Key takeaways from the preview: Nintendo will include Nintendo Switch Sports Resort with Switch 2 this holiday season. It’s great fun to explore Wuhu Island in a relaxed, non-competitive environment. There are certain sports in the series that I would trade for some of the ones here, but overall, it’s a fun list of activities. Pack your bags and book me a one-way ticket to Wuhu Island. After its announcement in June, I was a little excited for Nintendo Switch Sports Resort, mainly at the prospect of returning to Nintendo’s vacation paradise more than a decade since my last visit to Pilotwings Resort on the day of the 3DS launch. After my first hands-on experience at San Diego Comic Con, I left filled with hazy nostalgia but wondering how much a motion-controlled sports game could hold my attention in 2026, 20 years after the original Wii Sports had its TV breakout moment. But after playing for over an hour and seeing how much fun I had in multiplayer and how much there is to do in single player, it has become one of my most anticipated games for the rest of the year. What is happening here? One key demographic for the Switch Sports series that I don’t fall into is the casual Nintendo gamer: someone who has Mario Kart 8 Deluxe, Super Mario Party, the original Nintendo Switch Sports, maybe a Jackbox Party Pack or two, and not much else. You know, someone who’s never had to click the “Show More” icon on their Switch because they don’t have enough games to fill the initial queue. To be clear, there’s absolutely nothing wrong with that type of player: many of my friends have Switch home screens that look exactly like this. Nintendo is bundling the Nintendo Switch Sports Resort with the Switch 2 this holiday season, and in terms of getting that audience to upgrade, I think it’s a really smart move. Resort will be a great time for anyone who is nostalgic for the original and who simply likes to learn and play fun, simple games with their friends. That was never in doubt. What has been in question is how much a player like me will get out of Resort, with so many other great games constantly fighting for my attention. I was especially wondering this after 2022’s somewhat disappointing Nintendo Switch Sports, which I felt lacked compelling reasons to play it at launch and relied too heavily on online play to get much out of it. I was willing to accept that Resort would be a game I would play slowly over a long period of time, sharing it with friends or family on game nights throughout the Switch 2 generation. And there’s room in a library for games like that! So I was happy to have him play that role in my life. But I don’t feel that way anymore: I’m ready for a week’s stay on Wuhu Island. Resort seems to be solving all of Switch Sports’ shortcomings. “I think that’s mainly because Resort seems to be addressing all of Switch Sports’ shortcomings. Spocco Square was nothing more than a video game menu that existed solely for you to select your next minigame. Wuhu Island is a place designed for competition, exploration, and leisure. Take Power Cruising (an untrademarked term for Jet Skiing), for example. For example, I can compete with my friends on a course that rewards speed and make big jumps over the waves while we balance and avoid obstacles right next to them. side of the Wuhu shores, or we can go on a sightseeing tour of the water, taking five minutes to find as many landmarks as we can. Here, there are goals and achievements to tick off: I chased a pink dolphin until it rewarded me with a collectible, and elsewhere I had to line up to dive off a huge wave and grab another shiny thing out of reach. co-op and I took around the island, reminiscent of Breath of the Wild’s Hero’s Path feature. We laughed as we saw where we were going in different directions, and when we met up, we talked about what we had seen and discovered, but I was told that there is a free game mode for certain sports like Power. and leisure. In some ways, modes like this feel like a more successful realization of Mario Kart World’s Free Roam. You can easily explore in split screen with friends, the collectibles and achievements are clearly marked and tracked, and they give you points that you can spend on your sports partner or Mii character. It all feels fun, perfect for playing with others and well thought out in terms of rewards and objectives to pursue. Nintendo Switch Sports Resort screen I explored Wuhu Island from two different angles in Skateboarding and Prop Plane, using the Joy-Con 2 mouse controls, where I dragged the controller back as if it were my foot and my character’s leg was the ground, I moved the controller up to jump and moved it to do spins and tricks in the air, I crashed into the ocean to see what would happen (my character drowned and came back). to the shore) and tried to find a way to the island’s iconic volcano: Maka Wuhu. The volcano, as I have done countless times at Pilotwings Resort in the past, was pleased to find a collectible deep inside the volcano to reward my efforts and revealed how much it has changed over the years: the distant golf course has a new resort hotel, there are smaller cays surrounding the main island and the geography of everything has been changed a bit. The skies of Wuhu were full of things to find: points. of reference to photograph and take note of, balloons to pop and more. I spent a lot of time trying to use my water gun to shoot down my co-op partner, without success. Even with all these things to find and do, wasting time without a goal or objective is as fun as ever, and partly I think this game is made for summer vacations. That means it’s risky to aim for a bullseye. If you miss your center quarter and hit someone else’s, you give them a bunch of points as the round progresses, the target will start to rotate or adjust the size of each quadrant to put the leader at a disadvantage and allow for last-second comebacks, which is a very fun (and very Nintendo) way to keep things interesting. We also played bowling, and it’s virtually unchanged from the original Wii Sports winning formula. Honestly, it’s still a classic. It was one of my favorites, and I still feel a little forgettable here, especially when standard tennis is also one of the Resort’s 12 sports. And while we’re splitting our hair, volleyball is here too, making it three net sports in the package. I would have preferred another sport that made use of the island itself – I remember sword fighting hundreds of Miis while walking around the island at Wii Sports Resort, and it breaks my heart that it was removed from the Resort’s list of activities. And while it wasn’t in the original Resort, this series also desperately needs baseball to return. On the other hand, boxing has returned for only the second time since the original (remember Wii Sports Club on Wii U? No, just me?), and it’s great to see one of the OGs again. It was here that Nintendo showed off one of the new single-player elements, where you climb a ladder of increasingly difficult CPU opponents to become the champion of that given sport. It’s like a miniature campaign, and while the lowest-ranked opponent I faced was ridiculously easy (they almost should have called the fight early for their health and safety), I’m looking forward to moving up the ranks. It’s just another example of how much offline single-player content Nintendo has included this time around. I’m surprised at how excited I am for Nintendo Switch Sports Resort. I plan to 100% play this game, something I wouldn’t have said two weeks ago. I’m still not entirely crazy about the sports programming (I’d trade table tennis and volleyball for things like swordplay, baseball, or Frisbee), but what’s here is shaping up to be really fantastic. Don’t sleep on this: I think it’ll be a massive improvement on Nintendo Switch Sports and a fantastic return to one of my favorite setups in Nintendo history. I’ll see you at Wuhu Island. While you’re here, check out these recent trailers for other great upcoming games we’ve seen recently. Logan Plant is the host of Nintendo Voice Chat and Senior Editor, Playlist and Database at IGN. The Legend of Zelda is your all-time favorite video game franchise, and you’re patiently waiting for the day Nintendo announces a new F-Zero. You can find new episodes of NVC every Friday on the IGN Games YouTube channel, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or your favorite podcast app.
