Nintendo Switch Sports Resort Review: Everything Switch Sports Should Have Been

Say Nintendo Switch Sports Resort three times in a row. Go on, I’ll
wait. It’s a tongue twister of a title, and I tripped over it every
single time, which is at complete odds with the smoothness the game
delivered.

I have played every entry in this series. When the
Wii turned waving a
remote around the living room into a whole new way of playing, I was
right there, and I’ve had a soft spot for motion controls ever since. I
do enjoy a good sports game, but if I’m honest, it’s mostly Nintendo’s
that get me off the sofa. That’s also why I always worry a little
whenever a new one is announced, because
Nintendo Switch Sports
never quite managed to feel like the series I fell in love with.

DualShockers was given a code for this review, and I’ve spent multiple
hours on Wuhu Island so far, mostly in single player, on a docked
Switch 2. I am nowhere near 100%, and I suspect that could take hundreds of
hours depending on how good you are. But the hours I have put in have
been more than enough to know this is the game I wanted Switch Sports to
be.

Dreams Do Come True Sometimes

The first thing I noticed was how little I was waiting. Load times are
much shorter than in Nintendo Switch Sports, menus snap into place, and
you can even rearrange the layout of the sports to suit you. Everything
feels smoother, less clunky and quicker to get going. After the last
entry, that alone felt like a small miracle.

Nintendo games always feel good, and I went in with high expectations of
polish. Nintendo Switch Sports Resort met every single one of them. It
ran perfectly on my docked Switch 2, and I didn’t run into a single bug
or crash in my time playing this. Why can’t every game feel this
polished?

My first birdie in Golf and my first strike in Bowling both made me grin
like an idiot. It turns out the muscle memory I built up over years of
these games is fully transferable, and it all just feels a bit more
refined now.
Bowling and Golf are still my favourites, Table Tennis gives you lovely control over every return, and Archery
is so satisfying that I kept going back for “just one more” target.
Tennis now comes with three courts to choose from, which is nice, if
hardly a revolution.

Not everything landed quite as well. Boxing was the one I enjoyed least,
because the Joy-Con 2 occasionally lost track of me once I mixed in
ducks, hooks and jabs. Volleyball, unfortunately, still feels very
sluggish, and that carries over into online play, too. It’s my single
biggest deduction, and it’s a shame, because Volleyball also gave me one
of my favourite moments.

Picture this: deuce after deuce, a match that seemingly will not end, my
arms burning. By the time it was over, I was panting and had to sit down
and rethink a few of my life choices. Nintendo, if you’re reading this,
I desperately need a new
Ring Fit Adventure, because that game actually kept me fit.

The Thumb War Nobody Asked For

Then there’s Thumb Wrestling. It’s such an odd addition, and it makes me
laugh every time, because it is so very Nintendo. It’s simple to pick
up, there’s more strategy to it than you’d ever expect, and I can
already see it causing chaos at parties. And yet.

I cannot believe they included Thumb Wrestling over my beloved Baseball.
I’d have taken Disc Golf from the original Wii Sports Resort, too. Some
of the racket and net sports also start to blur together after a while,
so a little more variety would have gone a long way.

My favourite part of Resort is the trio of Leisure Sports, which have
nothing to do with winning and everything to do with simply enjoying the
island. Power Cruising puts you on a jet ski, with a Joy-Con held
sideways like handlebars, twisting to accelerate and leaning to steer.
Prop Plane turns your controller into a little aeroplane in your hand,
and Skateboarding uses mouse mode, so you swipe across the table to push
off and flick upwards for tricks. Luckily, the Nintendo Switch 2’s
Welcome Tour trained me for exactly that moment. Generally, these sports
are the most creative controls in the whole game, and they’re where I
spent a lot of my down time.

Each of them comes with a Sightseeing Tour, where you have five minutes
to explore and collect as much as you can. I’ll admit the timer
sometimes had me wishing for more. There is a Free Roam mode without
one, but none of the collectibles appear there, so it’s more of a scenic
drive than a treasure hunt.

There’s no story in Resort, not really, but the sightseeing is the
closest it gets. Finding photo spots and cruising past corners of Wuhu
Island I’d never seen before taught me more about the place than any
previous entry. It’s also the perfect palate cleanser after a sweaty
round of Volleyball.

A Reason To Keep Swinging

Very quickly I discovered probably the number one reason that will keep
me playing for months: everything counts now. In Nintendo Switch Sports,
you could only earn the points needed to unlock new outfits and
accessories by playing online. In Switch Sports Resort, every game you
finish earns you points, single player included, and you spend them in a
shop that rotates its collections weekly and monthly. You don’t even
need a Nintendo Switch Online Membership anymore!

What you can pull from the shop is random and different for every user.
It covers clothes, accessories, name tag options and sporting gear. On
top of that, each sport has its own achievements, which you can unlock
solo or with friends. As a bit of an achievement collector, that’s
dangerous news for my free time.

For anyone who wants more of a challenge, Island Crown sets you up
against increasingly skilled CPU players in each sport, with an Island
Champ waiting at the top. The first few opponents are almost charmingly
bad, but the tougher ones are genuinely tough. Nintendo has also added a
little more “canon” this time, with each sport’s champion getting a bit
of backstory. I haven’t beaten a single Champ yet, but I’m working on
it.

Colourful, Chirpy And Very Much Alive

Nintendo Switch Sports Resort looks gorgeous. It’s bursting with colour
and that typical Nintendo charm, and I never once got tired of looking
at it. The soundtrack is upbeat and light-hearted, and returning players
will recognise plenty of the sound cues. My favourite detail? In Golf,
you can hear the waves crashing against the shore and birds chirping
between your shots.

The island itself never feels empty. Miis stroll around in the
background, and even the CPU opponents use the little stickers that are
the game’s only way of communicating. You can play as the newer-style
characters and the classic Miis, which made me happier than I’d like to
admit. Every session left me feeling a little brighter, which is exactly
what I want from this series.

Accessibility has taken a step forward, too. You can choose your
dominant hand for every sport, turn on a colourblind mode, and switch
off the emote pop-ups from other players and CPUs if you find them
distracting. Golf has assistance options, and the tutorials are clear
and helpful. You are still tied to the Joy-Cons and motion controls,
though: there are no alternative control schemes, and nothing can be
remapped.

Bring Your Friends, Or Don’t

This is a game for literally everyone. If you just want some fun, need
something to play with your family or friends, or want an excuse to move
a bit more, this game has you covered. You can play with one to four
people locally, go online, take on CPU opponents, and
even team up with
a CPU partner in some sports. I can already see it becoming the focal
point of many a games night.

What surprised me most is how good it is on your own. It’s the most fun
I’ve had in a while, even playing completely alone. Games like this
usually lose steam once the novelty wears off, but there’s so much
variety here that I’m nowhere near running out of things to do.

Nintendo Switch Sports Resort looks gorgeous. It’s bursting with colour and that typical Nintendo charm, and I never once got tired of looking at it.

Online play does have a couple of bumps in typical Nintendo fashion.
Bowling has some strange waits between turns, and switching sports kicks
you back to the lobby. These are pretty small complaints, though, when
everything around them is this good. If anything, Nintendo has undersold
this one: for how much better it is than its predecessor, it deserved a
much bigger marketing push.

Closing Comments

Nintendo Switch Sports Resort is a great revival for a series I’m always
a little worried about. Nintendo is one of the only AAA players left
that still brings real whimsy to the table, and Resort feels fresh,
special, and complete from day one. If you want a sports game with
actual substance, rather than a handful of minigames, this is the one.
If you’d rather sink into a big story, look elsewhere – and if you hate
fun? Honestly, I’m not sure how you ended up reading a review about Wii
Sports’ cheerful grandchild, but I admire the commitment. Somewhere on Wuhu Island, an Island Champ is waiting for me. I might
not be ready yet. But I want to become the Island Legend, so I will
keep training.