One of the biggest successes in the history of Nintendo, and of video games in general, was Wii Sports, the game that was sold with the Wii and that convinced millions of people who had never held a controller to simulate being on a tennis court or boxing in a ring thanks to the Wiimote. Sixteen years later, Nintendo returns to that idea with a new look on its current console, Switch.
The six sports initially included in Nintendo Switch Sports They are badminton, bowling, soccer, tennis, volleyball and chambara (a sword fighting sport that was born in Japan in the 70s and is little known outside that Asian country).
Playing them is just as intuitive and easy to learn as in Wii Sportsyou just have to grab the controller and imitate the movement that would be done practicing the real sport, the buttons are used very rarely and it is not difficult to remember which one to press.
Sports in the living roomSwitch Sports it’s a simple idea behind complex technologies that detect the direction and intensity of movement of the player’s hand (or their leg if they play football with a Joy-con attachment on their thigh). In addition, Switch joy-cons are much more precise than Wiimotes ever were, so they’re more fun to play and you don’t feel like they’ve misread your motion.
To hit a good hit or move you have to be precise and hit at the right time. In soccer, volleyball and Chambara, even being intuitive, there are small tutorials to know how and when to move so as not to fail.
That reminds a lot of that Wii proposal already Wii Sports Resort -which came out years later- does not mean that there are no important novelties; Wii Sports it was meant to be played with friends on the same console but also encouraged to play alone to learn the nuances of each game, it had more depth than it initially seemed.
Sports in the living roomIn the Switch game, playing in company is a priority, both offline and online. In fact, playing online is how you can only get player points, participate in leagues and get makeup and equipment that only affect the character’s appearance.
The experience varies depending on the number of players and the number of controls they use, which affects chambara and soccer. Playing with two Joy-cons allows you to use double weapons in sword combat and in soccer you can play a special mode.
In addition to the memories of many times playing on the Wii with the then new motion-sensing controllers, videos of controllers slipping out of the hand and hitting the television have returned, often ending up broken. Some accidents that Nintendo warns of and remember that are avoided by placing adjustable wrist straps on the Joy-con.
Some games that Nintendo usually includes in similar proposals such as golf or baseball were missing from the initial catalog of games, although the first has already been announced for autumn as free downloadable content.
