Nintendo Switch Sports Resort launches Thursday with 12 sports, a return to Wuhu Island and good reviews

Nintendo Switch Sports Resort launches this Thursday, October 22, exclusively on Nintendo Switch 2. According to Nintendo's official page, it packs 12 motion-control sports into a holiday island: Wuhu Island, the setting of 2009's Wii Sports Resort. Reviews went live on Tuesday, October 20, and are positive overall.

The game is up for pre-order at $49.99 on the US eShop.

The 12 sports and the modes

The lineup mixes Wii classics with new events: tennis, bowling, golf, boxing, volleyball, basketball, table tennis, archery, Power Cruising (jet skis), Prop Plane, skateboarding and thumb wrestling. Skateboarding is the only one built around the Joy-Con 2's mouse mode: you drag the controller across a surface to push off.

Up to four people can play on one system. Online, private lobbies hold up to eight players, alongside casual matches and a ranked Pro League; online play requires Nintendo Switch Online. Solo players get Island Crown, a mode where you climb a ladder of CPU opponents across nine sports, plus sightseeing tours of the island full of photo spots and missions to collect. Points earned by playing buy outfits and gear in a shop that rotates weekly.

What the critics say

Nintendo Life gave it 9/10 and called it “everything Switch Sports should have been at launch,” a nod to the 2022 game, which launched thin and grew through updates. VGC gave it 4/5 and called it the most complete entry in the series, while noting that tennis and basketball still have imprecise controls. IGN was more reserved at 7/10, praising the party fun but finding the single-player modes light.

Nintendo Life also flags that Table Top mode does not support local multiplayer, so playing with friends needs a TV, and skateboarding with more than one player requires extra Joy-Con 2 controllers.

Why it matters

This is one of Nintendo's best-selling series: Wii Sports topped 82 million copies, many of them bundled with the console, and Nintendo Switch Sports reached 18 million, according to VGC. The launch lands a month before Wii Sports turns 20 and arrives in time for holiday shopping, with a game built for the whole family.