Wii Sports vs Nintendo Switch Sports: What’s the Difference

Nintendo Switch Sports is the latest sports simulation video game in the Wii Sports series. Given the large gap between this release and its predecessor, Wii Sports, fans are curious to know how it compares to the original, and how the series has evolved visually in these 16 years.

For starters, Switch Sports runs at a much higher resolution compared to the Wii version’s 480i output. As a result, both characters and environments look sharper, exhibit far less jaggied edges, and the higher resolution allows for more detail to be visible. Character models have also received a major facelift over the Wii game. Not only are they more detailed, but their facial models can now depict a range of facial expressions that weren’t there in the previous release.

Other improvements include higher quality visual effects, such as lighting, reflections, and other screen space effects. The improved lighting, in particular, offers a huge improvement over the Wii version. Also, environments are not only more detailed but also feel more alive with lots of activity going on in the background. The NPCs sitting in the audience no longer resemble cardboard cutouts and boast a lot more detail compared to Wii Sports’ audience.

Rounding up the list of improvements are the overhauled physics, which were relatively basic in the Wii game. Objects, such as the tennis ball, behave in a more physically correct manner than they did in the previous game.

Nintendo Switch Sports was first revealed during February 9’s Nintendo Direct. On February 15, people with a Nintendo Switch Online membership could register for a free-to-play online playtest to test various aspects, including the netcode and stability. The game was released three months later, on April 29.