There’s no tutorial if you know how to swing a racquet, you know how to swing a Joy-con. It’s a more pingpong-like variation of tennis that has two players volleying back and forth on a small court.

Most of the best minigames (with one exception) require no explanation.Įvery time I swing, I’m surprised that the ball always goes exactly where I intended.īadminton, the collection’s crown jewel, is the perfect example of that. There are more highlights than duds in the package, and there’s a trend between the hits. This time around, Nintendo’s anthology of sports games contains six activities at launch: Bowling, tennis, badminton, chambara, volleyball, and soccer. It only loses points when it strives to be more complex than it needs to be. When Nintendo Switch Sports is focused on reinforcing already intuitive gameplay with more precise motion controls, it’s every bit as addictive as Wii Sports. No real-life bowler has ever complained that the sport doesn’t add enough new features year after year, after all (imagine someone arguing that it’s time to add an 11th pin).

Nintendo’s new package of sports minigames defies the normal expectation about modern games by remaining confident in its instantly gratifying gameplay instead of inventing new hooks to expand the experience.

There’s nothing fundamentally different about bowling in Nintendo Switch Sports and Wii Sports, but there doesn’t have to be. That’s the lasting power of Nintendo’s now 16 year-old sports series.

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