Nintendo Switch Sports Resort Review – A Sporting Good Time

Nintendo Switch Sports Resort Review

Since the Nintendo Wii, Nintendo has periodically released a variety of Sports titles that utilize a variety of motion controls to play real-life sports on their consoles. The Sports Resort titles has taken the fun sports’ action and dropped it on a fun tropical location called Wuhu Island. Nintendo Switch Sports Resort is a follow-up to the 2022 game Nintendo Switch Sports. Nintendo Switch Sports Resort features 12 different sports to play in a variety of single player, local multiplayer, and online multiplayer modes.

Note: During our review period, we did not have access to any of the online modes. So our review is limited to local multiplayer and single player only.

The Sports of Wuhu Island

Included in Nintendo Switch Sports Resort is a pretty solid assortment of sports to enjoy. Nintendo Sports Resort staples like Table Tennis, Bowling, Archery, Boxing, Basketball and Golf are all here. New to the Sports Resort series is Volleyball, Tennis and Thumb Wrestling.

There are also a trio of Sightseeing sports that allow players to navigate Wuhu Island in three unique ways: Prop Plane, Skateboarding and Power Cruising.

Sports Highlights

Each of the sports included bring two to three different variations and multiple difficulty levels. Some of the sports are clearly standouts, such as Bowling and Tennis. Thumb Wrestling was a wacky but surprisingly fun addition to the mix and should make for some fun competition and big laughs. Archery just feels so cool to play, the Joy-Con 2 controllers, with their haptic feedback, just make it feel so realistic. Golf is great too, but I did find the constant tutorial pop-ups were a bit annoying. Plus, I kept shanking my ball to the right, suggesting I’m twisting my wrist too much, which I don’t think I was. Hopefully some more practice will straighten those shots out.

I was less than impressed with Basketball. While the controls for Basketball were by no means complicated, the overall experience is lacking. If someone successfully defends by swatting the ball away, the turn shifts and the player defending becomes offense. It’s a variation of half-court basketball but I really just didn’t feel it. Another sport I felt a bit bummed about was Boxing. For some reason, I felt that Boxing wasn’t picking up my movements as intended, making certain punches, particularly body shots, not register. Maybe with practice this will improve.

Sightseeing Tours

One of my favourite parts of Nintendo Switch Sports Resorts was actually the Sightseeing Tours. There are three included: Prop Plane, Power Cruise, and Skateboard. For each mode, at least initially, you have 5 minutes to explore the entirety of Wuhu Island. It’s clearly not enough time to explore it all, so picking a path and sticking with it is a good idea if your goal is to see it all. Cameras are hidden throughout Wuhu Island, which showcase the various parts of the island through Spocco Photos. When you find these Spocco Photos, the description is read out by a creepy robot voice that is a rare miss for the game’s overall audio design. Each of the three sports also has their own unique collectible to find, such as wheels for Skateboard or popping balloons in Prop Plane.

For Skateboard, you’ll hold the Joy-Con 2 like a mouse and tilt left and right to turn. You’ll find jumps to reach new heights and rails to grind. It’s no Tony Hawk, of course, but it’s worth a playthrough. Though, I will say, it was a bit bizarre being able to skateboard on sand with no issue. Power Cruise let’s you take control of a Jet Ski, where you hold both Joy-Con 2 controllers horizontally like you’re holding handlebars. This sport probably gave me the biggest workout, holding those controllers out like that for a solid 5 minutes. Power Cruise is pretty neat, but honestly, it just made me wonder why Nintendo hasn’t given us a new Wave Race in 25 years.

Finally there is Prop Plane. Here you’ll hold the Joy-Con 2 as if you’re about to throw a paper airplane. Tilting up, down, left, and right is all you need for navigation. The plane includes a bubble blaster, which you can use by pressing one of the face buttons. It’s a bit awkward at first, but once you figure it out, it’s not too bad. Prop Plane is easily the most enjoyable Sightseeing Tour, as you get to take in the whole beautiful island from the sky perspective. A multiplayer-exclusive Prop Plane mode adds a fun competitive twist where players have to collect the most balls within a set time limit.

Customize Yourself

Nintendo Switch Sports Resort does an incredible job of customizing your player. You can choose the classic Mii style or the more modern avatar style. You’ll be able to customize various aspects of your face, hairstyles, body, and outfits. An in-game store offers an ever-changing rotation of styles that you can redeem in-game points for. You’ll also earn new accessories and styles from completing various challenges or unlocking Achievements in the game. Yes, Nintendo Switch Sports Resort does have an Achievement system, and it does a really solid job of providing a variety of challenges for all skill levels. It’s refreshing playing a game and not having to spend really money on character customization options.

Island Crown

One really awesome addition to Nintendo Switch Sports Resort is the Island Crown mode. In this mode, for each of the 12 sports, you start ranked 20th. From there, you’ll compete against custom NPCs to work your way up the ranks. It’s a great way to enjoy the sports while feeling a sense of accomplishment, and along the way you’ll square off against a variety of Island Legends, of which I will not mention any by name here.

Missed Opportunities

While Nintendo Switch Sports Resort is a pretty impressive package of sports, I can’t help but feel that some sports from the original Wii Sports Resort should have been included. Swordplay was a ton of fun in the original game, especially when squaring off in local multiplayer. I also miss some of the various Air Sports like parachuting. Of course, this also makes me wonder why we haven’t seen a new Pilotwings game in what feels like forever. Finally, I’d love to see 5-pin bowling included as an option in Bowling. Especially up here in Canada, 5-pin bowling is a must.

Hopefully, Nintendo has plans to expand Nintendo Switch Sports Resort with some added free content in the future. It’d be great to see more Golf courses, more Bowling modes, and the return of some Nintendo Switch Sports and Nintendo Wii Sports Resort sports.

Nintendo Switch Sports Resort is an excellent package of sports games. Most of these sports have appeared in previous Nintendo Sports games, so it’s likely you’ve already logged hours of gameplay in similar versions. More sports or more variations of sports, such as 5 pin bowling, would have been appreciated. Hopefully Nintendo has some long-term plans for updating Nintendo Switch Sports Resort with some free downloadable content. The character customization options are really well done. This is a game that will definitely get folks up and moving. Local multiplayer is where this game will really shine, especially given the easy pick-up-and-play controls. If you’ve enjoyed previous Nintendo Sports titles, it’s easy to recommend Nintendo Switch Sports Resort for the Nintendo Switch 2.

***Nintendo Switch Sports Resort key provided by the publisher for review.***