Switch Sports Resort: Hands-On Previews Confirm 12-Sport Wuhu Island Return on Oct 22

Nintendo Switch Sports Resort, the Switch 2-exclusive follow-up to 2022’s Nintendo Switch Sports, has now been played hands-on by press at two separate summer events, and early impressions suggest the Wuhu Island revival has lost none of its pick-up-and-play charm. Journalists at both Japan Expo in Paris and San Diego Comic-Con got time with the game across July, trying sports from returning favourites like Archery and Bowling to the brand-new Thumb Wrestling event, ahead of the game’s worldwide release on October 22.

Twelve Sports and a Return to Wuhu Island

Nintendo confirmed the game during a Nintendo Direct on June 9, and its official product pages lay out the roster: Boxing, Table Tennis, Archery, Tennis, Volleyball, Bowling, Basketball and Golf sit alongside newer additions. Players can take part as a Sportsmate or Mii character, and check out the facilities on Wuhu Island’s sporting resort, the same tropical setting from 2009’s Wii Sports Resort on the original Wii.

Newcomers to the lineup lean into the Switch 2’s upgraded hardware. According to Nintendo Life’s breakdown of the announcement, Skateboarding has you ride using mouse controls, Thumb Wrestling sees you hold a single Joy-Con 2 upright, and the Prop Plane mini-game has you fly around freely by tilting. A Jump Rope activity is also included as a separate warm-up mode rather than one of the twelve main events.

The Thumb Wrestling event became an unlikely highlight of the June reveal itself. Nintendo executive Yoshiaki Koizumi gave the sport an extended in-person demonstration on stage, and outlet Dexerto reported that Senior Nintendo executive Yoshiaki Koizumi… found himself in the spotlight after clips of him enthusiastically playing a motion-controlled thumb wrestling minigame went viral.

Japan Expo Hands-On: Jet Skis and Silly Thumb Battles

The game’s first public hands-on came at Japan Expo in Paris in early July, where Gaming Boulevard writer Lander Van der Biest tried four of the twelve sports at Nintendo’s show floor booth. Describing the returning Power Cruising jet-ski event, Van der Biest wrote that I started with the return of Power Cruising, which immediately made me wish for a new Wave Race after completing the short demo, praising how you hold your Joy-Con sideways and flick your wrist to throttle and gain speed much like a real jet ski.

Thumb Wrestling made a similarly strong impression away from Koizumi’s viral demo. In the same preview, the mechanic was described in detail: By rotating the controller, you move the virtual hand and thumb, while pressing the shoulder button makes you try to pin your opponent’s thumb… Just shake your Joy-Con as fast as possible and hope you can escape. The writer called the result incredibly silly, but it brought a smile to my face, while noting that Archery and Bowling felt largely familiar to anyone who has played the series before.

SDCC Preview Goes Deeper on Archery’s Physics

A second, longer hands-on followed weeks later at San Diego Comic-Con, where Temple of Geek was given roughly an hour with the game in a closed media preview. The outlet reported it was playable for the first time ever here at SDCC… I was able to play roughly an hour of the Switch 2 exclusive during a closed media preview, and I had a blast with it.

The Archery event drew particular attention for its shot physics. The preview noted that another key thing that took me awhile to get the hang of was the amount of arrow drop-off as it approaches its target… the game’s physics were a lot more realistic than I expected, resulting in major adjustments to my form. The writer also singled out Thumb Wrestling again, calling it a truly fun experience I was surprised by, while cautioning that the overall collection isn’t necessarily reinventing the wheel.

From Wii Sports Resort to a Switch 2 Sequel

Nintendo Switch Sports Resort is positioned as a spiritual sequel to 2009’s Wii Sports Resort, which itself introduced Wuhu Island and the Wii MotionPlus accessory. Nintendo Life pointed out that this marks the second time Nintendo has revived a Wii-era sports collection for modern hardware, noting this isn’t the first time Nintendo has brought back a Wii Sports game, with the original Wii Sports getting the modern treatment with Nintendo Switch Sports in 2022. That 2022 title launched with a smaller roster before later sports were added as free updates, making Resort’s twelve-sport lineup at launch a notably bigger offering out of the gate.

Online play will also be part of the package, though Nintendo has been light on specifics so far. The publisher’s own storefront listing states that Create and customize your Sportsmate or Mii characters, and jump into the fun online or offline in Nintendo Switch Sports Resort! Details about how many people can play together online will be provided in the future.

Availability for New Zealand and Australian Players

Nintendo Switch Sports Resort is already listed for pre-order through New Zealand retailer Noel Leeming, whose product page details the same expanded sports roster as the international listings, describing new and returning sports like Boxing, Table Tennis, Archery, Tennis, Volleyball, Bowling, Basketball, Golf and Thumb Wrestling – and leisure sports like Skateboarding… Power Cruising and Prop Plane. You can also do some warm-ups with Jump Rope. The game is also confirmed for Australia, appearing on Nintendo’s own Australian eShop listing ahead of its October 22 global release.

With the Switch 2 install base still ramping up across the Tasman, a broad, low-barrier party title like Switch Sports Resort is likely to become one of the console’s key living-room sells this spring for local players, much as the original Wii Sports and Wii Sports Resort did on their own hardware a generation ago.

Sources

• Nintendo Official Site (Nintendo UK)
• Gaming Boulevard
• Temple of Geek
• Nintendo Life
• Noel Leeming (NZ)