Nintendo Switch Sports Resort review: Wii Sports legacy continues with 12 sports and a lively island
The Guardian's reviewer finds the new Switch collection effortlessly fun for families, blending intuitive motion controls with a detailed holiday resort.
At a glance
- Nintendo Switch Sports Resort launches with 12 sports, including five returning from Switch Sports and seven new additions like boxing and skateboarding.
- The game features a detailed island resort to explore by jetski or plane, with character customization and ranked leagues for solo play.
- The reviewer says the game is intuitive, silly, and has enough depth to keep families playing long-term.
Nintendo has released Nintendo Switch Sports Resort, a follow-up to 2022's Switch Sports, this week. The game brings back five sports from the original — tennis, bowling, volleyball, golf and basketball — and adds seven new ones: boxing, table tennis, archery, thumb wrestling, skateboarding, jetski and piloting a prop plane. All are playable with motion controls on the Nintendo Switch.
Each sport is intuitive and easy to pick up within the first couple of tries. Skateboarding uses the controller like a mouse to steer and jump, archery feels natural, boxing is enjoyably frenetic, and table tennis allows nuanced spin and smash shots. Basketball replaces real‑world speed with methodical turn‑taking. Thumb wrestling stands out for its cheerfully absurd presentation, giving characters giant thumbs on oversized hands.
A resort to explore Beyond the courts, the game lets players tour a large island on a jetski or in a small plane. These modes recall Nintendo's dormant Wave Race and Pilotwings series. Pink dolphins leap alongside the jetski, while the plane reveals tiny people populating stadiums, cafes and beaches. The sunny soundtrack and unlockable outfits — earned by ranking up in island leagues for each sport — add a holiday atmosphere that the reviewer calls irresistibly appealing.
Variants such as obstacle‑course bowling and a three‑point shooting contest extend replay value. After a week of daily play, the reviewer concludes the game will stay in the family rotation for a long time, serving both as a party game and a deeper solo experience that gets everyone off the sofa.
Source: The Guardian Technology.
Questions and answers
- What sports are included in Nintendo Switch Sports Resort?
- The game includes tennis, bowling, volleyball, golf, basketball, boxing, table tennis, archery, thumb wrestling, skateboarding, jetski, and piloting a prop plane.
- Is Nintendo Switch Sports Resort suitable for solo play?
- Yes, the game adds island leagues with ranked progression and unlockable outfits, giving structure for single-player sessions.
- How does the basketball mode differ from real basketball?
- Basketball in the game uses methodical turn-taking instead of the real-world speed and flashiness.
