Hot Shots Golf (series)

Hot Shots Golf
European series logo
Genres	Sports
Developers	Camelot Software Planning (1997–98) Clap Hanz (1999–)
Publishers	Sony Computer Entertainment
Platforms	PlayStation, PlayStation 2, PlayStation Portable, PlayStation 3, PlayStation Vita, PlayStation 4
First release	Hot Shots Golf 17 July 1997
Latest release	Hot Shots Golf: World Invitational 17 December 2011

Hot Shots Golf, known outside North America as Everybody's Golf (Japanese: みんなのGOLF, Hepburn: Minna no Golf^?), is a series of golf games published by Sony throughout the history of the PlayStation series of video game consoles. The series is well known for its humorous look on the game of golf (including cartoon-like caricatures) and guest characters from other games, along with modes such as miniature golf and its ability to maintain a realistic engine with precise control in tandem with the unrealistic design. The series is popular with both golf fans and non-fans alike.

There are a variety of modes including Tournament, Training, Stroke Play, Match Play, and a Miniature Golf course. The game featured several characters; those not available from the start had to be unlocked for play by defeating them. A player could earn experience points for his character for winning tournaments and hitting a variety of shots. These points were used to open new courses. The game featured six different courses and a free moving game camera.

While the game is very similar to the original, it does bring slight improvements. Like the game's 1997 release, there are several characters to choose from, and many more to be unlocked throughout the game. Each character has his or her own strengths and weaknesses, making character selection more than just choosing a skin. The character models themselves are more realistic looking as opposed to the big-headed anime style of the original.

Again, there are several different modes of play, from standards like Stroke, Match, and Tournament play, to the versus, through which new characters can be unlocked. Gameplay itself is a version of the standard '3 click' variety used by the majority of golf games.