Nintendo's Switch Sports Resort Is More Than a Sports Game

Nintendo's new sports game for the Switch 2 has a new trick: you can leave the court and wander. Nintendo Switch Sports Resort went on sale on October 22, and it takes place on Wuhu Island, a tropical resort. According to Engadget, this is the first time in the series that players can roam the area around the sports and visit places of interest. The game runs only on the Switch 2, and Engadget lists a pre-order price of $50.

Twelve sports, three ways to relax

Nintendo's own announcement counts twelve sports. Nine are classic competitions: boxing, table tennis, archery, tennis, volleyball, bowling, basketball, golf and thumb wrestling. The other three are leisure activities: skateboarding, power cruising and flying a propeller plane. A jump rope game serves as a warm-up. You can play alone or team up with friends and family, though Nintendo warns that some multiplayer setups need extra controllers or games sold separately.

You play with the Joy-Con 2, the Switch 2's detachable controllers. They contain motion sensors, so the controller becomes a racket, a bow or a set of handlebars. Skateboarding uses another trick, sliding the controller across a surface like a computer mouse.

The island

Sam Rutherford of Engadget played the game before launch. He found Wuhu surprisingly large. After more than fifteen minutes of exploring he had not reached the end, and he came across hidden paths, hard-to-find markers and small challenges. Far away he spotted a second island that seemed to have its own town. Sightseeing works at different times of day, from morning to night.

Collecting points unlocks cosmetic items, and collecting photos unlocks new starting spots for exploring. Rutherford admits that an open island sounds better suited to an adventure game. He still found wandering around "weirdly relaxing" and says it makes the game feel more like a full game than its predecessors. He would like Nintendo to add real races for the plane, skateboard and power cruiser, such as time trials with rings to fly through or downhill courses. As it stands, he says, the sightseeing is less polished than the sports.

How the sports play

A review from the public radio station WBUR, with no author named, is much more enthusiastic about the sports themselves. It calls the game the best motion-controlled title on the Switch 2 and says it is the most fun you can have waving a controller, short of one WarioWare game. The reviewer says it works well both in ranked online matches and when friends sit in the same room, and that most modes make sense even to people who rarely play games.

The details explain why. Pulling one Joy-Con back to ready an arrow feels right. Golf, boxing and bowling echo the real sports because you mostly swing or jab. In tennis, table tennis and volleyball you do not run around; you flick the controller for a forehand or backhand. Bowling even has a mode with 100 pins. Engadget describes boxing as a motion-controlled take on the arcade classic Punch-Out!!, and thumb wrestling is a new addition to the series.

Thumb wrestling gets special praise as a surprisingly deep game. Your character wears a giant glove and puts it down to build up power, which leaves you open to being pinned. You wiggle the controller to escape, and every extra pin makes escaping harder.

The weak sport

Basketball is the one sport the reviewer singles out. Play resets whenever the ball changes hands, so the game is chopped into short, painful pieces. The leisure activities are the opposite. Their tour and free-play modes are built around sightseeing and cooperation, which the reviewer calls a nice breather.

Dressing the part

Players can use a Mii, Nintendo's cartoon avatar, or a Sportsmate, a newer kind of avatar that first appeared in the 2022 Nintendo Switch Sports. Points earned in matches buy random items. Items that change the face work only on Sportsmates, and each Nintendo account can save five looks.

Two views, one conclusion

The two writers praise different halves of the game. Rutherford likes the island and wishes it had more depth, while the WBUR reviewer talks mostly about the sports and the island tours as a pause between them. They land in the same place. Rutherford says that even as an updated collection of minigames, it offers plenty of fun for players of all ages. The reviewer finds it hard to beat for short rounds of casual play with others.

This article was written by artificial intelligence and may contain mistakes.