I might be getting a bit ahead of myself, though. Nintendo Switch Sports Resort (which, somewhat confusingly, is exclusive to Switch 2) includes a total of 12 motion-controlled events, six of them returning from 2022’s Nintendo Switch Sports, six of them new. Or at least returning after a much longer absence, some having previously appeared back in 2009’s Wii Sports Resort. Yes, I get the names confused too. Together, there’s archery, basketball, bowling, boxing, golf, power cruising, prop plane, skateboarding, table tennis, tennis, thumb wrestling, and volleyball. And while my Gamescom hands-on time was far from exhaustive, it was split fairly evenly between traditional events and some of Wuhu Island’s more exploratory free-form thrills.
Table tennis, for instance, fell into the former camp, playing a lot like Nintendo’s much-loved take on tennis – just transposed to a little table. So if you know Wii Tennis and its successors, you know what to expect here. Switch 2’s Joy-Cons do a fine job of translating your requisite paddle whips and wrist flicks onto the screen – which, admittedly, doesn’t do you any favours if your table tennis prowess is as cack-handed as mine – but it’s a fun time; a more contained counterpoint to tennis’ energetic flailing.
Thumb wrestling, meanwhile, is built around even more localised movement, victory requiring little more than determination and an aggressively opposable thumb. It’s a hoot too; a rapidfire kind of thrill that quickly descends into a game of sneaky feints, where you grip the Joy-Con vertically in your fist, twist to move your on-screen hand, then press the R button to lower your thumb. The goal, essentially, is to goad your opponent into dropping their thumb first so you can catch it with your own then pin it down as they attempt to wiggle free before the timer hits zero. Failure to do so constitutes a win for you, but escape means the round continues, each successive capture demanding increased waggle to break free. It makes for a swift bit of ridiculousness, yet the slyly strategic mind games involved nudges it beyond mere frivolity.
Archery, too, makes for a strong showing. Here, two Joy-Cons are required per player, but there’s the option to take turns if you don’t have enough controllers. It’s played (in the kind of intuitive verisimilitude reflected across the rest of the package) by adopting a familiar archer’s stance: one Joy-Con held out front, the second slightly behind. Joy-Con one acts as your bow, which you move to adjust your aim, and the second is your string, dictating the strength of your arrow as you draw it back – accounting for movement, wind, and height as you go. And there’s enough nuance in the set-up, across all the mini-games in fact, that it feels like there’s genuine space for skill, which will hopefully help them sustain their appeal.
For this particular showing, I was launching arrows under archery’s Special rules, which see players attempting to score points by hitting their designated colour on the target. Hit someone else’s though, and the points go to the competition. And while Nintendo’s guided tour of Switch Sports Resort didn’t leave an enormous amount of time to absorb the finer points of each event, I get the sense most activities feature a variety of different rules and modes. During boxing, for instance, we got a peek at Island Crown mode, providing 20 ranked opponents for solo players to tackle without needing to go online.
It’s all good stuff, enhanced by the series’ slick presentation. But as much as I enjoyed Switch Sports Resort’s more focused matches, it was the freeform interludes that really had me yearning for more. Nintendo whizzed us through three distincts Free Play sports at Gamescom: prop plane, power boating, and, yes, skateboarding; each showing off Wuhu Island – the charming tropical retreat that’s been popping up in everything from Mario Kart to Smash Bros. since its original Wii Fit debut – from a different perspective.
It’s here Switch Sports Resort flexes its open-world muscles, giving players a time limit in which to accrue the most points as they fly/skate/sail free. Prop plane requires you to hold the Joy-Con like a paper aeroplane, tilting and turning it to glide serenely through the air; angling into hoops, skimming over undulating water, or daredevil-dodging between island landmarks, with little points-of-interest icons given you a bit of tour guide spiel. Freeform power boating, meanwhile, sees you grasping the Joy-Con like handle bars and contorting your body, somewhat unnaturally, to steer up ramps and over more tumultuous waves.
Which brings me to my favourite: skateboarding. Here, you’ll need a table to use the Joy-Con in mouse mode. Its flat edge resting on the table’s surface, you pull it toward you – mirroring a virtual foot pulling back and finding the right rhythm to gather skateboarding speed as you explore Wuhu Island’s roadways and exotic corners. But there’s more: a quick upward flick of the controller does a little leap, onto grind rails perhaps so you can do additional tricks as you go. It’s oddly hypnotic, the perfect marriage of motion and on-screen movement, and like all these Free Play detours, strikes a wonderful balance between leisurely exploration and competitive points acquisition, to the point I was genuinely eager for more.
Switch Sports Resort is looking promising then, and suggests Switch 2 could have another family favourite hit to its name as it star-jumps into the festive season – especially if there’s enough variety across its 12 events to ensure some proper sticking power. Will any of those other events manage to drag me away from the mesmerising thrills of freeform skateboarding? Nintendo Switch Sports Resort arrives in just a few weeks, so I guess we’ll find out soon.
