Hot Shots Golf

Known as Everybody's Golf in Europe and Japan, this arcade-style golf series has been around since 1997, and recently has become a popular title on the PSP. In contrast to the realistic PGA Golf series from Electronic Arts, this ClapHanz creation is known for its cartoony characters and pick-up-and-play gameplay, with a wildly varying art style.


 * Art Evolution: The first two games were released for the PlayStation, so technical restraints prohibited full 3D models from being used. Instead, the character models were made à la Donkey Kong Country, giving them a 3D-ish, spritey look. The first game was more anime styled, but the players were obviously adults. Interestingly, the second game was more influenced by Western Animation (just look at Mel) in the West, with had a more varied cast, but retained the anime-styled characters from the first game in Japan. The third and fourth games were released on the PS2, and kept the Western style while benefitting from the more powerful technology. However, when the series hit the PSP with Open Tee!, an Animesque style took over and all the characters turned into children.
 * Guest Golfer: The second game featured Gex, Sweet Tooth and Sir Daniel Fortesque.
 * Market-Based Title: "Hot Shots Golf" in the US, "Everybody's Golf" in Japan and Europe.