Nintendo Switch Sports Review – Wholesome family fun

I never owned a Nintendo Wii, but went to a few peoples homes who had one, and often saw Wii Sports wheeled out as the party favourite getting people together, introducing some fun competitiveness to the dynamic and just having a good time. Fast forward 16 years and it’s time for Nintendo to bring the fan-favourite franchise to the big and little screen of the Nintendo Switch.

Switch Sports has been out for a few weeks now, but I wanted to see how the hype and excitement of the game wore in, and the game has not disappointed.

My kids, primarily the 10 and 11 year olds have been loving it. For the first week or so it was their exclusive go-to for screen time, it’s since faded a touch, but not enough to make me think for even a second that Nintendo isn’t onto a winner here.

To see all three kids standing together in the lounge room playing Nintendo Switch Sports was awesome – frankly it doesn’t happen a lot!

Sitting back and watching them it appeared they were really working hard for their wins, and taking their losses hard:)

There are six sports to choose from in Nintendo Switch Sports – Volleyball, Badminton, Bowling, Tennis, Football and Chambara.

Chambara is the strangest sword fighting game – and easily the most entertaining to watch. Players are on a platform of ever decreasing diameter with the loser being thrust into the water around it.

The rest are, as they say on the box. Three sports are one or two player (Badminton, Football and Chambara) while the other three are up to four players at a time.

Each can be played online, though we haven’t even got there yet, the fun of beating your sibling hasn’t yet worn off enough to introduce the rest of the world into the lounge room.

This is, as Wii Sports was (and Microsoft’s Xbox rip-off Kinect Sports), a very cartoon based game. Reality is set aside in almost every way.

I think Bowling is the most realistic, and even that’s stretching it.

In tennis I watch a 10 year old swing late, but it’s enough for the character to pull off a miraculous move and swing.

In reality, this is about using the Nintendo Switch Joy-Con (controllers) to create movement in the participants.

There’s even a foot strap for football, though it really only works in a shootout not in normal game-play, and if you got the digital version of the game which doesn’t come with the foot strap, just tuck your controller into your sock:)

For me, this is wholesome great fun, but – it needs way more sports.

My kids commented that the Tokyo 2020 Olympics game had far more choice, and what Nintendo has in its favour is the controllers, the true interactivity of their whole system. To limit this to just six sports seems madness to me. If there were twice as many sports, I reckon my kids would still be playing this at the same rate as day one just a month later…

That’s picky though, the bottom line is, Nintendo Switch Sports embodies the joy of Wii Sports for a new generation on a platform they’ve already grown to love.

Pick up Nintendo Sports at The Gamesmen and other retailers for $59.95.