Minna No Golf 2 (Hot Shots 2)
Japanese Playstation Import
General FAQ, v2.0
August 19, 1999
Brian Youn
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** Revision History **
**********************
v2.0, August 19, 1999. Added a lot of info about the STATUS menu and the stat-tracking categories.
Also fixed most of the players names, as I found the English spellings in the HOMEPAGE menu (all
except for LEILA... which I should have soon... "HOKU" turned out to be HAWK!)
v1.1, August 15, 1999. Fixed small error about clubs and balls
(forgot the STRAIGHT ball!)
v1.0, August 14, 1999. First run, general info and menu translations. More to come...?
******************
** General Info **
******************
"Minna No Golf 2" is the sequel to the popular golf game that was released in the U.S. as "Hotshots
Golf." ["Minna No Golf" actually means "Everybody's Golf"] After playing this game non-stop for the
past week with my friends, I decided to put together a general information FAQ, specifically to
translate some of the menu options, etc. (Please not I am **not** a native speaker of Japanese, but
I do know enough to read the basic options)
The mechanics of the actual game are similar; however the gameplay is a bit smoother, especially
when controlling the distance bar when hitting. In Hotshots 1, there was a red "concentration" bar
under the "0" on the distance meter, which, if you hit dead center, would give you the most accurate
shot (likewise, if you missed to either side, the ball would go off in the respective direction).
In Minna no Golf 2, there is a smaller purple section within the red bar, and hitting anywhere in
the purple section gives you almost just as good a hit as if you were to hit in the dead center.
Hitting outside of the purple section, but still in the red section, gives you a slightly less
accurate hit, just like in Hotshots 1. This makes for driving shots **much** easier.
Putting is a bit more difficult, as there is no longer a grid on the green to help you calculate the
angle to putt at. There is only an arrow on the top right of the screen which points in the
direction of the slope, along with the indication of whether the green "SLICES" or "HOOKS". Putting
definitely takes a bit to get used to, but this is probably more realistic (since there are no grids
in real life ^_^).
There is still wind and rain, as well as snow. In some of the later holes in each course, the sky
will turn twilight to indicate that it is late in the evening. If you are playing with multiple
players, there are a lot more voices that you can use to distract the hitter with. (all four
buttons, as well as the four directions of the control pad... different sets of voices for tee
shots, green shots, and when the ball is in mid-air) About the wind: it seems that the wind in
Minna 2 has about 1/3rd the effect it had in the first game. For instance, the strongest wind I
ever saw in Hotshots 1 was about 20m, where in Minna 2 the strongest wind we've seen is 8m... which
was about the same strength as 20m in Hotshots 1.
There are 13 total golfers, 7 courses plus one "mini golf" course, which is a course full of Par
3's, each about 150 yards or so ("Minigolf" is not a putting course as it was in the first game).
There are also 5 sets of clubs and 6 sets of golf balls that you can use, which alter your stats in
different ways. You start with 3 golfers, and the rest are acquired by beating the CPU in VS mode,
much like Hot Shots 1. There are a couple of cool FMV's after the 10th and 13th opponents... after
getting all of the golfers, you get to play each opponent again, but they use special clubs and
balls and are **very, very** difficult. And like the rumors in HotShots 1, it is now possible to
hit birds and animals out of the trees!!! ^_^
This game is chock full of features, and is very very cool. I only hope Sony keeps all of the
bonuses intact if/when they bring it to the U.S.
If you are playing this game on a North American Playstation console with a mod-chip installed, you
will need to use a Pro-Action Replay or GameShark with the following code(s) to get past the
mod-chip lockout (which is being used on most of the new Japanese imports):
Apparently, the 2-line code works on GameShark v2.4, but if you are using a GameShark 1.99 (as I
am), you need to use the 4-line code. If you are using a GameShark Pro 3.1, you might be out of
luck. I tried using both codes on my Pro 3.1, and neither one worked right--the game would still
give me the lockout message. I contacted NCS (the internet import dealer) and they told me that I
might have luck entering the code **twice**, but that didn't work for me either. Strange that the
GS Pro doesn't work...
I have no further info about the lockout codes/devices than what I have written here, so if you have
any other questions about this, you might wanna contact NCS. Their email is somewhere on their
website, http://www.ncsx.com.
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** Menu translations/explanations **
************************************
After the opening FMV, you will be given two choices:
NEW GAME
CONTINUE
(Please note that generally, the O button will move you forward, and the X button will cancel/move
backwards.)
The game will not automatically load your save file, as in the first game, instead you have to
select CONTINUE and load your file. But you can keep more than one save file in Minna No Golf 2,
which is convenient if you're sharing the game with some friends... (like me ^_^)
If you select NEW GAME, you will be asked to input a name for the save file. You can choose
Hiragana, Katakana, and ABC's ^_^. The name can be up to 6 characters long BTW.
***************
** Main Menu **
***************
Afterwards you will be taken to the MAIN MENU, which reads as follows:
[each menu will be explained in their respective sections]
-MAIN MENU-
GAME
DATA HOMEPAGE
CONTINUE OPTIONS
***************
** Game Menu **
***************
Selecting GAME will take you to the GAME MENU, which reads as follows:
-GAME-
STROKE MATCH
TOUR VS
MINIGOLF TRAINING
STROKE is your basic stroke mode, lowest number of strokes wins. MATCH is scored by number of holes
won, regardless of stroke count. TOUR mode is new in Minna 2, and is where you unlock courses 3-7,
as well as other bonuses. VS mode is one player VS the computer, match play, to unlock the last 10
golfers. You must beat the computer golfer to gain access to that character. MINIGOLF is 18 holes
of short par 3's--NOT a putting range--and features a Great Wall of China backdrop in the distance
^_^. TRAINING is your basic practice mode, where you can practice on any hole of any course that
you have unlocked.
--Selecting a golfer--
First you need to select a golfer. You will have 3 golfers to choose from initially, the last 10
are won through VS mode. Their names are displayed in the bar across the top of the character info
box, along with an arrow in the top right to indicate whether the character hits straight, draw, or
fade. The names of all the characters are:
KUMI (The "Mary" of this game)
RYO (the "Taku" of this game... ^_^)
SUZUKI
HITOMI
TAKUYA
SILVIA
CHARLES
BEN
LEON (Tiger Woods, anybody? ^_^)
HAWK (A cowboy)
LEILA
COUGAR
VADER
Pressing SELECT will change the color of the player's outfit. There are initially three colors for
each character, but after you get all 13 characters, you will get to play them each again, this time
with special balls and clubs... after beating each character a second time around (which is very
difficult), you will win a special 4th color outfit for each player.
I won't give each player's stats, cuz that's part of the fun... ^_^ But just like Hotshots 1, there
are no "perfect" players. The four attributes for each character are (from top to botton):
POWER (Driving distance)
CONTROL (How well you hit if you "miss" the center of the impact bar)
IMPACT (Affects the size of the purple bar, which is within the red bar)
SPIN (degree of spin... with a "B" you can burn skidmarks on fire!)
Each stat is graded from "A" thru "E", "A" being the higher end, "E" being the lowest. Once you
have access to the special clubs and balls, it is possible to get an "S" rating on certain
attributes, which is the highest. Initially you only have STANDARD clubs and balls, but eventually
you will have 5 sets of each, plus a 6th set of balls:
STANDARD (Clubs and balls)
PINHOLE (Raises control, lowers impact)
TURBO SPIN (Raises spin, lowers power and impact)
BIG AIR (raises power, lowers control and impact)
BEGINNERS (clubs only; lowers power, but raises impact)
STRAIGHT (balls only; makes a fade/draw player hit straight, but lowers power)
COMICAL (balls only... these balls do weird things, is all I'll say...)
Pressing L1 and R1 change the clubs, L2 and R2 the balls. I apologize for not having any way of
typing out the Japanese equivalents for the clubs and balls...
--Tour Mode--
To unlock the different courses, clubs, and balls, you will have to play through Tour Mode and build
up points. [This is the ONLY mode of play where you earn points; you don't earn points by playing
against friends, like you do in Hotshots 1.] There are 5 tour classes: AMATEUR, SEMIPRO, PRO, TOUR
PRO, TOP PRO. In each class there are 4 seasons to play, 18 holes each. You are rewarded a certain
number of points depending on your finish in each season, and you need a certain number of TOUR
POINTS to advance to the next class. There is a second set of points, which are COURSE POINTS.
Reaching the set number of COURSE POINTS will unlock the next course after finishing the fourth
course of each class. If you don't reach the necessary number of TOUR POINTS, you need to redo the
class until you do... ^_^ And if you reach the number of points needed to advance in the first 3
courses, you can opt to skip the fourth (of you can skip the first and play the last three... and so
on) Winning a course will give you a trophy and a special bonus, such as a new set of clubs, balls,
HOMEPAGE specials (which are useless
--Saving the game--
Minna no Golf 2 can be saved in any of the major game modes (stroke, match, tour, and VS). All you
need to do is press select between holes on the screen where the score is displayed. DO NOT PRESS
CIRCLE on this screen if you want to save, or else you will have to wait until after the next hole.
If you push select, the dialog box will ask you if you want to save the game, so select YES (the
first choice). You will be taken to a different screen, just keep selecting YES. After saving, the
game will quit and you will be taken back to the MAIN MENU. To resume the game you just saved, just
select CONTINUE on the bottom left, and select the game to continue (you can select more than one).
***************
** Data Menu **
***************
The Data Menu looks like:
DATA
STATUS VTR
HISTORY PROFILE
VS HISTORY(?) SPECIAL(?)
The STATUS menu shows what class you are in, tour points earned/needed, and course points
earned/needed. It also shows the best overall score and driving/putting statistics from each course
(cool ^_^), as well as the best ranking in all of the tour mode contests, which courses you have
opened up and which characters you have access to.
--STATUS SUBSCREENS--
If you press the circle button in the status screen, you will be taken to your status data files...
while shows data compiled from all of your games played in tour mode and stroke mode. Pressing left
and right on the control pad will take you through 10 different data screens: TOUR RANKINGS, TOTAL,
COURSES 1 - 7, and SCORE TALLY.
TOUR RANKINGS shows your best finish in each of the 4 seasons of each of the 5 tour classes.
TOTAL gives a statistical breakdown of 9 categories, compiled over all of your STROKE and TOUR
games. The stats are:
-TOTAL GAMES
-BEST SCORE (-14 [58] for us)
-AVERAGE SCORE (-6.9 for us)
-AVERAGE PUTTS ON GREEN (1.33 here)
-"FAIRWAY KEEP" (? I'm pretty sure this is % of fairways hit... 84.8% for us)
-"PAR ON KEEP" (? I think % of greens hit on par... 71%)
-BEST DRIVE (longest drive... duh ^_^ 290.8, although I hit 322y in practice)
-BEST PUTT (longest putt ^_^ Ours is only 11.2m)
-"JUST IMPACT" (% of times you hit the exact center of impact bar... 37.7% for us)
For everything except TOTAL GAMES, you are given a numerical score and a letter grade... I'm not
sure how the numerical scores are scaled, but the highest grade we have is 70.5, which is an "A" and
our lowest is 51.6, which is a "C". You are also given a total overall score/grade, which appears
to be an average of all 8 categories... I guess this tells you how good of a golfer you are! (Just
for reference, we have a 61.2 rating, which is a "B"... but that also has data compiled for all my
friends that play this, and they're not as good as I am ^_^!)
The data screens for each of the seven courses give all of the same statistics as the TOTAL screen,
except for JUST IMPACT, and you don't get numerical ratings/letter grades for any of the categories,
nor do you get an OVERALL RATING/GRADE. But for each course, you get a breakdown of the average
number of strokes on *EACH HOLE* (!!!)
SCORE TALLY shows you the breakdown of each type of score (birdie, par, bogie, etc...), number of
times this each was accomplished, and the percentage breakdown:
HOLE-IN-ONE
ALBATROSS
EAGLE
BIRDIE
PAR
BOGIE
DOUBLE-BOGIE
+3 (TRIPLE BOGIE)
This is some really cool stat-tracking stuff... but unfortunately the stats are not kept for VS mode
matches... which makes up a majority of your games before you get all of the characters. Of course,
this is since the score is not really kept in VS mode.
--(back to the rest of the DATA menu... )
VTR is the Video Tape Recorder, which is like a highlight reel (just like in Hotshots 1). It will
record chip-in birdies and eagles, as well as hole-in-ones and albatrosses. We haven't actually
gotten an albatross yet, although we did get two of them on the first Hotshots...
HISTORY is a log of tour mode, showing tour level, points earned, and finishing rank in each season
of each tour played.
PROFILE shows information on each of the characters, including name, age, country of origin and
other information... which is all in Japanese ^_^.
VS HISTORY(?)... I put a question mark there because the word(s) after VS is written in Kanji, which
is like Greek to me. But this shows a history of your VS mode matches against the computer, who
played against whom, etc...
WINNINGS(?): This was written in Kanji as well, so I don't know if it actually says "WINNINGS", but
it shows you all the CLUBS&BALLS, ITEMS, and TROPHIES that you have won. The twelve special ITEMS
that can be won are:
-Soundtrack CD, which lets you do a soundtest of all the music, in the options menu.
-Two TV Cameras, which add special camera angles for replays...
-Three volumes of some kind of book... I think these might be the wallpaper backgrounds, but I'm not
too sure about this...
-Two Pocketstation minigames... don't know what these are, as I don't have a Pocketstation and I
can't really read the descriptions, but one of them is some sort of "Near Pin" game...
-"Arisu Mirror"... Alice mirror maybe? This lets you play in a mirror image course by holding the
select button when choosing your course.
-Two special caddy voices. One is an additional female voice, and the second is a "DJ" voice, which
is the only voice that speaks English. ^_^
-Pinch Hitter Tickets... These can be used in VS mode against the CPU, and will make the computer
control both your player and the CPU player. To use these, you must select the appropriate mode on
the screen where you select your course. (note: I've never watched the CPU play all 18 holes, so I
don't know how it works if your CPU player actually "wins"...)
*******************
** Homepage Menu **
*******************
The "Minna No Golf 2 OFFICIAL HOME PAGE" is a collection of information about the game, like a
homepage about the game, only you don't need to surf the web to reach it, it is actually in the
game. Really cool stuff, if only I could really read Japanese... This is where you download the
Pocketstation games. There is a lot of great stuff here, including wallpapers which show the
English name of each golfer. There is also info on each of the courses, where they were taken from,
etc.
Basically, if you can read Japanese, the HOMEPAGE teaches you how to play the game, acting as an
electronic instruction manual, with a **LOT** of cool bonus info.
*****************
** Option Menu **
*****************
Here is a list of the options in the option menu:
BGM (background music) ON/OFF
GALLERY ON/OFF
CADDY VOICE FEMALE/MALE/CRAZY MALE
OK PUTT ON/OFF
SHOT SKIP ON/OFF
MENU CHARACTER OFF/RANDOM/(choose a character)
MENU WALLPAPER RANDON/(choose a wallpaper)
*MUSIC MODE (select a song to listen to)
MEMORY CARD LOAD
MEMORY CARD SAVE
The BACKGROUND MUSIC is not nearly as annoying as in Hotshots 1. The music is actually pretty
decent, like some good RPG music... but most of the time I still turn it off and listen to the
radio... ^_^
I believe GALLERY is the option to turn off the audience that sometimes watches you play in tour
mode and VS mode (The crowd is pretty cool, they move out of your way when you aim your shot left
and right, turn around when you hit the ball to watch it fly by, and even carry umbrellas when it
rains ^_^).
There are two additional caddy voices that can be earned, which become the 4th and 5th choices.
OK PUTT is a new feature in Minna 2... when you are over par on a hole, and your putt misses, but is
within one meter of the hole (yes, close shots are measured in meters, not feet... although the
drives are still measured in yards... ???), the computer will automatically putt the ball in for
you, to save time. This is ONLY if you are above par on the hole. (ie, on a par 3, if your tee
shot gets to within one meter of the hole, you will have to putt it in yourself for the birdie.)
This feature doesn't seem to work in TOUR mode...
SHOT SKIP is another new option in Minna 2. If you push X while a shot is in midair, you can "skip"
the shot and just have the computer figure out where the shot would have landed, to save time.
MENU CHARA selects the character for your menu companion... Mary was the "companion" in all of the
menu screens for Hotshots 1, for reference. [The Japanese like to shorten certain long words/short
phrases into 2 or 3 syllables... ie, CHARA = CHARACTER, DRICON = DRIVE CONTEST, REMOCON = REMOTE
CONTROLLER... you get the picture]
MENU WALLPAPER is the background, and there are some really cool ones.
MUSIC MODE must be unlocked in tour mode. And memory card load/save... well, those don't need an
explanation, I hope.
********************
** Final comments **
********************
Whew, that's about it for now... I know I missed a few things here and there, but much of that is
because my Japanese is far from perfect. If anyone else out there has this game and can help me
with some of the stuff I missed, I would really appreciate it. If you have any other questions feel
free to email me. Also any comments and suggestions to make this FAQ more readable are more than
welcome.
This FAQ is copyright August 1999, by Brian Youn. All rights reserved, if you wish to use the FAQ
anywhere, I would prefer you notify me, and give me credit. Otherwise I don't mind this being used.
But don't sell it for money... and if you do, I want a cut of the share... ^_^ (Just kidding,
don't you dare sell it.)
