Fuji Golf
By Joe Rojas April 11, 2021
Dustin was my next-door neighbor growing up. We used to watch Power Rangers together and set up elaborate GI-Joe battlescapes in his back yard. Hanging out at Dustin's was a highlight of my week because, in addition to little-kid stuff, we also played games on his computer or NES (growing up, we didn't have much money so video games at home came much later). One of those games was the best golf game ever made, ever: Fuji Golf. I don't remember why it clicked for me at that age, but it's the only game I wanted to play when I was at his house. Sure Space Cadet Windows Pinball was fun and the sound effects were - at the time- hyper-realistic but I was there for the golf. On its surface, Fuji Golf is just a mouse-click golf game and has none of the bells and whistles of a modern golf game. The player is a tanned fellow nicely dressed for a day of being a dad or a quick round of golf:
Zen isn't a word I would use to describe most video games, any really, but when I'm deciding if a game elicits that quality, I think back to my time with Fuji Golf and compare; it will always be the prototypical example of good-vibes-only. The game was designed by Chiki Nagai for the Microsoft Entertainment Pack in 1991; the Entertainment Pack included hits like minesweeper, chess, checkers, etc... The game is beautiful in its minimalism and careful selection of colors. Contrast is key to show depth and perspective. The horizon in the game often reminds me of Pilot Wings for SNES, an ombre patch of sky-box that keeps the player at an infinite distance. Fuji Golf taught me the rules of golf and to its credit, it incorporated a healthy dose of dry humor in the process. I recently played a round (the game is hard to find in its original format, but I found a playable version here.) and didn't do great. I received the following comments after completing a few holes:
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As you can see, my aptitude for this game has tanked, but I did get better. During my umpteenth playthrough the birds started to sing:
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Sweet improvement, indeed. I wonder what my high scores were when I originally moused through it. The modern version of me going over to Dustin's house to play this game is me sitting at my desk, sipping a whiskey, and trying to outsmart the wind. Whoops! I've accidentally created a Fuji Golf bookmark in Chrome. Oh well, back to the clubhouse!
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