The Nintendo Wii was a phenomenon when it first came out. I played so much bowling with my in-laws. A few years later, though, the company announced Wii Sports Resort, which brought with it a pile of new ways to play sports in your living room. Pretty close to a decade later, Nintendo Switch Sports Resort is coming out, and I was able to go hands-on with eight of the twelve games coming to Nintendo Switch 2 on October 22, 2026.
Nintendo’s Holiday Preview provided me with an opportunity to play a ton of great Nintendo titles this year, but I was treated to a behind-closed-doors opportunity with Nintendo Switch Sports Resort. The 2026 version features the following twelve games:
- Tennis
- Bowling
- Archery
- Boxing
- Volleyball
- Table Tennis
- Basketball
- Golf
- Thumbwrestling
- Prop Plane
- Skateboarding
- Power Cruising
We have come a long way from the Wii Sports original five. Nintendo Switch Sports Resort has switched things up a bit, saying goodbye to Swordplay, Wakeboarding, Cycling, Frisbee, and Canoeing. New to this version are Boxing, Volleyball, regular Tennis, Thumbwrestling, and Skateboarding. Air Sports has also been dubbed Prop Plane. I was able to try Bowling, Archery, Boxing, Table Tennis, Thumbwrestling, Prop Plane, Skateboarding, and Power Cruising, giving me a well-rounded look at Nintendo Switch Sports Resort.
“Nintendo Switch Sports Resort showcasing a variety of ways to use the system and its Joy-Cons, plus showing just how far the hardware has come across all of its systems.”
I was pleasantly surprised by Archery, which has players take control of both Nintendo Switch 2 Joy-Cons. We played a version of the game that had four players (two humans and two NPC in our case) shoot the same target at the same time, aiming for their own colours. I happened to be pretty good until I accidentally started hitting another colour, which gave that player points instead of me. It was fun nonetheless.
Skateboarding uses the Nintendo Switch 2’s mouse controls. I am still not a pro in this department, but I was starting to get the hang of it near the end. It is also one of the games we played where you are free to explore Wuhu Island. Prop Plane and Power Cruising were also included in that list, and each offered different collectibles while playing.
In all three, you could explore and collect Spocco Photos around the island. There were also other collectibles: wheels for skateboarding, balloon popping for Prop Plane, and life preservers for Power Cruising. All collectibles and points go toward the main player’s progress, so we could split up and grab everything we could. It was easy to get lost on the island and forget about the collectibles altogether, since I was busy bouncing giant balls in Prop Plane and chasing dolphins in Power Cruising.
“The same can be said for Nintendo Switch Sports Resort, since I spent the entire hour laughing with my partner—and my arms were so sore the next day!”
Boxing was the only solo sport we played in our time with Nintendo Switch Sports Resort, and we needed to rise through the ranks of NPC players to ultimate victory. Characters could be seen surrounding the ring and cheering us on, which could be other NPCs and even other player profiles on the console. We mastered a variety of skills like uppercuts and blocks, but overall, it was pretty easy to spam punches to take out my opponent, though I was only on the first level.
Sports titles made sense to me when the original game was released with the Wii to showcase what it can do. Well, the same is true again on the Nintendo Switch 2, with Nintendo Switch Sports Resort showcasing a variety of ways to use the system and its Joy-Cons, plus showing just how far the hardware has come across all of its systems. Wuhu Island never looked so good.
Though the Nintendo Sports titles were never really something I went out of my way for, they were always great to play in a group setting. The same can be said for Nintendo Switch Sports Resort, since I spent the entire hour laughing with my partner—and my arms were so sore the next day!
Nintendo Switch Sports Resort releases on October 22, 2026, for the Nintendo Switch 2.
