Keep, Complete or Delete (Wii Sports Edition)

What Wii Sports Game is The Best?

Back in 2023, we were inspired by a very short segment on the Easy Allies podcast, which was a version of Kiss, Marry, Kill, but for video games. The idea is that there are three games, that are all very excellent in their own way and you need to make some very tough choices. Pick one game that you would get to keep forever , pick one game to fully complete one time only, and sadly, pick one game that gets deleted from existence. With the approval from Easy Allies to do this, let’s have some fun.

This time around, we are going to be looking at Wii Sports Series with the choices being the original Wii Sports, Wii Sports Resort, and Switch Sports.

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Keep Wii Sports Resort

When it comes to creating these lists, the easiest answer is usually the game to keep. Wii Sports Resort was the perfect follow up to Wii Sports. It improved the controls with the Wii Motion Plus that was packed in with the game, but it did what a good sequel should do, which is give you more and make it better. Wii Sports Resort launched with 12 sports which is up from the 5 that were included with Wii Sports and even set a precedent for the series moving forward. When Switch Sports launched, it was understandable that some people were upset at the lack of sports when Wii Sports Resort had 12. Wii Sports Resort went on to sell over 33 million which is impressive because it wasn’t a pack in with the Wii like Wii Sports was, which went on to sell over 82 million, largely in part to being bundled in. Wii Sports Resort is the easy pick to keep because it controlled better than Wii Sports and it has more games that Switch Sports.

Complete Wii Sports

Trying to decide which one to complete was harder than I originally thought because what is complete for a game of this genre. The decision was that for complete, it really came down to the first experience with the game and there is no competition for experiencing Wii Sports with the motion controls back in 2006, even if they weren’t accurate.  All you need with Wii Sports is one completion or in this case one family holiday gathering where everyone plays and everyone who has been playing Nintendo for a long time has a memory like this. Wii sports might lack in variety with only five sports, but they were all great and there was nothing like it in 2006.

Delete Switch Sports

Speaking on a technical level, Switch Sports is the best out of the group. Being able to capture the motion using the gyroscopes and accelerometers in the Joy-Con without having to connect wires, IR sensors or even candles is great. It also easily had the most potential out of the group and easiest path to success. Just take everything about Wii Sports Resort. Improve the controls with modern tech, improved visuals, online play and this is an easy purchase for almost any Switch owner.

The Nintendo Switch is on the way to becoming one of the best selling systems of all time and there is a massive casual market who would have bought Switch Sports if there was more sports or included many of the classics from the first two games including Baseball, Boxing and Basketball. Switch Sports launched with 6 sports and that wasn’t good enough because Wii Sports launched with the 5. Wii Sports was bundled in with the Wii and Switch Sports was a premium priced release.

Switch Sports did a lot right, but the one glaring issue was the lack of sports. Soccer was not great if you weren’t using the leg strap and even if you did, it defeated the advantage of how easy Swtich Sports was to pick up and play . Then you have badminton and tennis, which were very similar. This leaves you with 4 good sports at launch: Badminton, Volleyball, Chambara and Bowling. All of which were excellent and they eventually added golf, but it wasn’t enough.

Switch Sports has sold almost 13 million copies, which proves there was a hungry fan base for the title in addition to casual newcomers. With a slightly stronger launch or more post launch support, Switch Sports could have given Wii Sports Resort a run for its money in the sales department. Unfortunately, the major knock was quantity and Nintendo never did anything to change it.

Nintendo has also been weird updating games long after release and with the second half of 2024 being uncertain, it wouldn’t be shocking to see another sport or two added making for a more compelling purchase for casual holiday gamers.

It goes without saying that all of these games are great games and all have different strengths. This list doesn’t take anything away from any of them. As always, remember to be nice to your fellow gamer, but more importantly, be nice to your fellow human