Keep it simple, stupid. Credited to aircraft engineer Kelly Johnson, the KISS design principle – or, presumably, a politer version of it – is one to which Nintendo has evidently subscribed since it began making videogames. Simplicity and approachability are constant goals: it designs by subtraction, reducing concepts to their fundamentals, cutting unnecessary waste, making the complicated feel intuitive (a process that in itself is often deeply complex). This was at the heart of what made Wii Sports a phenomenon 16 years ago; as such, it should be no surprise that it has adopted a similar approach for its successor.
Still, we’d be lying if we didn’t admit to feeling underwhelmed at first. Wethe summery follow-up designed to showcase the greater fidelity of the MotionPlus addon (a rare Nintendo example of additive design); there are half as many activities here as there – golf, following in an autumn update, will belatedly make it seven – with but a single variant for three of them. One of the sports, Chambara, revisits the pick of three Swordplay modes, Duel, with the entertaining Speed Slice and the singleplayer Showdown absent. Bowling lacks its 100-Pin alternative. There is nothing here to match the fast pace or nuanced spin control of table tennis.
