Nintendo Switch Sports

Nintendo Switch Sports sticks wisely to the winning Wii Sports formula, while adding a slick online multiplayer mode.

Nintendo Switch Sports delivers on what it promises while leaving the door open for more updates in the future. Despite some control hiccups and occasional network disconnections, Nintendo Switch Sports is an excellent entry in the Switch library.

It may not exactly be reinventing the wheel, but Nintendo Switch Sports is exactly what I wanted from the Wii Sports' successor.

As an offline package, Nintendo Switch Sports is a hoot just for Bowling and Chambara alone. The other games are worth trying at least once. Volleyball might even grow on some people. Unfortunately, Badminton, Tennis, and Soccer lost steam with me after a while, but half a package that I'll return to again and again is certainly nothing to sneeze at. I hope this is a collection that will continue to grow, because I had forgotten what a crowd-pleaser the Wii Sports era was. It's good to have that spirit back.

“Even with a few duds in the pack, Nintendo Switch Sports' highlights make it a must-own multiplayer party game.”

Frustrations aside, there’s plenty of fun to be had in Nintendo Switch Sports, no matter how you choose to play. It’s a valiant nod back to Wii Sports, slightly more grown-up and refined this time around. Perhaps it’s not quite as fun – though maybe that’s just because we’re older and more world-weary than we were back in 2006 – but it’ll undoubtedly still be a game to pull out at any family gathering. It’s just a shame that earning new cosmetic items is locked to online play.

Nintendo Switch Sports is a fun reminder of the Wii Sports craze, bringing back some classic sports and adding some new ones that make use of the Joy-Con and motion controls in more advanced ways. It's all just a bit shallow, though, and difficult to wholeheartedly recommend unless you expect to play online a lot or constantly break it out for local head-to-head battles.

Nintendo Switch Sports is a great way to satisfy any urge to play motion control games. Unfortunately, it doesn't make any effort at being more than that.

Nintendo Switch Sports attempts to capture the magic of the first two games in the series. Its efforts in doing so are not bad per se, but they are extremely basic and do not build upon the previous concepts in any revolutionary way.

A muddled reimagining of the groundbreaking Wii Sports, with an unwarranted focus on online play and new game additions that are never as much fun as the originals.

It's possible that Nintendo will improve Nintendo Switch Sports with future updates, but that remains to be seen. It's known that Nintendo Switch Sports is adding golf in a future update, but otherwise Nintendo's post-launch plans for the game remain a mystery. There's a lot of work to be done to make Nintendo Switch Sports even half as fun as its predecessors, and as it stands now, it's a game that Switch owners can safely skip.

Nintendo returns to motion controls with a suite of sports that offer true delight.