![]() ![]() Most of the controls are contextual you swipe up and then down to serve the ball, but that same up-then-down motion is also how you spike it. ![]() If you're familiar with volleyball already, learning this minigame is a snap. You don't control the camera here and in fact you only need one Joy-Con, but the thumbstick is how you move around the play space while motion controls handle ball management. The two games aren't all that different, mechanically speaking. Where Soccer falls short on intuitive design, Volleyball delivers. But it's one kick per turn, and the challenge never gets any more involved than that. You'll have to take care to line up your aim and get your timing right. There's no player movement required at all the ball is automatically served to you when it's your turn. You and another player (human or AI) take turns trying to score goals. Once you've got a Joy-Con firmly attached to your kicking leg - in-game instructions show you how and where to do it - the Shootout begins. That's also true of a separate "Shootout" mode, which is the aforementioned "you can use your feet!" option, though you'll need a Nintendo Leg Strap (Opens in a new tab) (or a jury-rigged equivalent). It works well enough, but it's not a particularly active way to play compared to the other minigames. You can also execute a diving header by swiping both Joy-Cons downward simultaneously while you're running at the ball. You "kick" the ball by quickly swiping either Joy-Con in the direction you'd like to kick (left and right, plus up for high kicks and down for low kicks). But kicking is where things get really weird. The left and right Joy-Con thumbsticks control player movement and camera position, respectively, while other buttons allow you to jump or sprint. Where soccer is a sport that is expressly about not using your hands, Switch Sports Soccer takes the opposite approach. It's the laughably unintuitive controls that are the problem here. Soccer, in its standard team-based modes, lets one or two human players face off in one-on-one or four-on-four matches, with the latter filled out by AI-controlled players. While there is a way to use your feet in Switch Sports Soccer, it's a separate mode that has some limitations of its own (I'll get to that in a minute). Just don't expect to feel the burn at any point if anything, Switch Sports Bowling is relaxing and meditative. It's also great fun to play with friends, supporting up to four players in each game. It's enjoyable, and challenging enough mechanically that you'll need to really put some effort into mastering how to roll if you want to score a perfect game. The only physical movement requirement is for the wind-up and release, which involves bringing the Joy-Con up to your face, holding a trigger button down, and swinging your arm down, back, and forward as if you're actually bowling. You use button and thumbstick commands to adjust aim and ball spin. None of this is strenuous in any way, shape, or form, though. You can land strikes and spares of course, but you also have enough control to aim your roll and even put some spin on the ball. You're able to bowl a full game of 10 frames if you like, alone or alongside other players. For some players, that kind of pursuit could make the experience stick a little more, but I didn't get to test it out.Īs a full representation of the sport, Bowling is still one of Nintendo's stronger minigames in these collections. Victories in that online mode unlock new options for customizing the character you create from a limited set of options the first time you launch Switch Sports. Switch Sports has an entire online mode that lets you test your faux sports skills against human players in all six minigames. ![]() Nintendo's review guidelines create some artificial limitations here, admittedly. But together they make for a very slight experience overall. Volleyball, Badminton, Bowling, Soccer, Chambara (sword fighting), and Tennis are all charming and (for the most part) intuitively enjoyable to play. That puts a lot of pressure to shine on the six sports-themed minigames included in this package on day one ( a golf minigame (Opens in a new tab) is coming, but not until the fall). But the old magic, the "wow" factor that made the Wii's capabilities so fundamentally cool, is gone now. Swinging your virtual tennis racket here feels much the same as it did over 15 years ago. The Switch's Joy-Con controllers are in many ways newer and fancier versions of the iconic Wii Remote, sporting the same kind of motion-sensing hardware that made the Wii such a transformational experience. If you're walking into Nintendo Switch Sports armed with fond memories of blissful hours spent playing Wii Sports and Wii Sports Resort, you might want to check your face for rose-tinted glasses. ![]()
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