Wii Sports, which appeared in 2006, was a kind of tech demo that you got for free with your Wii and introduced motion controlled gaming in the living room. The disc offered access to five swing-controlled sports, of which tennis and bowling were particularly popular and contributed to the huge hit that the Wii was, even among people who previously didn’t game (anymore). The game received a welcome sequel in 2009 in the form of Wii Sports Resort, with twelve sports and an entire island to practice those sports on, and in 2013 a frugal remake of the first Wii Sports for Wii U was released. So there’s Switch Sports, a welcome sequel that also feels a bit like a frugal remake.
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Switch Sports will offer access to six sports upon release – one more than the original, but six fewer than the sequel Wii Sports Resort. We already knew three of them: tennis and bowling were already in the original, chanbara (trying to knock your opponent off a platform with your stick) was more or less in Wii Sports Resort.
Tennis looks and feels very much the same as in the original, including the option to play doubles only. While bowling you do feel that the game responds slightly more accurately to your throwing movements, although there is still no question of a one-on-one response. Very welcome is the special stand that adds obstacles such as holes, posts, fences and slopes to the bowling lanes.
Chanbara adds the ability to fight with an energy sword or two swords, but that doesn’t change the fact that the game is too boring for single-handed play and invariably degenerates into a blind slash-and-slash fest during matches against others (or maybe I just need to find better friends).
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Of the new sports, football is the oddest out of the bunch – if only because this rather popular sport has traditionally been played with feet rather than hands. You play it in Switch Sports with a gigantic, barely controllable ball between bouncing walls, which inevitably makes the game reminiscent of Rocket League. But while you ‘just’ control your football player and the camera with the left and right sticks, there will of course also be some swaying (with your hands, unless you are using a leg strap to attach a Joy-Con to your leg once the update for that is done). appears), where the direction of the whip ‘just about’ determines where you kick the ball.
There are two set-ups to play football in: one-on-one, where you mainly walk back and forth, or four-on-four (for a maximum of two players, strangely enough). It all feels like a nice minigame, like it could have been in Mario Party, but the illusion ‘that you are playing football with real movements’ is not there.
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Probably the best game of Switch Sports is volleyball. In any case, it is the game with the most (tactical) options to play the ball. With all those setups, smashes and block movements, it just feels like volleyball. If you like that sport and have a bit of a well-coordinated team, you will enjoy this. I enjoyed it.
Still, my favorite from Switch Sports is definitely badminton. While in tennis I often feel that the direction I hit the ball depends on my timing (hit early for a sharp angle, hit later for a wide angle), badminton gives me a stronger feeling of hitting the ball, pardon shuttle , hit in the direction I actually hit. Moreover, badminton feels more primitive and therefore more satisfying than tennis: two players, one feather and heated rallies that last until someone makes a mistake, after which the feather sails through the air with a crazy whirl: ready to be smashed very hard. Meanwhile, due to its light weight and refined vibrations, the Joy-Con lies very much like a badminton racket in your hands, which makes the illusion almost complete.
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Have I had all the sports now? Yeah, damn, that’s it again. You only get half the amount of rungs in the predecessor this time. So a bit of a frugal package. That feeling isn’t compensated by a nice island or other frivolous nonsense: it’s all just as bare and direct as in the 2006 original.
In the home screen you choose whether you want to play offline or online. Then you choose the sport you want to play and one of three levels. When your game is over, you can do it again or play another sport. There are no cutscenes, tournaments, or single-handed unlocking opportunities (you can only unlock accessories for your dolls when competing against random opponents online). Other than that, there are only the advice screens that point out the dangers of Switch Sports: that you should keep enough distance from your TV screen, put on your wristband and not accidentally kill the cat.
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In addition to being a handheld and TV console, the Switch has also become an ultimate social gaming machine, thanks to the many great multiplayer games, including Nintendo hit games like Smash Bros., Mario Kart, Mario Party on the one hand and fun indie multiplayer games like TowerFall and Heaven Ho on the other. With an emphasis on motion controls, Switch Sports delivers multiplayer fun of a completely different cut, more in line with some games that appeared at the Switch’s launch, such as 1-2 Switch and Snipperclips.
In that sense, Switch Sports is a welcome addition to the Switch range, and to be honest, I was ready to enjoy my gaming parties with family and friends in the meantime. That said, it all feels a lot like something from 15 years ago, and there’s little fun to be had on your own.
Nintendo Switch Sports will be available for Nintendo Switch starting April 29.
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