Nintendo Switch Sports Resort was a bright spark during my PAX Aus 2026 journey. In its bright, bouncy approach to sports mini-games, it’s a title that brims with an infectious joy. It encourages you to take part in light, physical gameplay to get you active and feeling alive, with a nice variety of activities and gameplay styles in its mix.
Importantly, it’s not a game that takes itself too seriously, with its funny approach to some games – particularly thumb-wrestling – sweeping you up in its silly world.
Sometimes all you need is a big thumb and an opponent doing a funny face to make you happy.
Nintendo Switch Sports Resort preview – quick links
The joys of thumb-wrestling
If you’ve played any of the Nintendo sports titles – or even the Mario & Sonic Olympics series – you’ll be familiar with how Sports Resort runs. From a selection of various sports-themed mini-games, you’ll pick one and then head off to complete one activity or another. You can take part solo, or compete against groups of friends.
Really, the competition between friends is what will keep you going here (particularly if you’re playing a two-player sports like table tennis) but if you’re just looking to get some exercise or take part in a fun game or two, there’s plenty of encouragement to forge your own path.
Thumb-wrestling is a highlight if you’re playing with friends, as I was in my preview. You begin, and it’s immediately about strategy. If you can place your thumb down momentarily for a ‘charge’ it will get bigger and stronger. But if your opponent catches you with their thumb, you’ll need to fight to survive the onslaught and work your thumb free.
A bigger thumb can defeat a littler thumb regardless of how much you mash your Switch 2 controller buttons, so you’ll need to plan carefully about when and how you charge your thumb and when to leave yourself vulnerable to being captured.
This particular mini-game is simple but inspires plenty of giggles as you desperately try to enlarge your thumb and claim victory over your weak-thumbed rival. It’s so silly, and so enjoyable.
The highs and lows of archery
For something a bit more intense in Nintendo Switch Sports Resort, you should make time for archery. This particular sport functions very logically. You’re placing one controller ahead of the other then drawing back the second controller, as you would with a traditional bow.
As an added twist, you’re aiming for targets often against the sway of the wind. Monitor conditions, adjust your aim to suit the wind speed, and then let loose. It’s very funny when you miss wildly thanks to a miscalculation. But it’s ultra-satisfying when you finally hit that bullseye and get to pretend you did it on purpose, with intention and skill. Definitely not by mistake.
Even if you do end up losing this particular mini-game, you get to feel cool pretending you’re Hawkeye, Link or some other bow-wielding hero.
Hundred-pin bowling is wild and triumphant
You can find very similar glory in the bowling mini-game of Nintendo Switch Sports Resort, which actually features one hundred pins instead of the usual ten. One hundred! Thankfully they are slightly smaller pins and your ball can make a massive impact on the playing field. If you plan correctly and aim at just the right spot, you can actually end up getting a strike as you set off a massive interconnected boom that takes out every single pin in turn.
During my preview, my lovely opponent managed to find exactly the right spot for their swinging style early on, and ended up trouncing me with back-to-back-to-back strikes that made my score pale in comparison.
Getting defeated so roundly meant I was able to experiment more with my style, using the controller to fling and swing my way to at least one strike to save face, as well as a spare.
It may look silly, but there’s a lot of fun in being dramatic with your bowling swings and figuring out how far a solid flourish and twist will get you.
Flying high through Wuhu Island
My favourite experience of the preview mini-games was found in the Prop Plane segment.
This is a slower-paced, scenic mini-game that lets you pilot a jet all around the iconic Wuhu Island while hunting down various collectibles and shooting at roaming balloons for points. After the hustle and bustle of PAX Aus 2026, it was a refreshing experience, offering a chance to sit back and relax.
The map for Wuhu Island is very big and filled with little easter eggs, so you can spend plenty of time exploring in this colourful semi-open world. You can even fly your plane through the mouth of the island’s volcano and discover all sorts of hidden secrets, as long as you can avoid flying into walls or lava.
Coming away from my preview, this was the mode I was most excited to spend additional time with. There’s a long list of collectables for the stage, so it seems there’ll be plenty of opportunities to spend time here while gathering some surprising (but welcome) lore along the way.
Elsewhere, there’s a host of other sports mini-games to conquer, including ones inspired by boxing, skateboarding, sailing, tennis, volleyball and more. There’s plenty to get on with here, and loads of skills to master.
We’ll have a full review of Nintendo Switch Sports Resort in the coming weeks.
