after this was posted, Nintendo updated the page to say “Mario, for example, can blow other players' balls away,” instead. This seems to indicate that the often referenced but rarely important King Bob-omb will be joining Super Rush’s roster.
Why King Bob-omb's Inclusion Matters
This is a very notable occurrence, and from a certain point of view marks a first for the Mario franchise. King Bob-omb was memorably introduced in the 1996 classic Super Mario 64. He was a very easy boss, but was the first boss of the game and also the first challenge players were directed to face. He has appeared in the background of many games since then, but whenever Nintendo needed a Bob-omb character in the past, it either used a regular one or invented a new character. King Bob-omb, for all of the pomp and circumstance surrounding his debut into one of Nintendo’s most historic titles, had been mostly left by the wayside in future games.
However, in the recent couple of years, Nintendo suddenly decided to bring him into the fold to sit with the many other iconic bosses and enemies of the Mario franchise. King Bob-omb made his first playable debut in August 2020, as part of the mobile game Mario Kart Tour’s Pirate Tour event. This came as a shock to many Mario fans, as it marked the playable debut of the old explosive king. If Super Rush really will include King Bob-omb, then there’s a good chance that Nintendo has finally taken notice of this old character and added him to its growing roster of semi-regulars for Mario spin-offs.
What’s The Truth
It would be great to see King Bob-omb make his playable debut in Mario Golf: Super Rush, and evidence is pointing to the possibility. The original paragraph featuring his leak was taken down quickly, and it contained an example of Luigi using a power that was shown in the reveal trailer. The replacement paragraph featuring Mario seems to be oddly brief when compared to screenshots of the original version. Which makes sense when one considers that something had to be placed there so Nintendo could cover the leak fast. The power listed of King Bob-omb dropping several bombs on the course also fits with the variety of powers shown off so far.
There is the possibility that this leak was in reference to something other than a playable character. Mario Golf: Super Rush will feature a story mode that will no doubt feature NPC enemies and bosses like Mario sports titles in the past, and King Bob-omb could be one of those. With that being said, it seems a bit odd to feature a non-playable boss character alongside a playable one in a description meant to introduce potential buyers to the game mechanics. The likelihood of King Bob-omb being a playable golfer in Super Rush seems to be very high, though the likelihood of him sporting his own stylish golf clothes is tragically low.
It is nice to see Nintendo dipping back into its library of older characters, especially as it has become rather slow to introduce new ones in recent years. It would be great to see other Mario 64 icons appear in odd playable rolls such as Whomps and Thwomps. Even the penguins and the Chuckyas could finally make their own playable debuts, after so many and so few appearances throughout the franchise. Hopefully, King Bob-omb’s appearance in Mario Kart Tour and subsequent participation in Mario Golf: Super Rush is the beginning of a trend of old Mario characters finally becoming distinct player characters in the spin-off games.
Mario Golf: Super Rush will release on June 25, 2021, for the Nintendo Switch.