I’m not really big into sports video games, so my favorites are few and far between.  For the longest time my favorite sports game was Super Dodge Ball on the NES, that is until Wii Sports came along.  The intuitive motion controlled pick up and play nature just won me over, and the sequels have ranged from way better (Wii Sports Resort) to not near as good (Wii Sports Club on Wii U).  I didn’t think Nintendo Switch Sports was AS bad as everyone said it was, but it still could’ve used some improvement.  And boy howdy they sure did that with this game!  I will say the title is horrible.  I have a feeling Nintendo is going to get a lot of confused customer calls thinking this is a Switch game, but make no mistake, this is only for Switch 2.  I know the title is already a mouthful, but they really should’ve called it Nintendo Switch 2 Sports Resort.  Anyway, it’s a shame that the Ocarina of Time remake is releasing so close to this one, because this game deserves to be considered a big holiday title as well.  So I thought I’d go over everything Nintendo Switch Sports Resort has to offer.

But before we get into all the sports, I wanted to talk about some odds and ends with the game first.  It is set on Wuhu Island just like Wii Sports Resort, which is good.  But I don’t really hear them call it that in the game.  They call it Spocco Resort, like the Spocco Square from the first Switch Sports game took the island over.  But it is clearly Wuhu Island and just as fun to explore as ever.  You can play online or with up to four players locally, which is good.  Thankfully they give plenty of things for single players to do as well.  One of them is the Island Crown, where you can compete in ranks with CPU opponents in each and every sport to rise up the top 20 ranks.  You can even skip ranks, too, somehow.  I’ve done it a few times so far.  You can also do a “Warm Up” which is basically just that free Jump Rope Challenge game that Nintendo released right after COVID happened.  But you’ll still want to do it at least once per day because you’ll get tons of points for it.  Speaking of points, you get them for everything you do in the game, and you spend those points in the Item Center to buy outfits and accessories to customize your character with.  And thankfully you don’t have to go online to get those points like you had to in the first Switch Sports game either.  Things are only available for a limited time so that is a little bit of a bummer.  You can customize your Mii or those new Switch Sports avatars.  Either one is fine with me, I wasn’t bothered by the new avatars like others were.  Anyway, with that out of the way, let’s talk about all the sports!

Tennis

I’m not really a big fan of tennis video games, as they feel just like over-glorified Pong to me.  It’s the same as tennis in any of the others in the series.  Uses motion controls, you can play singles or doubles, and you can choose how many matches.  But even though I’m not a big fan of tennis, I do have to say that it’s still kind of fun to lob the ball around with motion controls.

Table Tennis

One of the problems I had with the last Switch Sports game is that there were too many tennis-like games.  But this one gets a pass because even though it’s a lot like the previous game, it’s a bit more fast paced.

Volleyball

Again, another tennis-like game, but at least here the rules are different in that you have to bump, set, and spike the ball.  The timing to jump and hit the ball gets me sometimes, though.  Anyone remember SEGA’s Beach Spikers on the GameCube?  Now THAT was a good volleyball game.  But then, any game with Ulala in it can’t be all bad, right?

Bowling

You really can’t go wrong with bowling.  It’s been in all the Nintendo Sports titles and it is such a crowd pleaser.  I’ve never felt the need to get another bowling game as this one works so well.  You can do a regular match with up to four players, or do the returning 100 pin challenge.

Thumb Wrestling

When this was first shown, a lot of people thought it was stupid and silly.  But I dunno.  Sure it is silly, but it’s a video game!  There’s room for silliness in a video game!  You hold the remote vertically and move it left and right to move your thumb on the screen.  You get these super oversized hands for this one so that looks weird!  Push the trigger button down with your thumb to put the thumb down in the game.  You want to try and pin the other player down, but if you keep your thumb down, you risk getting it pinned but while down your thumb gets bigger and powers up.  So it’s a nice risk and reward kind of thing.  So yeah, I think it’s just some good silly fun!

Archery

I think this one is popular as well because it’s so simple.  I think it was also on the original Wii Sports Resort.  Just hold out the JoyCons in front of you, hold down the trigger buttons, pull one of the JoyCons back, and release the button to fire an arrow to hit the target.  The challenge is keeping your extended arm still to aim, at least it is to me.

Boxing

I don’t think boxing has been in a Nintendo Sports game since the very first one.  Use the JoyCons in each hand to punch and block.  I imagine this was the inspiration for the Wii Punch Out game.  I feel bad for never getting that game.  I’m not a big fan of Punch Out, but my brother Jeff sure is.  I doubt Nintendo will make another Punch Out game anytime soon.

Basketball

Use the motion controls to dribble, pass, block, and shoot the ball in a half court two on two game where you trade off being on offense and defense.  There’s a lot going on but it’s still pretty simple.  This was on the original Wii Sports Resort and I think it might’ve been a DLC game for the Switch version.  I never played the DLC sports in that one, though, because by the time they came out it was too little, too late.  I had already moved on to other games by then. 

Golf

It plays how you expect it to with motion controls.  Golf has been in every Nintendo Sports game like this since the first one.  The cool thing about most of these games is the courses are based on the old NES Golf game.  That game was more important to Nintendo than you think, and it was one of the few NES games I could get my dad to play back in the day.  So I do have special memories with it.  I’ve been told the courses in this game are new, but I SWEAR some of the holes look close to the NES Golf courses.  You know what I think would’ve been a good idea?  If they added a mini golf course to this game, and the holes would be based on other Nintendo franchises?  What do you think of that idea I just came up with?

Prop Plane

The last three sports are really just ways to explore the island, but they did make little competitive mini-games involving these vehicles, so I guess they are sports now.  The Prop Plane is just like how it worked in the first Wii Sports Resort game.  Back when I played it on the Wii, I thought flying around the plane was so much fun that they should make a full game out of it.  And then they did with Pilotwings Resort on the 3DS!  Sadly I didn’t get into that one as much as I thought I would.  I also wished I would’ve played Pilotwings 64 but at the time I was a poor college student and couldn’t afford to get ALL the N64 launch titles.  But when the first Pilotwings game came out on SNES, I got it for Christmas that year and when we went to visit family in Alabama that year for Christmas, I brought the game with my and my dad and his brothers (my uncles) would stay up until five in the morning playing it!  So I do have special memories with that game.  Anyway, sorry to get off topic there.  So here the Prop Plane lets you fly around the island.  You can try to get as many hidden landmark photo icons as you can in a time limit, or just explore freely. There is also a Ball Battle mode where 2 to 4 players try to carry balls back to their base.  Since I don’t have anyone to play with me anymore, I couldn’t try that last mode sadly.  But at least flying the plane in the other modes is as fun as ever.  I wonder if they’ll make a Pilotwings game on the Switch 2?

Skateboarding

When I first found out that this mode uses mouse controls, I was like, “Oh great.”  I’ve never come across a Switch 2 game yet where I liked the mouse controls.  But thankfully they made it work here!  Just slide back on the mouse to kick forward, lean the JoyCon left and right to turn, and flick it up to jump.  Now I don’t think there will be a Tony Hawk game with these controls anytime soon, but they still work very well here.  I was pleasantly surprised.  Like the Prop Plane, you can collect photo icons or just explore the island on land.  You can also do races with up to four players locally with seven different courses.

Power Cruising

I think the term “jetski” is copywrited, so that’s why it’s called Power Cruising.  Hold the JoyCons like handlebars and push the buttons to go.  If you twist the right JoyCon you can boost.  It’s really fun, but the photo mode and free play isn’t as interesting since you’re always on the water.  However, you can do races on ten courses with up to four players and it’s pretty fun.  They could make another Waverace game with this template, but I doubt they will.

And those are all the games!  I want to emphasize again that Nintendo Switch Sports Resort is every bit of a big holiday title that the Ocarina of Time remake is.  But on the flipside of the coin, I also have to say that Nintendo’s holiday lineup this year is slightly disappointing since all they have are rehashes and remakes of older games for the Switch 2’s second year.  But at least the games are still fun.  And more interesting to me than what the PS5 and Xbox has to offer.  And I don’t give a flying flip about GTA6 either.  Anyway, that’s all for now!  Later!  --Cary