Wii Sports was a massive gateway for many gamers, showing off the system's motion controls in a very basic game. A very basic game that was easy to play, addictive, fun, and full of lovable charm that turned into one of Nintendo's most successful properties. This was not supposed to be a series. But it became one.
The original game's sports are largely simple and snappy, with quick, responsive gameplay that relies on your motion. Baseball is the only one I'd call a dud, as successful batting feels like BS, and the game features waiting and cutscenes as a result of the two-team system that make it less fun...but it's still oddly compelling. The game also has a great minigame training mode that reapplies the basic mechanics of each sport to different fun purposes. There's a lot of charm and personality in the animations and presentation.
Switch Sports is kind of a remake of the original, featuring ground-up reworking and new games under the same basic sports-package presentation. The player avatars are no longer the famous Miis but I still like them, and the sports are largely good. Badminton feels a bit pointless being added since Tennis is already a mainstay, but it's fine. Volleyball feels like the dud here. It's one court-and-net sport too many (three were not needed), it's slower-paced, and in local play with more than two people, it has terrible visibility in splitscreen. Soccer, however, is an excellent addition with more complexity and a great team dynamic, and golf will likely be great when added. The online play in Switch Sports is incentivized by rotating cosmetic rewards, though once you earn everything offered that week, play can feel less worth it. Rankings are still able to be earned. The game is a good evolution of the series and it's a testament to the precedent of the original that the series even became one at all. We wouldn't need a Switch version of a tech demo...but we deserved a Switch version of a really great game.
VideoGame The tech demo that became an icon.
Wii Sports was a massive gateway for many gamers, showing off the system's motion controls in a very basic game. A very basic game that was easy to play, addictive, fun, and full of lovable charm that turned into one of Nintendo's most successful properties. This was not supposed to be a series. But it became one.
The original game's sports are largely simple and snappy, with quick, responsive gameplay that relies on your motion. Baseball is the only one I'd call a dud, as successful batting feels like BS, and the game features waiting and cutscenes as a result of the two-team system that make it less fun...but it's still oddly compelling. The game also has a great minigame training mode that reapplies the basic mechanics of each sport to different fun purposes. There's a lot of charm and personality in the animations and presentation.
Switch Sports is kind of a remake of the original, featuring ground-up reworking and new games under the same basic sports-package presentation. The player avatars are no longer the famous Miis but I still like them, and the sports are largely good. Badminton feels a bit pointless being added since Tennis is already a mainstay, but it's fine. Volleyball feels like the dud here. It's one court-and-net sport too many (three were not needed), it's slower-paced, and in local play with more than two people, it has terrible visibility in splitscreen. Soccer, however, is an excellent addition with more complexity and a great team dynamic, and golf will likely be great when added. The online play in Switch Sports is incentivized by rotating cosmetic rewards, though once you earn everything offered that week, play can feel less worth it. Rankings are still able to be earned. The game is a good evolution of the series and it's a testament to the precedent of the original that the series even became one at all. We wouldn't need a Switch version of a tech demo...but we deserved a Switch version of a really great game.