Nintendo Switch Sports Resort Review: Still In Motion

Originating as a tech demo for the Wii’s motion controls, Nintendo’s Sports series has always found novel and intuitive ways to emulate various athletic endeavors with motion-based video game controllers. Like its predecessors, Switch Sports Resort is a compilation of sports-based minigames built around approachability. Though rightfully known for its enticing multiplayer options, Switch Sports Resort adds new single-player objectives and modes to offer a well-rounded experience for all player counts, making it perhaps the strongest entry in the series to date.

Switch Sports Resort delivers 12 main events to choose from, each with distinct controls, strategies, and rules. Mainstays like bowling, archery, boxing, and golf were my initial destinations to attempt to relive old glories, but newcomers like thumb wrestling, skateboarding, power cruising, and prop plane made me glad for their inclusion. 

Skateboarding, power cruising, and prop plane form a new category called leisure sports, which allow for timed exploration of the newly renovated Wuhu Island by land, sea, and sky, respectively. I spent several sessions seeking out landmarks and collecting Spocco Points, the in-game currency used for character customization. And since all the sports’ controls are so intuitive and newcomer-friendly, it was a breeze to jump between activities.

Though they all boil down to moving your arms in something approximating motions you’d make playing the real sport, Nintendo has smartly implemented more variety in its control schemes, all while keeping them easy to pick up. Before the tutorial even explains how to hold the Joy-Con, you can likely accurately guess what the grip and motion will be; even more involved control schemes like basketball and volleyball are easy to remember. 

Skateboarding is particularly innovative, as it uses Switch 2’s Joy-Con’s mouse mode to emulate the kick-push of a skater. Meanwhile, prop plane has you holding your Joy-Con like a paper airplane as you fly around blasting balloons and visiting landmarks. However, holding the Joy-Con that way for several minutes inevitably cramped my hand. And though boxing remains one of my favorite sports in the bundle, I needed to retrain my brain, as throwing a punch the correct way doesn’t work with how the game wants you to do it; if I turn my wrist when punching, my character sways instead of attacking.

Playing with friends, both online and in-person, remains the highlight of Switch Sports Resort. The online friend lobby system receives a boost in the form of allowing different sports to take place simultaneously within the same lobby, and when you add in special variants like simultaneous archery, 100-pin bowling, skateboard racing, and prop plane balloon battles, you have a lot of fun options with which to jump in.

Whenever I play solo, the Island Crown is where I spend most of my time. Here, you climb the ranks across nine sports, sometimes with special rulesets, vanquishing NPC opponents until you are the champion. Whether it was taking to increasingly outlandish bowling lanes, windier archery ranges, or simply facing off against more strategic table tennis players, I relished in improving my skills en route to the championship. 

Because these minigames are relatively surface level, they have diminishing returns once you reach a certain skill level. While I loved it when my tennis opponents started challenging me to use better angles and my fellow golfers stopped air-mailing their tee shots straight into the trees, higher-skill opponents rarely energized me; instead, sports like bowling that include fun, off-the-wall variants were my favorite ladders to ascend, as they truly put my skills to the test as I was forced to adapt to moving obstacles and ramps. I just wish Nintendo injected more fun twists to keep the experiences fresh.

After completing each activity, you’re awarded Spocco Points, which you use to unlock themed customization elements for your characters. Cartoon-like Sportsmates replace the iconic Mii characters introduced in Wii Sports, but you can still use your Mii if you choose. Though I have fondness for Mii characters, after two entries featuring the more expressive, customizable Sportsmates, I now prefer those character models.

Nintendo Switch Sports Resort delivers a capable compilation of quick-hit sports minigames that can be easily enjoyed regardless of how many people are holding Joy-Cons. Though I certainly have my destination sports, there’s not a loser in the bunch. Island Crown mode does a great job expanding the single-player options, but this package’s legs are in its multiplayer experience. And since Switch Sports Resort is chock-full of easily approachable minigames, I can see it becoming a cherished inclusion in the rotation of party mainstays.