Nintendo Switch Sports Resort Review – Nintendo Switch 2

The original release of Nintendo Switch Sports was a curious beast, quietly shifting nearly 20 million copies by tapping into our collective nostalgia for waggling plastic peripherals at the television; its clinical urban gymnasiums and barebones launch roster got us off the couch once again, but didn’t quite hit the highs of the mid-2000s motion-control era.

With Nintendo Switch Sports Resort for the Switch 2, we’ve finally got the workout – and passport-free holiday – we’ve been waiting for.

Despite still nursing a serious case of Wii Sports tennis elbow, the family and I were ready to return to the island fully limbered up, thanks to the thoughtful addition of a gentle warm-up routine!

Spending two brisk minutes on a virtual skipping rope acts as a brilliant physical prelude, loosening up ageing joints before the competitive ego takes over (and quietly doubling as a cheeky way to farm extra Spocco Points if you have the stamina).

It is a small, self-aware touch that sets the tone for a brilliant package, where Switch Sports Resort is truly built around bringing every generation of the household together without an emergency trip to the physio.

Check out what we think of this smashing sequel in our Nintendo Switch Sports Resort review!

Story

Naturally, those expecting a sprawling narrative campaign in a party sports compilation are obviously missing the point, yet Nintendo Switch Sports Resort manages to weave a thoroughly charming holiday atmosphere through its setting and solo structure.

The undisputed star of the show is the triumphant return of Wuhu Island. Breaking free of the sterile confines of Spocco Square, the game expands the entire sporting festival back to an open-world version of the sun-drenched tropical archipelago immortalised on the Wii.

Boasting 12 full sports right out of the box, the sheer volume of fun to be had here easily eclipses its predecessor.

What elevates Wuhu Island from a nostalgic menu backdrop into a living, breathing destination is the clever integration of a new Leisure Sports category spanning land, sea, and air.

Cruising down coastal boardwalks in Skateboarding, carving through ocean swells in Power Cruising, or banking lazily past the iconic cliffside lighthouse at sunset in the Prop Plane lends a real sense of geography and place to the new island.

The ‘Resort’ moniker in the title feels completely earned when you can simply spend twenty minutes holding a Joy-Con like a paper aeroplane, soaring through golden-hour clouds and volcano craters to collect Spocco Photos in a mode that effortlessly channels the dormant Pilotwings series.

Crucially, this photo collection spans all three Leisure Sports, giving your free-roaming sessions genuine fun and structure. Hunting down hidden sightseeing markers and snapping scenic postcards while skating through secret plazas, skimming past hidden coves on a jet ski, or banking through mountain arches turns casual sightseeing into an addictive, collectathon-style treasure hunt across the resort.

For solo players looking for an actual sense of purpose beyond isolated exhibition matches, the new ‘Claim the Crown’ offline mode provides a surprisingly absorbing progression path. Every single discipline on the island features an increasingly tough bracket of 19 CPU-controlled competitors climbing toward an ultimate Island Champion.

Dethroning the champion is a satisfying milestone in itself, though surpassing them unlocks secret, punishing showdowns against a seasoned master of the sport.

Coupled with the returning online Pro League across the nine competitive sports, every victory nudges you up a global divisional ladder against similarly skilled rivals, meaning frequent travellers finally have a tangible sense of long-term development that goes far beyond chasing personal stat rankings.

It’s a perfect example of how Nintendo has iterated on the formula and delivered a rich and rounded experience for players of all skill levels, and makes it a joy to regularly return to.

Gameplay

Nintendo has once again nailed that elusive arcade philosophy of making mechanics effortlessly easy to learn, while keeping the skill ceiling remarkably tough to master.

That balance is driven by the upgraded Joy-Con 2 hardware and HD Rumble 2 implementation, though original Joy-Con controllers remain helpfully backwards-compatible when you need extra sets for a full living room – a welcome respite on the wallet.

In Archery, holding one controller steady while drawing back the virtual bowstring with the other produces a remarkable illusion of physical tension underneath your fingers before you factor in wind speed and elevation against fellow budding Hawkeyes.

Table Tennis returns as an absolute triumph of quick-fire responsiveness, bolstered by its addictive Return Challenge side-mode that tests how many consecutive shots you can rally while sniping point-scoring cans off the table.

Boxing also makes a welcome return, introducing an on-screen stamina meter that discourages erratic flailing in favour of smooth defensive dodges and timed hooks, even if rapid light jabs can still cheese lower-level opponents.

Then there are the wonderfully inventive control schemes that remind you just how playful Nintendo can be, with Power Cruising being a particular highlight of relaxing, sun-soaked Wave Race 64 vibes between checkpoints or across multiplayer races.

You hold the two Joy-Con controllers horizontally like jet ski handlebars, tilting to lean into the choppy water while executing a tactile twisting motion with your right wrist to rev the throttle and trigger a speed boost – it’s simple but entirely effective in giving a sense of relative realism to proceedings.

Skateboarding is equally novel, using the Joy-Con 2’s optical mouse-style surface tracking to let you swipe the controller back and forth like a fingerboard toy to build momentum and tilt around corners.

In fact, it stands as arguably the best implementation of the Switch 2’s mouse controls to date (sorry, Metroid Prime 4) – the way you physically drag the Joy-Con along your sofa arm or tabletop to gather momentum, gently tilt it on its edge to carve into a turn, and flick the controller upwards to pop an ollie or kickflip off a ramp feels astonishingly natural and deeply satisfying.

Even the diminutive addition of Thumb Wrestling proves to be a sleeper party hit, turning button-feints, tense stare-downs, and synchronised power charges into a raucous WarioWare-style mind game.

Testing the line-up with my own children quickly highlighted just how well this breadth serves a family living room. My four-year-old son has completely latched onto the immediate, knockabout spectacle of 100-pin Bowling, the slapstick button-mashing of Thumb Wrestling, and the sheer glee of banking a Prop Plane across the ocean without worrying about a timer.

Meanwhile, my nine-year-old daughter has gravitated toward the higher skill ceilings of Archery, carving up the plazas in Skateboarding, and perfecting her timing in Volleyball.

Mind you, she was quick to lament the loss of Badminton and a complete absence of gymnastics from the resort’s itinerary, feeling that a ribbon routine or floor exercise would have been a natural fit for the motion controls, though she thoroughly loved the package regardless.

Not every discipline lands with the same grace, however. While Bowling’s 100-pin chaos, Golf’s generous course roster, and Tennis’s hilarious giant-ball novelty mode are fantastic crowd-pleasers for younger kids, returning carry-overs like 2v2 Basketball feel noticeably untouched.

Volleyball’s four-launcher rhythm-passing mode, Bump to the Beat, struggles when demanding millisecond timing from broad motion swings, and standard matches still leave solo players waiting around for NPC teammates far too often. Furthermore, because the game is strictly tethered to motion controls, you cannot connect a Pro Controller or play portably in handheld mode.

Fortunately, when played on the television and with enough space as intended, the expanded multiplayer suite shines brighter than on the virtual resort itself.

Supporting 1 to 4 players on a single system and 2 to 16 online, the ability to hop into online matchmaking as a two-player sofa pair is a brilliant upgrade alongside solo queueing and stress-free Casual Online Play.

Audio and Performance

Visually, Nintendo Switch Sports Resort is a crisp, vibrant showcase for the Switch 2. The performance remains locked at a silky-smooth 60 frames per second even during four-player split-screen scrambles, ensuring motion inputs register without a hint of latency.

While the contrast between the stylised environments and the two distinct avatar types can look slightly uneven to some eyes, the lighting engine across Wuhu Island’s beaches, fairways, and sunset skies makes the archipelago pop in a way its predecessor never did.

That said, the physics powering the character models are not entirely immune to the occasional comedic hiccup; my nine-year-old daughter was left in absolute stitches during a couple of sessions when her avatar suffered rare character glitches, contorting an arm at an impossible angle after a frantic swing, though these fleeting physics quirks are far more amusing than game-breaking.

What truly ties the presentation together is the audio direction.

Away from the cheering crowds and the satisfying thwack of table tennis bats, navigating the resort menus and customisation lobbies is accompanied by a delightfully calming soundtrack.

For those of a certain vintage, the breezy, synth-laden lounge jazz and smooth acoustic loops sound straight out of the golden era of BBC’s Ceefax. It provides a soothing, nostalgic auditory blanket that keeps the blood pressure down between heated Pro League tie-breakers.

Editions and Extras

Having launched on October 22nd, 2026 exclusively for the Nintendo Switch 2, Nintendo Switch Sports Resort is available both digitally via the Nintendo eShop (£41.99) and as a physical retail release (carrying an RRP of £49.99, though widely available across UK retailers for between £41.99 and £44.99), with physical copies also bundling in a 3-month individual Nintendo Switch Online membership to get you started.

For households yet to make the generational leap, Nintendo has also released a dedicated Nintendo Switch 2 + Nintendo Switch Sports Resort hardware bundle priced at £449.99, which packs in the console, the full game download, and a 3-month online subscription of individual membership.

Once in the game, customisation remains the primary carrot on the stick for regular visitors to the island.

Addressing one of the loudest criticisms of the 2022 title, Nintendo has given players full control over their visual identity right from the start: you can suit up as the cool, expressive Sportsmates from the first Switch outing or opt for classic Mii characters.

Playing either offline in Claim the Crown or online in the Pro League steadily banks Spocco Points, which are redeemed in the Item Centre for sporting equipment, hairstyles, clothing, and accessories. The shop rotates its inventory on a weekly and monthly schedule, offering a wealth of seasonal unlockable outfits.

Recent matches have seen the courts flooded with brilliant Halloween-themed drops, adding a fun sense of live-service camaraderie to the lobbies.

The gacha-style rotating nature of the Item Centre still carries a hint of FOMO for completionists, and you will naturally need a paid Nintendo Switch Online membership to take your costumed avatar into global matchmaking once any trial period expires, though offline point earning is far more accommodating this time around.

Verdict

Nintendo Switch Sports Resort is a comprehensive, joyful course correction that recaptures the lightning-in-a-bottle magic of the motion-controlled heyday.

While a couple of legacy events lag behind the pack and the lack of handheld play limits versatility, the return to Wuhu Island changes everything for the better, making this a package well worth the asking price.

Between the tactile brilliance of Power Cruising and Archery, the comedic genius of Thumb Wrestling, and a proper single-player championship climb, this is an unmistakably slick Nintendo experience that caters effortlessly to every age group in the house.

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Byron Simpson