With the recent announcements made at Nintendo Direct, gamers have a lot to look forward to in the coming year. A return of the classic Wii Sports, Nintendo Switch Sports brings virtual sporting events to the Switch.
The trailer combines fan-favorite pulls from prior games with new releases to give fans of the series something exciting to look forward to. Between sports new and old, new features, and a whole new setting, there’s a lot to be excited about when bringing everyone’s favorite sports home via this gaming console.
New Avatars
Rather than the Mii’s of previous Nintendo games, new avatars are displayed throughout the trailer comprising the players and background NPCs. These avatars feature a more realistic appearance, including more realistic hair, faces, and added arms and legs. The trailer doesn’t feature any Mii characters, seeming to indicate that they’re being replaced by the new avatars entirely.
The decision has been receiving mixed responses from the fans, many of whom liked the Mii’s over the more realistic look, and many that are glad their characters finally have limbs.
Spocco Square
A departure from Wuhu Island, the setting for Wii Sports Resort, the trailer for Nintendo Switch Sports displayed a city sports park with the name “Spocco Square.” The square’s logo, shaped like two S’s combined, is displayed prominently throughout the trailer, taking center screen for a moment towards the end over an aerial shot of the park.
Fans on Reddit are already predicting future additions, with the square seeming to have a baseball diamond, docks, and a beach. The suspected areas could be preparation for updates to Spocco Square; prior titles included baseball, jet skiing, and wakeboarding.
Ways to Play
Nintendo Switch Sports offers a variety of ways to play alone, with friends, or in random online matches. Multiplayer games can be played locally on one Switch, although it’s unclear if the hotseat multiplayer featured in turn-based sports like bowling or golf will be made available.
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In online play, gamers can play against friends or participate in random ranked matches; the higher the rank, the higher-ranked opponents that players get matched up with.
Tennis
Introduced in the iconic original Wii Sports, tennis has moved from the Wii remote to the Joy-Con. Footage in the trailer indicates the game will be played the same as its prior releases, swinging the Joy-Con to control the motion of the racket and following standard tennis scoring.
Like before, games consist of teams of two facing off against each other, letting players team up with a friend to take on other friends, the computer, or an online match.
Bowling
Appearing in the bestselling Wii Sports, Wii Sports Resort, and Wii Sports Club, Nintendo Switch Sports marks bowling’s fourth franchise appearance, currently the only sport to be included in every entry.
As gameplay unsurprisingly seems to remain largely the same as previous titles, including the ability to put spin on the ball, fans can expect a familiar experience in the new setting. Even though the survival of hotseat bowling is unclear, the trailer did tease a new multiplayer mode called “Survival Bowling,” showing sixteen players in a game with several eliminated.
Chambara
Known in its first appearance in Wii Sports Resort as “swordplay,” chambara returns in Nintendo Switch Sports. Players focus on using swords to knock their opponent off of a platform, with the Joy-Con functioning as the sword.
The trailer made no mention of the original version’s various play modes (Duel, Speed Slice, and Showdown), showcasing only the 1v1 sparring matches while demonstrating both attacks and defense. However, when the game modes are displayed a little over halfway through the trailer, chambara is the only one with options to play with either one Joy-Con or two, hinting at an unknown mode of play.
Soccer
New to the Wii Sports franchise, Nintendo Switch Sports puts a new twist on soccer, using a giant ball, high jumps, and the motion controls of the Joy-Con to pass, shoot, and score goals.
The game includes head-to-head team matches as well as solo “Shoot-Out Mode”, in which the player can utilize the leg strap introduced in the fan-favorite Ring Fit Adventure to kick the ball into the goal. While the initial release won’t be supporting the use of the leg strap in team soccer matches, a free update is scheduled for the coming summer that will change that.
Badminton
The addition of badminton alongside tennis is an interesting one, as the two sports have much in common. They are however distinct, unique sports with a number of differences, including types of shots, the size of the court, and if bounces are allowed.
The gameplay appears to be very similar to tennis, using the Joy-Con to swing the racquet before the shuttlecock hits the ground; one key difference between the two is the smash shot used in badminton, similar to spiking a volleyball.
Volleyball
Demonstrated by Shinya Takahashi and Yoshiaki Koizumi, volleyball is the last new sport in Nintendo Switch Sports. The two show off the game’s serves, bumps, sets, and spikes, scoring on their opponents and getting scored on in turn.
Like tennis, teams of two play against each other, using the Joy-Con to control the characters and hit the ball. Takahashi and Koizumi play like they’re playing traditional volleyball, using both arms to bump, set, and serve, but with the Joy-Con only detecting the movement of one hand, the required motions appear similar to badminton’s.
Upcoming Update: Golf
In a second announced future update, the trailer promises the free addition of golf in Fall 2022, bringing back another fan favorite from the original game. When added to the game, golf will join bowling as the only titles to appear throughout the franchise.
While the trailer did not show very much of the upcoming sport, it can be assumed that more information will be released as the update draws nearer; beyond the updated appearance, it’s unclear what changes to gameplay will be made to the iconic sport.
