Here's a fun little exercise: When you think of Wii Sports, which sport do you think of first? For me, it's Bowling. I got really good at lining up the ball just right to always get a strike, which is a far cry from my real-life bowling ability (which usually includes a lot of gutterballs). I only vaguely remember the others, although Tennis was quite fun until we learned the perils of flailing around in a relatively small living room.
But that's not the case for everyone! Perhaps you enjoyed using the Nunchuk and the Wiimote together under the tutelage of Matt in Wii Boxing, or you like the sedate, focused game of Wii Golf. Or maybe you're the only person in the world who thought Wii Baseball was a jolly good time!
Easy, right? The real answer is which is the worst Wii Sport. To paraphrase the beginning of Anna Karenina, good Wii Sports are all alike; each terrible Wii Sport is terrible in its own way — which is to say that we all have different reasons for hating the one that we do. Perhaps you think that Wii Tennis is an accident waiting to happen, or maybe Wii Bowling gave you Wii Elbow and you just cannot forgive it.
"But wait," I hear you say — "what about Wii Sports Resort, the critically acclaimed yet vastly underappreciated sequel?" Yeah, alright, sure! It's Friday, and that means there's time to get into the weeds with this.
The 2009 follow-up to Wii Sports required the use of the Wii MotionPlus controller add-on, which added a whole new range of motion to the blocky remote, and therefore a ton of different sports, too. The only returning sports were Bowling and Golf, and the other ten sports — from Basketball to Frisbee Golf — were all new to the series. They were also pretty... weird. I mean, there was a dogfighting minigame. Who goes to a sports resort to shoot other people out of planes?
But again, everyone has their favourite sport, right? I've even split these into more categories, since some of the sports (like Air Sports and Frisbee) have different modes that I think are worth highlighting:
And just to keep things even... What's the worst Wii Sports Resort game? Do you hate cycling, because it feels like work? Do you think that Dog Frisbee would be much better if it were Cat Frisbee? Or are you angry at Golf for being the world's most boringest use of hundreds of acres of land? Vote in this poll to make it absolutely clear which sport is the worst sport, and maybe if enough of you vote, we can destroy that sport once and for all.
Now, time to play the best sport of all: Commenting! Head down into the depths below this article to give us either your best sermon on why [YOUR SPORT OF CHOICE] is the most fun, or your most unhinged rant on why [YOUR SPORT OF CHOICE] is an abomination and an insult to the world of organised motion-based exercise.
And tell us: Will you be getting Nintendo Switch Sports, too? Or have your muscles and bones become too brittle and weak in the 16 years since Wii Sports came out? Yeah, same. At least Boxing Matt will stay forever young.
Comments (73)
tennis and bowling were huge. just pure fun
Bowling is the best from Wii Sports, and Swordplay is the best from Resort. Both games have a lot of memories for me!
I'm in the minority that loved boxing, it was really fun to play. And of course, bowling was always a must every weekend with my friends
Wii Sports Resort is in constant rotation in my house. My Kids LOVE skydiving, speed slice, and "Frisbee Dog".
I have to say though Wii U Sports Club Golf is just awesome
Canoeing?!? Getting 4 players to sit in a line and manually row a boat around is one of gamings greatest IRL moments, particularly if inibriated.
The worst in WSR are easily the plane ones. Holding the remote like a paper aeroplane? Not fun.
NSS better have the 100 pin bowling back.
Well... I hope that the best sports from Wii Sports and It's sequel's will be present in Switch Sports. And... Mention of Anna Karenina? Really? Wow!
"That looks like a Kate subtitle. I hope it is!" I'm never disappointed.
I don’t care what anyone says, boxing was awesome. Especially pummeling low level challengers. It was cathartic
If I had full control over the 7 sports in Nintendo Switch Sports, I’d have gone with bowling, tennis, golf, baseball, basketball, archery, and frisbee golf (with the dog mode included as a mini game).
Shoutouts to wakeboarding and island flyover though. I’d love to see them return in the forms of a new Pilotwings and Wave Race title… or just added into Switch Sports overtime lol.
@RadioHedgeFund Thats what canoe is how would you do it then? I thought paper planes were genus
The Dogs looked strange so sent it to the house
Best Bowling/Archery
Where's wii fit plus
Predicting a comment by Anti Matter about that boxing score.
Also I am one of the five people that never played resort.
Man, looking at these lists reminds me just how much better Wii Sports Resort was compared to the original. I loved nearly every one of those and put many hours into them. Basketball, wake boarding, table tennis, sword fighting, and frisbee golf were some of my favorites.
I can’t be the only one who loved table tennis!
@JeanPaul I loved Boxing, played it more than the other sports combined. It felt more like a workout than the others to me.
Also geez, that list of Resorts sports make the new game look a little weak 😂
@blindsquarel Whoa, wild... I don't think he's here any more. His profile shows zero comments. https://www.nintendolife.com/users/Anti-Matter/comments
Edit: welp, turns out I'm blocked lol
Ouch, boxing got rated the worst. Sorry @Anti-Matter.
@Bret seems like it was just a glitch, and thank goodness too, I would be sad to see Anti-Matter gone. Who else would have the same charming comments as him other than me?
Boxing in Wii Sports was so good. Totally underappreciated.
Wii Sports Resort was the height of the series. I loved most of the activities in that game. Particularly the air plane sim, archery and table tennis. Such a shame devs barely used the enhanced wii motion plus at the time. Bowling and golf were good fun as well of course.
(I also miss the wii fit u wuuhuu island activities you could do with the balance board and wiimote and nunchucks. All good times)
@HotGoomba You sure? For me, clicking on old articles he commented on, all his comments are gone. Maybe I'm just personally blocked from seeing his posts because I couldn't help arguing with him. Looks super strange to me, though. Going back to old articles he commented on, it's all just me and other folks going off at him for off-the-wall comments that I can no longer see. https://www.nintendolife.com/news/2021/08/mario_golf_super_rush_devs_wanted_maps_the_size_of_hyrule_field_nintendos_zelda_team_helped
Whether it's a glitch or an admittedly earned shutoff of my ability to see his comments, I gotta say I'll miss going back and forth with the guy.
@Bret I can still see the comments, so unfortunately I think he blocked you 😔
@HotGoomba Aw. I didn't even know that was a functionality on this site. Ah well. I more than earned it.
Best Sport for me : BOXING
Worst Sport for me : SOCCER
Mark my words !
@HotGoomba
I still claimed Boxing as the BEST Sport.
Peoples can hate Boxing as they want but I will always like BOXING.
No love for 100-pin bowling? That was easily my favorite Wii Sports or Resort game. A possible 3000? Sign me up! (I did bowl a 2996 once 😂) O wish it existed in real life.
@AndyC_MK111
I do not care with their opinion.
I still consider Boxing as the BEST sport for me.
Just look at my avatar how do I really want Chibi Cartoonish Boxing games for modern consoles.
@whiskeydave nope, I was nasty at it. Loved me some table tennis
@Anti-Matter respectable.
@RandomNerds You’re absolutely right about Wii U Sports Club Golf! Still the best use of the Game Pad ever - it was absolute genius!
Table tennis is insanely good, but I like bowling and regular tennis just for the sound alone.
I think sword fighting would've been truly great if you could move your character manually, it should've been an option.
Switch Sports needs to have much more sports to be a U$39,90 game.
Can't wait for the new one! Tried the online test, and bowling was my favorite of the three.
22% of Resort players didn't spend a wholesome afternoon coordinating with a friend to reunite the duck mom with her ducklings in Canoeing.
Is there a character limit for titles? I feel like you could have gotten a couple more mentions of Wii Sport in there.
Q : And tell us: Will you be getting Nintendo Switch Sports, too?
Me : I will keep repeating my statement.
No BOXING = No Buy.
I'm surprised how many of you didn't like boxing. I think baseball really needed more time in the oven.
Wait... dogfighting isn't actually in the game right? That choice is a joke?
Come on NL
SPLATOON 3 September the 9th
@XBontendo
There was dogfighting in Wii Sports Resort.
Frisbee golf, ping pong, basket, archery....I want them all it this new switch sports
@Rykdrew in a pair of months we'll have golf. I think that it won't the only one
Y’all hating on Rowing when Dog Frisbee was unplayable
Golf is great, especially in Resort. It's the only video game my dad's really got into, and he's much better than me at it.
I miss Table Tennis
@Kyloctopus I was starting to feel like I was crazy for voting dog frisbee.
@Anti-Matter oh mercy, it's planes. I was thinking dogs.
Golf was my favorite.
Tennis was probably the worst, that one was just wagglewagglewaggle all day long with nothing else really to it.
@Realness Replace boxing with swordplay, and that's exactly how I felt about it. Especially the single-player journey mode where you could go full-on Musou with the Wii Remote. That's my best memory from that game.
I don't 'hate' any of the sports in the original to be honest, they're all great in their own way. I guess Boxing since I could never get a handle on how it played and even when I did, it never felt too amazing? But even then, it's still good. My favourite one then is a hard choice between Bowling and Golf. But whereas Golf was something I liked doing outside of Wii Sports, Bowling was something I was introduced to because of Wii Sports and I've loved it ever since so I'll pick that one for that reason.
Never played Resort so I can't comment on the ones in there.
100 pin bowling is my all time favorite!
Bowling is perfect, best mini game of all time, and free as well!
@XBontendo Haha me too.
Wii sports is a fun short burst party game. I enjoyed it enough to buy it again on the Wii u. I still go back to it for bowling. I doubt be buying the switch port
Was I the only player who just couldn't get boxing to work? I mean, it was a fun game and all, but infuriating when the Wiimote and Nunchuck wouldn't do what you thought they should do. I remember playing and beating the easy computer; but as I got to the higher levels it always seemed like suddenly my boxer just wouldn't throw punches any more. And I remember having like 17 tries with a friend once and getting so frustrated because my boxer just wouldn't punch. Guess it was just me...
@BananaMetallurgica "Frisbee golf, ping pong, basket, archery....I want them all it this new switch sports"
You have good taste. I hope there are more sports.
Tennis is overrated, I thought it was horrible.
Boxing was too easily manipulated, but fun anyhow.
Boxing and bowling are the two I remember playing the most in the original. I gave my vote to boxing, but both were good. I never touched golf personally, just seemed boring to me.
I feel bad saying this, but even though I had Wii Sports Resort, I don't think I really played much of it. I'll need to fix that one of these days... I remember swordplay being cool, so I'll pick that as my favorite. No clue what my least favorite would be since I don't remember any of the others
I loved the baseball mini game so much!! I should really hunt down the Mario baseball games one day!!
Oh my god, I fell for it. Dogfighting? I’m disturbingly relieved.
I can see Tolstoy with a Wii. Dostoyevsky, not so much.
Bowling was good, but I loved the home run derby in baseball and boxing was alot of fun.
Tennis and Golf were so boring. Surprised that they're back and that people actually enjoyed them
For a second, I thought this article was talking about the best and worst Wii Sports games.
Golf is the one me and my friends/family played and it was great.
I picked Golf for the worst in both as I just don't find the sport that interesting. I will say though that I think I enjoyed Wii Sports Golf more than I did a Mario Golf game at any point. Bowling to me is the best of the original 5, and Boxing got a lot of hate, it's my second favorite. Wii Sports Resort...the best to me is the Island Flyover, which basically became a 3DS launch game in the form of Pilotwings Resort (I'm a fan of that game too). It's a very enjoyable, laid back experience. I figured Swordplay would get the most votes, but when Swordplay gets a single game made from it let me know. I cannot be too down on that sport though, as I would've gone for it as a runner up to Island Flyover.
Tennis or bust
Island flyover in resort was by far the best wii sports game ever in my opinion. It was fun to control (mainly because of how inconsistent it was). There were also so many fun little details across the island. So many great memories.
Golf is the most fun when solo, but tennis and bowling are the most fun in groups.
My memories of the Resort activities are pretty hazy, but I recall enjoying golf, table tennis, and swordplay the most.
Nothing will beat WarioWare: Smooth Moves though, hence why I was so disappointed that Get It Together was the first outing on Switch after such a long hiatus (not counting the “greatest hits” compilation that was Gold).
Basketball is my favorite. Hopefully it eventually makes its way to Switch Sports.
I liked the baseball on wii sport 1. Sound design and rewarding the good timing were enjoyable.
I'm surprised by the bad score on an anglophone site.
I'm looking forward to getting a copy of Nintendo Switch Sports. Would almost feel like 2007 again
Damn, no love for boxing? It was kinda random at times but it felt fun as hell with the Wiimotes. Bowling, Boxing and Golf are the standouts for me.
Tennis is the weakest in my eyes, with the motion controls basically boiling down to timing a button press. I would've liked to see more shot variety.
Bowling was by far my favorite in the original. Boxing was least, but it still had its fun (and soreness-causing moments).
In Resort, I really loved archery the most. Other good ones were swordplay, basketball (especially 3 pt contest) and frisbee golf. I think I played the Wii Play table tennis a lot more than the Resort one for some reason.
@RadioHedgeFund Ummm...I never thought to get into an actual line to do canoeing because it's not really necessary. Sound fun though.
Golf and bowling will always be my favourites. Also basketball and table tennis were also fun. Never liked tennis on both games. Grand Slam Tennis was miles better.
Baseball on Wii sports on WiiU is maybe my favorite of all.
I really liked the use of the pad while fielding the ball.
That said, is love an HD version of Resort. So much goodness!
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