Nintendo Switch Sports Resort | REVIEW | Nintendo Switch 2

''A VACATION OF FUN''

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Developed: Nintendo

Published: Nintendo

Genre: Party/Family

Release Date: Oct 22nd, 2026

Platforms: Switch 2

GAME PROVIDED TO ME BY NINTENDO

Mii's and sports are back with Nintendo Switch Sports Resort and is it is developed and published by Nintendo. With the Wii series of games seeing several hits and few failures across a few generations, Nintendo now decides to bring back the core aspect of fun, this time with a revisit to a very familiar location. However was it the right decision to take us back to Wuhu Island? or... should they have attempted something brand new instead?. Only one way to find out, so lets go!

''JUST SIT RIGHT BACK AND YOU'LL HEAR A TALE''

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GAMEPLAY:

As stated in my opening, the Wii series of titles has had its fair share of ups and downs. Whether you've dabbled into Wii Party, Wii Motion, Wii Play, or even Wii Music that gave us one of the most legendary performances to ever grace our screens back in 2008, regardless of what you played, there was at least something you enjoyed and maybe... something you genuinely disliked, and honestly, there's nothing wrong with that. Now while people jumped into those, because they were...you know...actually GAMES - you know what I was doing? playing Wii Fit U of course. What? don't laugh at me, its fun. Making my Mii run its butt off as I tippy tap with my running, do dancing and fitness routines while matching the patterns on the screen and... even creating a montage using Hearts On Fire from Rocky 4 using all in-game footage with my Mii. Was it cringe? I mean...maybe... but just like my boy B-Rad said in Malibu's Most Wanted, ''Dont Be hatin''. Beyond the games I just named, even if you've never heard of them or even played them, there's still a couple of games that you have for sure heard of, and if you havent, then... ''Hello McFly, anyone in there?'', cause if that's the case then you must've been living under a rock. What game's am I talking about? well obviously none other than the juggernaut itself, Wii Sports and the ever entertaining Wii Sports Resort. Both these two games in the Wii generation, at least for me, completely defined the generation for not only motion gaming, but for party games as well. Heck, even people that say they hate motion controls, I bet they all have their own Wii Sports stories to tell about their baseball antics, swinging their Wii remote like a kid on a sugar high to make your Mii shake their racket all crazy, or even destroy your new $500 TV you just purchased because you forgot to put on your wrist strap as instructed and threw the remote straight into the TV. What? don't give me that look, I know dang well I wasn't the only one, I've seen compilations on Youtube. Back on topic. Most people loved Wii Sports, especially me, and I still even have my original footage of the game with me hitting 10 home runs in a row thinking I was cool, bowling a perfect game in the bowling mini game... or cheating against my friend Xander back in the day on Wii Sports Resort and using the railing to glitch the game and get a perfect strike every time. Yeah, that's right, I play to win, Kreese taught me well, NO MERCY. Yeah yeah, you get the point, Wii era had some amazing motion control and party games.. but when Nintendo Switch was introduced, the hype and fun kind of died down a bit and games like One Two Switch not living up to the party game standard that Wii Sports brought, and even Nintendo Switch Sports as well didn't have the umph needed and felt a tad bit undercooked. But that was then and this is now, and now we return to the island that brought us so many memories, Wuhu Island, In Nintendo Switch Sports Resort.

While Nintendo Switch Sports Resort might not have been on everybody's radar...but for me, when I saw the announcement trailer for the game, I knew that, My Body Was Ready. Seeing how big Wuhu felt and looked now, the mini games, the exploration, the actual...COLOR. Yeah, you remember that thing called color? Nintendo still does, and it's something most of the industry has forgotten these past few generations. With 12 various sports to partake in, some of which you'll remember quite well, a good selection of game modes, and brand new character customization system, etc etc, and from what I witnessed before hand, Switch Sports Resort on Switch 2 just seemed like it was going to be the perfect fit for not only me, but for people missing that classic fun mini game party style. So does it live up to my self appointed hype train? It absolutely does, yes, however it doesn't re-invent the wheel so to speak, but honestly, I'm not here for revolutionary gameplay, that's Ocarina Of Time's job, I'm just here for some unapologetic fun and good vibes. Right off the bat you'll notice some very familiar sports, such as Golf, Tennis, Bowling and even Volleyball. But.. maybe we should skip Volleyball because every time I think of it I just think of the beach Volleyball scene from Top Gun, and I'll feel the need to go into a montage....and, oh no, wait wait wait, crap. Okay, sorry about that, It wont happen again, I swear. The sports mentioned play roughly the same, sorta. Bowling still lets you do that funny flick of your arm and hand at the end of your throw and it still seems to work pretty dang good, then there's Golf, and thanks to the Joy-Cons on Switch 2, it gets even better with a smoother feeling control mechanics that makes playing the mini game feel more real time than delayed like in previous iterations and feels even more responsive than it was in games like Mario Golf Super Rush. I mean that's just my opinion and all, but it just feels so smooth and a big improvement to me. Moving on over to Tennis and... uhh... Its tennis?. I mean there's really not much to say overall there, I mean yeah it has like multiple courts to choose from, but at the end of the day, you'll just swing the racket like a freak like the rest of us and hope for the best. Still fun though. But after moving beyond the core sports games just mentioned, oh man, this is where the fun begins. Looking for other games to try, I decided to try to impress lieutenant dan and get my Table Tennis game going, but sadly, I'm no Forest Gump and embarrassed myself pretty good, but.. again, with Switch 2's Joy Cons this go around, the action is faster, you have more control where you hit the ball, how it moves, its direction, and it picks up your actual movements near instantaneously. So even if I wasn't going to win a medal like Forest in his ping pong games...I ARE STILL WINNER. Okay okay, I know I said a few reviews back that I'd stop using that joke, I swear, that's the last time I'll bring it back.....maybe. Boxing has also seen a notable improvement with the way your punches are now registered more accurately, and it allows you to fluidly dodge and weave punches like you're Ippo from Hajime No Ippo setting up to hit someone with a Demspey Roll or something... only I won't be yelling ''SENDO SAN!'' after every hit, nope, I'll just do what I always just did to win on Wii Sports back in the day, and that is... get my Fist Of The North Star on and just flail my arms wildly to punch like YATATATATATATA. Call it cheap, but hey, it works. Omae wa mou shindeiru. There's also archery too, but I'm not very good at it, like at all. To play this mini game, you must use both Joy-Cons together and hold one out in front of you and pull the other one backwards just like if you were using a real bow and arrow, but, sometimes It gets a bit finnicky and the motion aim gets all out of whack and causes me to miss... which starts to really tick me off. You know what, forget this, I'm not playing archery anymore... get away from me you stupid arrow, I don't want to see your face anymore. Wait... what?, holy crap.

The final sports, or rather, activities, that you can partake in pertain to Skateboarding, Power Cruising and Prop Plane. Oh no... Nintendo... you're really giving me access to fly a plane?. If you've seen my history of driving anything in general for the last 6 years in my reviews, you know it never ends well. Heck I couldn't even control Mario glide flying in Mario Party Jamboree. But.. you know what... maybe this time will be different. This time I will rise above and conquer my demons. Take a foot hold on the thing called destiny. I will take a stand and even if there is doubt, I will know that I ate it all and spat it out.. because I know that I will have done it My Way. aaand nope. Beyond my terrible flying, soaring around the island of Wuhu has never felt better, the map looks gorgeous and expanded, lots to fly around and see, find hidden passages inside of a mountain cave and try to fly through it without crashing, etc, it just feels so responsive and I never really had to mess with the controls to adjust the sensitivity, which cant be said for every mini game. Explore at your leisure too because there's a TON of collectibles and challenges to partake in as well, but that portion is only available in the Sightseeing tour mode that gives you five minutes to run around as fast as you can to collect as many things as you can before the timer runs out. Its fast, frantic and a ton of fun. Dont worry though, there's a free roam mode that you can do whenever you want so you can roam the island on your own, just with a downside of no collectibles doing it that way.. but its your choice, whatever you're in the mood for. Skateboarding though...eh... Its fine, I suppose. If you've played Drag x Drive like I have, which I reviewed and thoroughly enjoyed, then you'll able to get your Joy Con mouse game on once again, but not as responsive and intuitive as Drag x Drive was. Yeah, I bet you thought you'd never hear that exact sentence huh?, but, its true. When its actually working properly, it feels amazing skating around the island, doing trick jumps, speeding as fast as you can, trying to come up with new moves and so on, but... when its NOT working, its chaotic and clunky and glitchy and makes you fly off the side of an obstacle or ramp, or just lose control of your board in general, and becomes a fumbled mess. Its probably the least fun activity to play with, but it could just be a case of ''get good bro'', and just be me. But you want to know what WASNT clunky? Power Cruising.. or rather, Jet Skiing. Oh man I freaking love the Jet Skiing. By holding your Joy Con sideways, you're able to steer in any direction you want, rev the engine to go faster, hit waves to go through challenge hoops like you're back in the days of Super Man 64 and just freely go wherever you want to find new things to discover. Speaking of Nintendo 64... you know.. after driving this jet ski around for sometime, it got me thinking. Nintendo, where in the heck is our brand new Wave Racer game. Come on guys, the time is now, get to it. Whats taking you so long. Rounding off the MASSIVE amount of content in this game is Island Crown mode and of course multiplayer. In this games multiplayer since this is of course a party game, you can take up the fight and challenge friends and family either via couch co-op and even online play, and challenge each other in various game modes that offers hours of extra game fun, should you have an extra friend or two to play with. Which.. of course I dont... so... forever alone. But thankfully for hermit crab loners like me who doesn't immediately have access to people to play with, there exists an offline solo player mode called Island Crown mode. In this mode, it acts like a tournament bracket where you work your way up the ranks of the skill ladder, until you challenge its hardest champion. Whether that be in Tennis, Bowling or something else, the challenge can definitely get real. At first glance, especially in boxing, you'll be knocking heads left and right, gaining ground, getting complacent, and then all of the sudden, BAM, you start getting your butt whipped like you're Little Mac fighting against Mike Tyson in Punch Out. Its SO dang fun and offers you as the player the biggest and hardest challenge of this entire package, and its easily the mode I can see as the most played by people, by a long shot.

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''STICK AND MOVE!''

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OVERALL:

At the end of the day, Nintendo Switch Sports Resort ends up being a triumphet return for Wuhu Island and the genre of party games for Nintendo beyond the Mario brand. Its definitely not perfect, I do have my share of gripes. None outright damaging, but enough to at least take notice. For example the Mouse control for Skateboarding not really being that defined and responsive and becomes a headache from time to time to properly use, classic games like Bowling and Tennis, while still fun overall, come off as very samey and not really different than older iterations, weird wait times online to find a game, etc. However with a bigger and more explorable Wuhu Island with a plethora of challenges to complete, Island Crown single player mode that lets you put your skill up against the best of the best opponents, smooth jet skiing, achievements for completely specific events, completely revamped customization that lets you obtain accessories and clothing just by actually PLAYING the game rather than hitting you with a microtransaction, etc etc. There's just SO much to enjoy in this game, and even in the time I've played it, I still don't think I've found everything else, so replayability is definitely a strong point with this entry. So with all that having been said, my verdict is clear, GameNChick says BUY NOW.

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