Nintendo Switch Sports came out recently! From what’s being said, as well as what I’ve experienced on the online play test, it’s looking like a solid successor to the Wii Sports games. Despite that, many people haven’t been interested in buying the game. Even with the good reception, some people still aren’t keen on getting it.
One of the reasons for this was the way Nintendo sidelined the Mii characters in favor of the new Sportsmates. Despite not necessarily caring for Miis and liking the Sportsmates, I understand this sentiment a lot. Another reason is that it’s too expensive, due to the misconception that the game was priced at $60 with little or very similar sports. While I think the game’s worth the price it actually is, which is $40, I also understand that Nintendo Switch Sports can appear to be a downgrade, especially after the abundance and variety of sports we had in Wii Sports Resort.
So the second best thing for Nintendo to do (because let’s be honest, they aren’t putting the Miis back in the spotlight) is to add more varying sports. I think nine sports would be plenty while keeping the symmetry of the menu. They already have six sports currently available as well as another one coming in the Fall as a free update; however, due to the similarity of three of the sports (volleyball, tennis, and badminton), I’ll pretend two of those don’t exist and add two more sports…guess which two they are before making it to the end of the article. They’ll also all be sports completely new to the series, so… no boxing. Now, let’s get started with four new sports that should be added to Nintendo Switch Sports.
Kickball
Kickball is pretty much like baseball, but with your feet kicking a big inflated ball rather than a baseball hitting a small hard ball. Personally, I think the controls, in terms of kicking, wouldn’t be much different from the motions and timing you’d probably use to play soccer. But I think the atmosphere of the game alone, as well as hopefully being able to play with a team of several people, would make up for the similarity in that area.
Karate
I did say I wasn’t gonna add boxing, but if it were to never return, karate would be a pretty cool substitute. It would be a game of spacing and properly punishing whiffed attacks, using a pair of Joy-Cons as both your arms and legs to attack your opponent. Think of it like the karate event from Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games Tokyo 2020. However, this sport would only really work if you’re able to move on your own, which Nintendo Switch Sports doesn’t let you do.
Stretching
While this isn’t technically a sport, I think the game would benefit really well from an exercise that can be competitive but more relaxing and slower paced at the same time. It could function exactly like the group stretching exercise in Animal Crossing: New Horizons when using motion controls. But this time, you get points depending on how accurate your arm motions are with whatever movement the game gives you to do. The person with the most points “wins.”
Jousting
If the game needed an equestrian sport, I vote for jousting before horse racing. You may see this pick as a joke, and to be fair you’d be totally right. But the more I actually thought about it, the more I felt that jousting would be interesting and cool to have. It wouldn’t be too complicated to work into motion controls either. One Joy-Con can function as the rope you’d use to hold onto and control the horse, while the other (your dominant hand) can control how you hold the lance. They’d definitely need to modernize or soften the sport up a bit though, as it’d look a bit out of place with the rest of them.
And with that, there would be nine sports in Nintendo Switch Sports: tennis, chambara, bowling, golf, soccer, kickball, karate, stretching, and jousting. While I wanted to go with new and varying sports, I also wanted sports that would be interactive and optimized the motion controls of the Joy-Cons effectively. If you believe these sports would do it well, let me know. Or tell me other sports you are interested in seeing, new or old. I’d love to hear your thoughts.