Nintendo Switch Sports is nearly here, and we got to preview every activity ahead of release – here’s what’s good
It’s hard to overstate how big Wii Sports was when it launched in 2006. In a lot of ways, it was one of the first console games to truly crack the broader, non-gamer consumer market. The Wii became an instant bestseller, with its intuitive controls and familiar concepts making it accessible to people who’d never picked up a gamepad before. Nowhere was this accessibility better executed than the console’s bundled sports game. While it might be tough for non-gamers to have a fluid command of a controller, many people know how to swing a bowling ball, which is exactly what the Wii’s motion controls required you to do. Fast-forward 16 years, and the Nintendo Switch, with its own gimmick of being both a home and portable console, is thriving. Its versatility is such a big part of its identity that it’s easy to forget that the Switch features motion controls itself. That’s partially on Nintendo and third-party developers, who’ve failed to fully harness the potential of this feature. Ever since 1-2-Switch, it’s felt underutilized alongside the patented ‘HD Rumble‘. You could be forgiven for thinking that Nintendo Switch Sports would struggle to match the precision of Wii Sports, a game on a console designed entirely around motion controls. However, that’s not the case. If anything, the title feels like a reminder of what the Switch’s motion controls can do. At launch, Nintendo Switch Sports has six activities in the form of Bowling, Chambara, Soccer, Badminton, Tennis, and Volleyball. We played all six of the games at a recent preview event, and below we’ll share our thoughts on how the whole experience is shaping up. We’re all agreed that this is probably the most important entry on this list, right? If you put any serious time into Wii Sports, we’d bet a lot of that time was put into Bowling. Getting resoundingly beaten by elderly family members was a defining part of the Wii Sports experience for us. Thankfully, everything that made Bowling in Wii Sports great is captured here. The Switch’s Joy-Con controllers are surprisingly good at tracking whether you’re bowling a straight ball, or if you’re trying to apply curve. It’s not all intuitive though, as you no longer let go of a button to release your ball, instead, it releases automatically at the end of your swing.
