You swing the Joy-Con to bowl, swing a racket, or spike a volleyball, with the controller's motion doing most of the work rather than complex button combos. It is built for a room full of people passing controllers around rather than one person playing alone for hours. The motion controls are simple enough that someone who has never held a controller before can join in immediately.
Gameplay video
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Screenshots & review notes
The verdict
It's pleasant but a little thin compared to its Wii Sports predecessor, competent rather than genuinely inspired in most of its events.
The mechanics
Motion controls read swings and serves reliably enough, though the limited event roster at launch left some sports feeling undercooked.
Presentation
Character customization is more expressive than before, and the presentation is clean and colorful without demanding much of the hardware.
Staying power
It's an easy pick for family gatherings or grandparents visiting for the holidays, though the shallow depth means dedicated gamers will move on quickly.
Frames captured from the gameplay video above; notes are our own take on the game.
What it's like to play
You hold a single Joy-Con controller and physically swing, bowl, or serve to control your character in one of several familiar sports, including bowling, tennis, volleyball, badminton, chambara sword fighting, and soccer using a leg strap accessory. There are no complicated buttons to learn, since the game reads your actual arm motion, so a bowling throw really is just miming a bowling throw with the controller in hand. The soccer mode has you strapping the Joy-Con to your leg and actually kicking to control your on-screen player, which turns into a surprising amount of exercise. Setting up a match with a new player takes under a minute, since anyone can pick up the controller and immediately understand what to do.
Most sessions involve picking a sport, playing a few short rounds against friends or family in the same room, and switching to another sport once everyone has had a turn, similar to how people used to gather around Wii Sports years ago. Online play lets you compete against strangers and earn cosmetic gear and levels for your character, and a survival bowling mode with elimination rounds adds real tension to what is normally a relaxed game. Golf and basketball were added later as free updates, expanding the original lineup. A single match in most sports lasts only a few minutes, keeping the pace brisk.
Session to session, this is best enjoyed with other people in the room, since it is built to get everyone moving and laughing together rather than to be studied alone. What might frustrate solo players is that there is not much depth once you have tried each sport a few times, since progression is purely cosmetic. It works extremely well as a family or party activity, especially for people who do not consider themselves gamers at all.