TL;DR: Nintendo Switch Sports Resort is the series at its most polished, with sharpened classics, an excellent Island Crown mode and inventive Leisure Sports, held back only by missing CPU and online support for its best new content.
Nintendo has spent two decades convincing living rooms that swinging a small plastic controller at a television counts as exercise, and Nintendo Switch Sports Resort is the most complete argument it has made for that idea. This is a Switch 2 exclusive that bundles twelve events, a solo tournament mode, a sightseeing island and a stack of party-friendly variants into one package. The goal is obvious: be the game you boot up when the cousins arrive, the neighbours wander over, or the group chat decides game night is happening at your place. What surprised me is how much more structured it feels than its predecessor, which often felt like a strong core waiting for the rest of the game to show up. Resort feels finished in a way the series hasn’t always managed. It’s still a motion-control party game at heart, and if that genre has never clicked for you, nothing here will convert you, but within its lane it’s remarkably confident.
The roster: what made the cut, and what didn’t
Twelve sports make up the lineup, and it’s worth being upfront about the absences before getting to the good stuff. Chambara, Badminton and Disc Golf are gone, which will sting for anyone who built rivalries around sword-bonking a sibling off a platform. In their place is a lineup that leans heavily on the series’ most reliable events: Tennis, Bowling, Golf, Boxing, Table Tennis, Archery, Volleyball and Basketball form the stand-up core. Thumb Wrestling is the oddball new entry, a seated, low-effort duel that trades full-arm motion for pure finger-twitch tension. Rounding things out are three Leisure Sports, Prop Plane, Skateboarding and Power Cruising, which I’ll get to shortly because they’re the real surprise. The curation is smart rather than exhaustive, and I’d take twelve events that all earn their place over a padded list where half the options get played once.
Nintendo Switch Sports Resort gameplay: the classics still land
The fundamentals haven’t changed, and they didn’t need to. You stand, you grip a Joy-Con, and you mimic the real motion: a full swing for Tennis, a backswing and release for Bowling, or a two-handed draw for Archery where one controller acts as the bow and the other pulls the string back. That last one is where the Switch 2’s HD Rumble earns its keep, simulating the creeping tension of a drawn bowstring in your hands, which adds a tactile layer the original Wii hardware could only dream about. Tennis, Bowling, Golf and Boxing remain the most approachable events, the ones you can hand to a grandparent or a seven-year-old with almost no explanation. That accessibility doesn’t mean they’re shallow, though. Golf reads the angle and tilt of your Joy-Con during the swing, so beginners learn to keep the club face square while experienced players start deliberately manipulating it, and it works intuitively for both. It’s also the event to rotate into when everyone’s shoulders need a breather, with a broad spread of courses at varying difficulty levels.
Bowling and Boxing get the smartest upgrades
Bowling is the clearest example of Nintendo leaving a perfect thing alone and simply building around it. Alongside the standard game, there’s a mode that drops obstacles onto the lane to bowl around, and a simultaneous mode that lets everyone roll at once instead of waiting their turn, which fixes the single biggest pacing problem with bowling at a crowded party. The beloved 100 Pin Bowling variant from the Wii era also returns, and it remains one of the most purely satisfying spectacles in the series. Boxing, absent from the previous Switch Sports, is the bigger story. It now has a stamina gauge, which turns what used to be a frantic windmill contest into something with a sliver of strategy. Throwing punches carelessly drains you, so dodging, blocking and picking your hooks actually matter. I like this change because it rewards players who want to take the event seriously without stopping anyone else from simply pummelling the air and having a blast.
Volleyball and Basketball ask for patience, then pay you back
Not every event is plug-and-play. Volleyball and Basketball both use rotating, more complex movesets rather than one repeated gesture, and their tutorials reflect that. In a group setting, this can create a genuine speed bump, with someone inevitably asking how to do the thing while everyone else waits. Volleyball shifts you between passing, setting and blocking, each needing a well-timed raise of the arms, so it plays almost like synchronised choreography once a team understands positioning. Basketball similarly varies its moves depending on your role, and it rewards teammates who pass and coordinate rather than charging for every shot. What worked for me is that Nintendo anticipated the friction and built escape hatches. Basketball has several shooting-focused modes, including Five-Streak Battle, where four players race to sink five consecutive shots at the same time, which is a fantastic pressure-cooker. Volleyball gets a rhythm-style mode where you simply time your bumps to a beat. These bite-sized versions are the right entry point for newcomers, and the full games are there once the room is ready.
Leisure Sports steal the show
The three Leisure Sports are where Resort finds its own identity rather than leaning on legacy. Prop Plane has you hold the Joy-Con like a paper plane and steer through an open island, and there’s something genuinely delightful about turning a controller into a toy and watching your hand movements become barrel rolls and dives. Skateboarding uses the Joy-Con’s mouse functionality, sliding it across a surface to push off, which is an inventive use of hardware that could easily have been ignored. Power Cruising turns two Joy-Cons into jet ski handlebars, with a twist of the right grip for boost, and offers a single Joy-Con layout for anyone short on controllers. Each has a relaxed sightseeing mode for exploring the island by land, sea or air, plus competitive courses that escalate with boosts, tight turns and course-specific set pieces. Skateboarding and Power Cruising in particular have a racing-game energy that feels closer to Mario Kart than a sports minigame, and they’re easily the most memorable new content here. They also tap into the series’ best quality, that sense of playing pretend with a physical object in your hands.
The frustrating gaps in an otherwise generous package
That’s what makes Leisure Sports’ limitations so irritating. Their competitive modes have no CPU opponents, so if you’re playing alone, those well-designed courses have nobody to race against. They also can’t be played online at all, while the other nine sports support online play. For a mode this polished, both omissions feel like strange decisions rather than technical compromises, and they directly undercut the solo appeal of the best new content in the package. If you’re buying this primarily as a single-player game, that’s a real knock. It’s the kind of gap that a post-launch update could fix, but I’m reviewing what’s in the box, not what might arrive later.
Island Crown gives solo players a reason to stay
The stand-up sports avoid that problem thanks to Island Crown, a tournament ladder where you climb the rankings against increasingly tough CPU opponents. Each sport has its own champion waiting at the top, a character with quips and tips who gives the mode personality beyond a list of matches. Tennis, Volleyball and Basketball can be tackled in co-op, which is a nice touch for couples or siblings who want to grind together rather than against each other. Reaching the top rewards you with accessories and items for avatar customisation. It’s not a career mode with deep progression, but it’s a meaningful upgrade on simply playing exhibition matches, and it gives Resort a backbone for those evenings when the house is empty.
Miis are still welcome on the island
Avatar customisation will be familiar to anyone who played Switch Sports, with the same sleek, stylised characters and a similar range of cosmetic options. The better news for long-time fans is that Miis are fully supported, so your wonderfully awkward creation from years ago can still take the court. There’s even an option to swap every CPU opponent for a Mii, pulling from the ones saved on your console as well as randomly generated faces. It’s a small setting, but it’s the kind of affectionate detail that shows Nintendo understands why people love this series. Few things beat losing a boxing match to a Mii version of your uncle.
Who Switch Sports Resort is actually for
Motion controls stopped being a novelty a long time ago, and nobody is going to be stunned by the basic idea of swinging a Joy-Con. What survives is the social chaos, the trash talk, the spectacle of grown adults taking Table Tennis far too personally. Resort is built for that environment, and every design choice, from simultaneous bowling to bite-sized basketball modes, points towards getting more people playing at once with less waiting around. Families, party hosts and anyone with a regular game night will get the most out of it. Solo players get a solid tournament mode and a lovely sightseeing island, but the missing CPU racers in Leisure Sports mean the experience thins out without company. As a Switch 2 showcase, it also makes a strong case for HD Rumble as more than a spec-sheet bullet point.
Verdict
Nintendo Switch Sports Resort is the most cohesive and fully realised entry in the series. Its twelve sports favour proven classics over sheer variety, and the trade-off mostly works, with smart upgrades like Boxing’s stamina system, simultaneous Bowling and the welcome return of 100 Pin Bowling. Volleyball and Basketball demand more patience than the rest, but their simplified modes keep the barrier low for casual groups. The Leisure Sports are the standout, turning Joy-Cons into planes, skateboards and jet skis with real imagination, and Island Crown finally gives solo players a structured challenge. The absence of CPU opponents and online play in Leisure Sports’ competitive modes is a genuine misstep, and fans of Chambara, Badminton or Disc Golf will notice the cuts. Still, if your Switch 2 regularly sees a full living room, this is the easiest recommendation in Nintendo’s current lineup. Solo players should temper expectations, but anyone who plays with others will find this a superb, endlessly replayable party staple.
