1992 · Irem · Sports

Major Title

Nintendo console exclusive

A golf game that features single player, two-player and four-player options with tournament or stroke play.

Released: 4 December 1992
Platforms: Arcade SNES
Genres: Sports
Developers: Irem
Publishers: —
Modes: Multiplayer Single-player
Country: Japan

About

Major Title is a 1990 golf video game developed and published by Irem for arcades. A version of the game for the Super Nintendo Entertainment System and an arcade sequel, Major Title 2: Tournament Leader, were released in 1992. The SNES game and the arcade sequel were released in the United States as The Irem Skins Game.

The programmers of this game left Irem to found their own company named Nazca. The first game released by Nazca was Neo Turf Masters for Neo Geo in 1996; the game is very similar to Major Title 2.

Keywords

golf

The articlegameplay, story, development, reception

Gameplay

Major Title is an arcade-style golf simulation. The game is presented in a mixed perspective. The pre-shot perspective is a standard third-person view from just behind the golfer, but once the ball is hit, the view switches to a top-down perspective to track the ball in flight. The game takes a simplified approach to hitting the ball.

Instead of setting the power and controlling the shot, the only function of the vertically oriented swing meter is to choose the vertical angle of the shot, which, in turn, sets the amount of backspin/topspin applied to the ball. The strength of each swing is selected prior to the shot by setting a power gauge to one of 16 levels. Draw and fade can be applied to the ball by changing the players stance. The game specifies the maximum distance for the putter in yards, but measures distance on the greens in meters.

Reception

In Japan, Game Machine listed Major Title as the ninth most successful table arcade unit of April 1990. In the July 1990 issue of Japanese publication Micom BASIC Magazine, the game was ranked on the number sixteen spot in terms of popularity. The arcade original has been met with positive reception from reviewers since its initial release.