Masters ’98: Harukanaru Augusta

Masters ‘98: Harukanaru Augusta was licensed by Augusta National Golf Club and released only in Japan in 1997. It is a continuation of T&E Soft golf series and was followed by the release of Waialae Country Club: True Golf Classics in 1998.

The player uses the Augusta National Golf Club course, in one of five play modes; Training, Stroke Play, Match Play, Tournament, and Masters Tournament. Each hole has an opening fly over with descriptive text in Japanese, and includes audio spoken commentary of play spoken in Japanese by TBS announcer Matsushita Kenji, while score card and the main screen of play are in English. The playable characters are video animated similar to the Mortal Kombat type animation of actual people, of which the Japanese professional golfer Nobumitsu Yuhara is one of the video captured players. Crowds among the fields, lens flares as the camera angle angles skyward, and even the Club house and various landmarks are also visible along the course. The player is also able at any time to go to the options menu, and select the “Cart Cam” view for the current hole, allowing the entire hole to be viewed from ground or the air.