Is the waggle strong with this one? We go into depth in our preview!
I’ll admit, while I welcomed the return of the waggle when Nintendo Switch Sports launched back in 2022, something felt… off. Maybe it was the Joy-Con, which were a lot smaller than the Wii Remote ever was; maybe it was the motion controls, whose precision was greater on Nintendo Switch than Wii, but as a result didn’t have the same feel as the original; or maybe it was as simple as the look and feel of the new game wasn’t quite as charming as the original. Whatever the issue was, I still enjoyed Switch Sports, but it left me wanting. With the impending launch of Nintendo Switch Sports Resort, I have high hopes that it will be the proper return for the series that I’ve been longing for.
Nintendo let us get a look at Nintendo Switch Sports Resort over the summer. I got to go hands-on with the various sports on offer, and from those rounds of play I got a really good sense of the game and its mechanics. Although Switch Sports Resort might seem to be the same as Wii Sports Resort at a glance, they have distinct lineups of sports to play when compared to one another. Here’s everything you can play in Switch Sports Resort:
- Archery
- Basketball
- Bowling
- Boxing
- Golf
- Power Cruising
- Prop Plane
- Skateboarding (New)
- Table Tennis
- Thumb Wrestling (New)
- Volleyball
The 12 sports on offer are a mix of repeating, returning, and all-new activities to partake in. The variety is strong, and with so much to do, it should keep players occupied for a long time at launch and beyond. The first thing I wanted to try was Power Cruising, as I’m a huge fan of the Wave Race games. While it’s not quite as intense as the jet skis in that series, Power Cruising offers a mellow, smooth trip across the waves. The motion controls, which have the player holding the Joy-Con like handles on a jet ski, work well. I was banking and turning with ease and really getting into zipping around the track. Wave Race: Blue Storm 2 when, Nintendo?
Archery was next on the docket and, like Power Cruising, I thought that the motion controls were really well implemented. While holding both Joy-Con, the player pulls back one arm to knock the arrow, then aims with the other to hit the target. That might sound like it could become overly easy once the player finds just the right position to stand and shoot from, it’s not quite so simple. The targeting reticule will only zero in to a certain distance from the target, meaning the player still has to have some aiming skill to hit a bullseye.
Bowling was a highlight of the evening; it was one of my favorite things to do in the original Wii Sports, and this iteration of the sport is shaping up to be in my top three once again. I was restricted to the 100-Pin mode, but I wasn’t complaining, as I’d forgotten all about it and was really getting into it right from the outset. I mentioned above that Switch Sports felt off in comparison to the motion controls of the original, despite technically having better tech in the more modern hardware of Nintendo Switch. With Switch Sports Resort (and likely an assist from the Switch 2 hardware), whatever wasn’t clicking into place with Switch Sports was working just fine here. I was able to add spin and have firm control over my shots the entire preview session.
The sport I had the most apprehension about was Thumb Wrestling. I almost skipped out on it, if I’m being honest, because I was assuming it would be a silly diversion and nothing more. I went outside, had some of the food and drink that was being served by the water, and soaked in the setting sun. Then, my conscious get the better of me and I thought, “No! I’m a game journalist, so go play the game, crybaby!” And I did. Marching back in, I grabbed a Joy-Con and got to Thumb Wrestling… and man, it was actually one of the better events! The controls are intuitive, doing a fantastic job of mimicking the sensation of hovering a thumb over another person’s in a real world bout of thumb wrestling. What’s more, you can even charge up power to make the thumb press harder to escape, but there’s a risk-reward element at play; goof it up and you’ll be the one getting pinned.
One concern that I wanted to mention is that the games where competition is at the heart of the experience are a lot funner with other people. The computer doesn’t a solid job of providing a challenge, but nothing is as unpredictable as another human being. What’s more, half the fun of these games is being in another room with people, watching the funny ways in which they swing the controllers around, and so on. A benefit of Switch 2 is that the Joy-Con are larger, which I think helps with the controls a lot. They’re still not as satisfying to play with as a Wii Remote, but it’s a better overall experience than the original Switch Joy-Con, for sure.
As I left the preview session, I found myself quite impressed by what I saw of Switch Sports Resort. It’s a marked improvement over its predecessor, with both a better selection of sports and activities, a better aesthetic, and improved controls. When the game launches on October 22, 2026, it should definitely be on the radar of fans both old and new, especially those who want something fun to play with other people.