Mario Golf: Toadstool Tour  Mario Golf: Toadstool Tour, known in Japan as , is a 2003 sports game developed by Camelot Software Planning and published by Nintendo for the Nintendo GameCube. It is the sequel to the 1999 Nintendo 64 title "Mario Golf", and is the second game in the "Mario Golf" series. It was released in North America on July 28, 2003, in Japan on September 5, 2003, and in PAL regions in 2004. "Toadstool Tour" is a golf game featuring characters and elements from the "Mario" series. There are 16 playable characters in total, each with a set of golfing statistics defining their style of play. The game's main mode involves the player competing in tournaments to obtain new features, although there are alternative modes consisting of a training session and variations to the golf format. This includes "Ring Attack", requiring the player to hit the ball through  rings of varying sizes while remaining on or under par. Players can transfer characters between "Mario Golf: Toadstool Tour" and "" using the Nintendo GameCube Game Boy Advance Cable. "Toadstool Tour" was met with positive reception. In general, reviewers praised the game's visuals, sound, and variety of courses, although a perceived lack of advancement from its predecessor was criticised. The game became part of the Player's Choice label in 2004. "Toadstool Tour" is a golf game incorporating characters, enemies and themes from the "Mario series". As a typical golf game, the player's objective is to hit the ball into the hole using as few strokes as possible. Prior to the swing, the player chooses a club, a general direction and range for the ball to travel. During the swing, the player determines power by timing a button press for a marker to stop at the desired point on a power meter. At this point, the player can choose to influence the direction of the ball by applying spin. Players can alternate between auto and manual shots, with the latter providing the player with more control, albeit at a higher risk of a poor shot. Many of these gameplay aspects, such as spin, are affected by the individual statistics of each character. These relate to features such as control of the ball and the general height of the character's shot, which determines how much the character's play is affected by the wind. At varying stages in the "Character match" mode, characters have a chance to be upgraded into "Star characters", which grants statistical enhancements. To achieve this, the player must defeat a computer-designated artificial intelligence (AI) opponent with a character of their choice, awarding the AI character with the upgrade for use later by the player.