Excellent foundation that is extremely light on modes, content, and meaningful reasons to keep replaying it.

You can probably experience everything Nintendo Switch Sports has to offer in about 45 minutes. Play a couple rounds of every sport and you've seen it all. There's no solo mode, there are no stats to build up, there are no Matts to challenge. The only carrot on the end of the stick is rotating random loot system which lets you earn points in matches to get cosmetics for your character. The cosmetics are honestly great, but it's a grind to get what you want and it only unlocks them for your character. Meaning guests cannot take advantage of the fun outfits you've worked hard to unlock.

The sports all feel pretty good. Volleyball and Badminton are honestly surprisingly fun additions. Soccer is fun but it's just slower Rocket League. Bowling, Tennis, and Chambara are the same things you've seen in the Wii Sports games. Great but nothing new. In fact, the Bowling mode in Switch Sports is arguably less feature-rich than what we saw in Wii Sports Resort. Your only option is to just "Play" and you might randomly get the Special mode sometimes. It kinda sucks.

The online generally works better than I would've expected from a Nintendo game. Forcing you to play online to actually get cosmetics ensures matchmaking never takes long, but I still wish I could play offline and earn unlocks.

The lack of a campaign, or really any sort of meaningful solo progress, as well as the lack of several key sports like Golf (which will be added later) and Boxing, are a huge bummer.

While this isn't a Wii Sports-level hit, the stuff that's in the game is actually pretty fun. I just wish there was more of it.

+ The Sports gameplay is solid
+ Sportsmates are great Fight me.
+ Great visual design
+ Catchy music
+ Fun cosmetics

- Dearth of features and modes
- Needs more sports
- Cosmetic unlock system is a grind
- You can only unlock cosmetics when playing online

Somewhat fun sequel, but feels quite barebones compares to the Wii versions from many years ago. There isn't much replayability in terms of solo play and local multiplayer unless you really dig the motion control sports thing. There's less sports available. Just Bowling, Tennis, Chambara (the Swordplay from Wii Sports Resort), Soccer, Volleyball, and Badminton. Golf is being added in a free update later in the year.

Control-wise, motion controls with the Joycon feel fine and accurate. Lack of content is Switch Sports' biggest problem. Wii Sports and Resort had mini-games like a Home Run Derby for Baseball, 100-Pin Challenge for Bowling and such. Switch Sports lacks in mini-games and extra modes. There is a Special Bowling mode that has random obstacles and a

Skill graphs and score stat tracking has been completely removed, which is a bummer since there's no way to chase after your best scores. You do get notified of new records at the end of every game if you beat your previous score, but lack of score history is an odd choice.

You can earn character customization items from playing online matches. It's mostly a cool system since you earn points whether you win or lose, but the weekly or so rotating cosmetic unlockables that are available add into the FOMO. Also, cosmetics are only unlocked for one character and cannot be used for multiple characters in Switch Sports.

Online is, fine I'd say. I spent the majority of my time in bowling. It places you up against bots at first, then matches you with similar players. Every sport has a ranking system for ranked matches. I wasn't thrilled that bowling online was elimination style. Instead, it's elimination based where rounds are split up into 3 frames, with the lowest half or whatever scores being eliminated at the end of the round. Basically means if you don't score a Turkey on the first frame, you're eliminated.

It's not better than Wii Sports Resort or even Wii Sports, but still fun to play.

it's pretty fun for the most part but not to the same extent as the Wii Sports games. not nearly as intuitive as those were either and the aesthetic feels pretty uninspired. wish there were more than 6 sport options considering Wii Sports Resort had like double that like lol come on man. i read that Nintendo is adding golf to this game in the fall and like, i'm just sick to death of this shit companies keep pulling where they knowingly release games that are basically incomplete compared to how they'll look down the line with DLC added (that people will probably have to pay even more for). remember when DLC consistently expanded on already fulfilling games? now it's THE fulfillment, if that. shit is so embarassing lmao

Despite having fun swatting away at shuttlecocks and trying to get just the right amount of spin on the ball as I try to send those ten smug pins into oblivion, I can't help but feel disappointed by what's actually on offer here. Calling it barebones feels harsh to skeletons.

As mentioned I've had a great time with Badminton and Bowling, and the basics of Chambara are pretty solid as well but the other three sports haven't really grabbed me - the route they've gone down with Soccer is fine but it all feels too slow, Volleyball ends up feeling a bit boring and Tennis just feels off, not mention the fact that it's locked to doubles-only.

I might have been okay with only really getting on with half the sports here if there was some depth to them but sadly the options available are severely lacking, and it's especially sad that there's not even a hint of local single player progression. I would have thought even following the basics of Wii Sports Resort would be the baseline but Nintendo have focused almost 100% on the online side. I can't blame them I suppose, it's just incredibly disappointing for anyone wanting just a tiny but more than playing a single game and moving on. Even something as small as adding stats (W/L records, time played in each sport or whatnot) would have been nice.

But then when it works, it really is fun. I mentioned it earlier, but Badminton really works and feels a lot different to the other net sports included, which I know was a worry for some. It's fast and frantic with a nice little tactical element when it comes to when and where you place your drop shots during the rally and on the court itself. I just wish I could do more with it than just play a 5 point game against people online of one of three set AIs ad infinitum.

3/10 (A downgrade from the original Wii Sports games)

Yeah this one isn’t great I’m afraid. Although it has some cute graphics (I like putting the costumes on my avatar 🥰), some fun moments like on soccer, and a decent soundtrack what ultimately falls is the lack of content, repetition, and outright boring vibe. Volleyball feels way too easy and slow, sports like Bowling, Badminton, and Swordsplay don’t have the same feel as the original games and although I haven’t played golf yet it’s absurd that it wasn’t even included at launch and even then it doesn’t add a lot to this otherwise empty game that somehow has less content than the original game which is meant to be a tech demo btw.

Go play Wii Sports and Resort instead of this trash.

Oh golly gee do i have a LOT to say.

Wii Sports was never a top tier franchise, but considering this is a billion dollar franchise and contains two of the best selling games of all time, you'd think nintendo would put at least the bare minimum effort with this one. But they didn't even do that.

For the few positives, the game on a technical level looks decently nice. I think bowling is still as fun as ever and swordplay was actually improved with the addition of different swords, so that's nice. Also the online connectivity isn't that bad, it's above average for the windows xp level switch online.

But that's about it. There are lots of problems with this game that makes it not only easily the weakest Wii Sports game, but also just a super lame party game.

First off, and most subjectively, this game is a creative wasteland. And I don't just mean the ubisoft-ass sportsmates that effectively replaced the miis, though I hate those about as much as everyone else. The appeal of the miis, ESPECIALLY in these games, are that they could look similar to real people in your life. And that suspension of disbelief is much easier with a blank slate design like the miis rather than the more involved, but soulless sportsmates. But it's not just them.

Spocco Square is also just a really lame location for these sports to take place in. In the last game, Wuhu Island felt like a lived in resort because most, if not all, of the sports were framed around this island. Spocco in comparison really suffers in this regard. I don't think people play soccer, field golf, or SWORDPLAY in a shopping mall.

That is a huge letdown, but I am willing to look past these sorts of things if the game is at least fun. But it really isn't. Barring bowling and chambara the rest of the sports just don't really hold up.

The controls on a lot of these are fairly clunky compared to resort as a result of the nature of the joycons. They just don't feel as accurate as the motion plus did, at least not here. Volleyball is easily the weakest here with you just needing to make very slight hand motions to win. I don't think volleyball was built for this kind of game.

This game also suffers in sports variety. There are 6 sports (right now) and three of them are tennis, volleyball, and badminton. If these were all crammed in the same game in order to fit the shopping mall theme, then maybe that's a sign that the idea isn't that great.

To return to the Wii sports resort comparion, that game not only had 12 sports but most of them contained different side modes like 100 pin bowling and swordplay showdown. Apart from the shootout mode for soccer and some minor player counts, this game lacks the side modes that other wii sports games have. You just have the one super short gameplay loop. Take it or leave it.

And to top all of this off, this game released in a half baked state. And not just in the stuff I mentioned before. Golf, the first major post launch update, is not coming until september. Which is a system that always works for these games accept for Mario Golf, and Mario Tennis, and Kirby, and Arms, and basically every other game except Smash and Splatoon. And not only that but even though the game itself isn't $60, the game does come with a leg strap peripheral like Ring Fit adventure. That doesnt work until july. GREAT.

Alright, this is easily the longest review I've made on here and its for a fucking wii sports game lmfao. Bottom line is that this game just feels so empty and soulless compared to Wii Sports Resort, or even other party games on switch like Mario Party Superstars or Clubhouse Games.

Please just get the latter, it has more games, it's $10 cheaper, and it gets golf day one instead of months after launch.

I'm sure this will be fine. but I cannot for the life of me understand why they replaced Miis with some of the most generic avatars I've ever seen in any Nintendo game. I understand less why people think the characters are worth defending when it bills itself as a Wii Sports sequel. and I understand even less why they would even bother with making entirely new soulless copypasted avatars when the Miitopia Mii Maker is one of the best character creators of all time

edit: right, I can now talk about it a bit from an actual gameplay standpoint since I did play some of the demo! the online was a bit janky and the Sportsmates are much better in action than anticipated but still horrifically bland after Miitopia showed us just how great Miis can be if Nintendo put a little more juice in them. I'd just get Go Vacation or wait for a sale and there's more content overall honestly

The groundwork is there and the games well built for the most part. The games are a blast to play, especially with friends and the online is pretty decent (for a Switch game).

I found that in chambara, the sword fighting game, the motion controls kinda suck. My sword always quickly ends up in a different orientation to my controller even after frequent recalibration, although some people I asked said they didn't have this problem so maybe my joy cons are just old and busted.

I also wish that the football gamemode was just a little more fast paced or at least lasted longer. Games too often end with no goals for either team when the teams are well balanced. Still fun though.

The main issue with the game is the lack of content. At launch there are 6 games. That is a whopping 1 more than in Wii Sports that came for free with the Wii in 2006 and HALF of the 12 games that came with Wii Sports Resort in 2009. Nintendo have announced a golf game mode coming in Autumn and I really hope they announce more to come in the near future because it definitely needs it to become the definitive Nintendo sports game. The joy cons are literally perfect for boxing; surely they have to add it in at some point.

What would be great is if they just released a full game's worth of content in the first place, or better yet: released a full game's worth of content in the first place AND announced free updates! I don't think that's too crazy of a thought when you consider Wii Sports Resort sold 33 million copies.

Also who asked for the new avatars

This game just accentuates everything I hate about Joycons and Nintendo in general. Bowling and Badminton feel fine, everything else feels jank. Why is this $50? For $50 I can get a USB dongle, wiimote+ and sensor bar and be on my merry way with Dolphin playing Wii Sports Resort which absolutely curbstomps this both in what's offered and how much granularity there is in control.

At one point it softlocked our joycon so we had to full restart the game to get it to respond at all. After that the joycons would only register an input a full second later after viciously shaking them and often going in arbitrary directions. Amazing new lows straight out of Nintendo EPD, only topped by the likes of Amiibo Festival.

I'd say it's baffling but I honestly expected no more than only a couple of these to feel decent. Heaven forbid Nintendo 2022 tries to outdo Nintendo 2006. -.5 star for not letting me throw the bowling ball backwards. You can feel how little of a shit they gave.

this is fine! i think it's embarrassing that it has less sports than wii sports resort (come on, give me basketball fuckers!!!) and they're not really all that much more in depth than they were back then. bowling is still the best, and the battle royale esque mode online has is genius but otherwise it's exactly what you'd expect from this. if you're fiending for some wii sports nostalgia and have a group of friends to play this with i'd say it's fun enough, but at 40 bucks (50 physical!) it's hard to see this as particularly worth it. don't worry though, that golf update will fix everything!

A pretty solid collection of games. Played all 6 with my girlfriend and had a great time! None of these games are extremely deep in any way, but are all solid fun. The controls are not as good as Wii Sports Resort due to the lack of "true" motion controls, but they still work decently well.

The online is also solid, though I have seen some odd instances where people are let in to the pro league for sports even when they perform poorly. The new character designs are also a bit strange looking, and are vastly inferior to the Miis. Thankfully, you can still use Miis when playing for that classic Wii Sports feel.

While all of the games included are solid, this entry does feel a bit of a step backwards from Wii Sports Resort. I would like to have seen more games included and returning from past entries. While I'm glad golf is being added later, I would have liked for more games to have been included.

What else is there to really say? A 7/10 is pretty much as good as a game like this could get. While I would have liked for there to be more games included, as well as some better controls, I have had some great fun with this entry. This feels like a game that should have been on the system from the start, but I am grateful that it is here now.

S Tier: Bowling, Chambara
A Tier: Tennis, Soccer, Badminton
B Tier: Volleyball