Wuhu Island in Switch Sports Resort: 105 Spocco Photos, three open-world sports

Kotaku's Amelia Zollner went in expecting the worst. She calls the original Nintendo Switch Sports not a very good game, and trailers for the Resort version looked bland to her. Then she actually played it.

Her verdict: Wuhu Island is ridiculously delightful to explore in this version, and despite missing a little of its Wii-era charm, this might be the best version of the island yet. The map has grown, with a larger archipelago around the central island, new caves carved into the mountains, and new cafes and attractions. Sports have been relocated and nestled into the natural landscape.

The volleyball court hides inside a forest speckled with streams. The basketball court now sits next to a lake and earned the name "Hoop Haven."

Zollner singles out three sports that let you explore Wuhu Island as an open world: Prop Plane, Power Cruising and Skateboarding.

Prop Plane is the clear winner for her. It returns from Wii Sports Resort and carries the most Spocco Photos, the game's points of interest to track down. The other two sightseeing sports are almost as delightful, she writes, finally letting players explore the island from the ground and sea in addition to the sky.

Zollner spent the past two days finding all 105 of Wuhu Island's Spocco Photos and earned a cute little crown for her efforts.

She kept going after that. White balloons to shoot down and hibiscuses tucked away in tough-to-reach locations pulled her back into the plane for side missions.

Zollner is clear that something is missing. She writes that the island is missing a little of its Wii-era charm in this version.

She also flags the return of the Sportsmates, the characters she describes as oft-hated, which she had noted in the trailers for the Resort version.

So the praise comes with a caveat. The island is ridiculously delightful to explore, but the look and the cast are not a straight return to the Wii days.

This is one reviewer's take, not a test bench result. Zollner played the game and wrote about it for Kotaku, published October 28, 2026. She did not measure frame rates or load times.

What you get from her piece is a sense of how the island plays and how much there is to do in the open-world sports. What you don't get is a full breakdown of every sport or a comparison with the original Switch Sports beyond her opening verdict.