Here's a fun fact for everyone: if you press A+B+sel+start simultaneously while playing, your saved game is erased.
This is especially fun if, like me, you discover it _after_ you've already collected about a dozen stars. Oh, Nintendo/Fuse. You sure got me!
Of lesser note, pressing B at the title screen cycles through high scores, best times, then the auto-game demo, respectively.
Anyways, as for the game itself it's no worse than Mario Golf. Adding the Mario franchise and elements thereof to an otherwise boring and worthless genre injects it with some actual entertainment value. Perhaps not worth buying unless you already own every other worthwhile game to the GBA, but it's still not half as bad as everyone is making it out to be.