Wii Sports Resort

Take a trip to the tropical Wuhu Island and partake in 12 sports-themed mini-games in this sequel to the popular Wii pack-in game Wii Sports.
 Wii

Overview

Welcome to Wuhu Island, the titular Wii Sports Resort!
Welcome to Wuhu Island, the titular Wii Sports Resort!

Wii Sports Resort is a sports-themed mini-game collection developed by Nintendo EAD and published by Nintendo for the Wii in Japan on June 25, 2009, in Europe on July 24, 2009, and in North America on July 26, 2009.

A sequel to the 2006 launch title and pack-in game Wii Sports, Wii Sports Resort includes a new assortment of Mii-utilized, motion-controlled mini-games set in a tropical island resort (known as Wuhu Island). Along with golf and bowling from the previous game, this installment includes table tennis, basketball, archery, swordplay, disc sports, cycling, wakeboarding, canoeing, personal watercraft racing, and aerial sports.

It is one of the first games to make use of the Wii MotionPlus extension for the Wii Remote, improving the precision of the controller's motion control using a built-in gyroscope. Both the game and the accessory were released together in a bundle, and the game was later included in console bundles (along the original and Wii Remote Plus controllers).

The game was followed up by Wii Sports Club for the Wii U.

Structure

When the player first starts up Wii Sports Resort, a special version of the skydiving game (without the photo shoot element) starts as an introduction showing off immediately what the new Motion Plus can do. After having done this once, the game will boot up with a basic introduction menu where the player's Mii will be shown on various locations of the island and all the player's achievements and high scores will scroll over the screen. Five videos detailing how to hook up the Motion Plus unit and other information regarding maintenance of the Wii Remote can also be accessed from this screen. Past this will be the main menu that shows 12 normal tabs, one for every type of game and two smaller ones, one to change the account of the person playing and another one that accesses the option menu. Despite all the events of the game happening on one island the different games can only be accessed from these 12 normal tabs.

Wuhu Island

All the games in Wii Sports Resort as well as Wii Fit Plus are played on Wuhu Island. It is possible in some games to see the other games happen, for example, players race their Jet-Ski past the sword fighting ring at some point. It is also possible to visit the whole island in the Bi-Plane game.

Stamps

Every game mode has 5 unique stamps for the player to collect by playing the games in various fashions much like the achievement and trophy system by both Microsoft and Sony. However stamps, unlike Microsoft and Sony's systems, are not bound to any online persona and are strictly accessible and relevant only within Wii Sports Resort. Whenever a player manages to get the requirements to unlock a stamp, a message will be sent to their Wii message board congratulating them.

Games

All the games in Wii Sports Resort are classified into 12 categories, every category groups together several games that share the same base mechanic but are structurally different. Most of the games in each category will have to be unlocked by playing the first game in the category a couple of times, score a certain amount of points in them or reach a certain skill level. Four out of the five games present in the original Wii Sports make a return in Wii Sports Resort, the 4 on 4 tennis games being the one dropped and replaced by 1 on 1 Ping-Pong. The different categories and games in them are:

Swordplay

Duel

Both the players will find themselves on a elevated platform surrounded by water with the goal being to knock the opponent off. The first one to knock the opponent off the platform and into the water twice wins. If ever a round takes over 1 minute a countdown timer will start and when it stops the round will be declared forfeit. If due to a forfeit round the final score is 1-1 a special tie breaker round will start in which the two outer rings of the arena will disappear leaving only a small surface to fight on. The number of total hits a player can take is unlimited unlike the Horde assault mode. Duel mode can be played with 2 players in a horizontal split screen mode.

Speed Slicing

Precision Cut
Precision Cut

Two players will be thrown two identical various objects at the same time and it is up to them to cut them in the indicated manner, the goal being to cut the object before the opponent does. Despite the different objects thrown at the player being quite different they all can be sliced with a single strike. Like duel mode this mode can also be played with 2 players on a horizontal split-screen. The Mii who is throwing the player the various objects is the same Mii that appeared in the tutorial of the original Wii Sports boxing game.

Showdown

In this mode the player will walk among a predetermined path (on rails game play) and will be assaulted by hordes of enemy Miis. It is up to the player to knock them all out and reach the end of every level without getting knocked out him/herself. The player can take up to 3 hits by an enemy before passing out and losing the level. Enemies vary in strength, resistance and skill and can be identified by the color of their armor, the number of hearts (life meter) above their head, and their size. Enemies will group around the player but they will only attack one at the time, the player can hit non engaged enemies with wide swing potentially taking out several at once, however, the players sword can also be bounced of defending non engaged enemies. Enemies can also take damage from fellow soldiers that get knocked down and fall into them. There are a total of 20 progressively harder level for the player to beat in Horde assault. This mode however can only be played single player.

Controls and Game Mechanics

The swordplay in Wii Sports Resort, thanks to Wii Motion Plus, is a perfect reflection of how the player swings and holds the Wii Remote. By holding the B button pressed the players character will get into a defensive stance, the sword is still 1 on 1 controlled by the player but enemy hits will bounce of (if hold placed correctly) stunning the attacker and leaving him open for a counter attack. As well as swing the player can also jab with the sword. All the foot movement is automated in this game mode. In order to attack effectively the player will have to look how (or if) the enemy is holding their sword to defend and strike with a motion that is parallel to the defending sword making it so that the sword will not be bounced of. In defense the contrary is what should be done, once B hold the sword should be in a cross like form with the attacking sword to so that the player will not be hit by the attack.

By pressing down on the D-Pad of the Wii Remote and pointing at the sensor bar during game play will correct any placement issues that might occur due to the player changing position.

Wake Boarding

In wake boarding the player is dragged over the water by a boat and the goal is to perform jumps over the waves created by the boat to score the biggest total score possible in 2 minutes time. There are 3 gradually different "tracks" for the player to surf on that introduce various hazards. The wake boarding game can be played by up to 4 players.

Course 1

The first course is the most straight forward of the 3 and takes the player on a straight line past the main town of Wii Sports Resort with no hazards to bump in to or get stuck with.

Course 2

The second course happens in the north part of the island and takes the player through some cliffs that can be bumped into and past some poles that the player can get the rope he is holding stuck in. Hitting one of these hazards will break any existing combo. The second course also has some sharp turns in it that provide some hard jumps to land.

Course 3

The final course has a good number of poles that the player will have to zig-zag between not to get the cord caught up in them there are also a good number of low floating hazard that good already been seen in the second course somewhat but now they are more regrouped forcing the player to surf between them or try and jump over them.

Controls and mechanics

Your Mii will jump gradually higher as he chains up successful jumps
Your Mii will jump gradually higher as he chains up successful jumps

In order to play the wake boarding game the player will have to hold the Wii Remote sideways like a traditional controller. Turning it left or right will steer the character, pitching it forward and backward determines the angle of the board. The goal in wake boarding is to use the waves create by the boat that is dragging the player and perform a upwards motion with the Wii Remote on these waves to jump. To land the board correctly the player will have to make sure the board is Parrnell when hitting the water again. Performing successful jumps after each other will boost the speed of the boat and the waves created by it allowing bigger jumps that are worth more points but are also harder to land, there is a limit of 100 points for jumps however. If ever the player is to land a jump incorrectly the boat will slow down to its initial speed again. Simple going over the waves without jumping also grants the player points but not nearly the same amount as jumping them, doing this will not break the combo the player may have created.

Frisbee

Precision throw

The dog is only for show by the way
The dog is only for show by the way

In precision throw the player has to throw a Frisbee as close as possible to a mark, the closer the dog catches the Frisbee to the mark the more points the player will be rewarded (100 points if it lands in the close purple zone, 50 if in the near orange zone and 10 if in the somewhat near green zone, 0 for when too far). The mark will change every couple of throws. After the first five throws a bonus point balloon will be floating mid air worth 50 points if the player manages to pop them with the Frisbee and land the Frisbee in the point zone, would the player pop the balloon and not land the Frisbee in the point zone no points at all are rewarded. If the player manages to pop the balloon and land the Frisbee in the 100 points zone the next balloon that will appear will be worth 100 bonus points. The player has 10 throws in order to get as many points as possible. Precision throw can be played with up to four player in a turn based fashion. In multilayer mode popping a bonus balloon will steal the amount of points it is worth from the other team.

Disc Golf

As well as regular golf Wii Sports Resort also allows the player to play disc golf on all the 21 holes that exits on the island. Before every throw players will be able to choose which specialized Frisbee they want to throw, the 3 Frisbees being one for long range throws, one for medium range and one for short range "putting". Unlike real disc golf (like the version of it that can be played in Tiger Woods 10 for example) there is no pillar with a "net basket" on it where the Frisbee has to be thrown into instead the player will have to throw the Frisbee in a pillar of light, the altitude of the Frisbee when it enters the pillar does not matter, it only has to touch it . It is up to the player to decide how many and which holes will be played. Disc golf also allows 4 players to play in a turn based fashion.

Controls

The player holds the Wii Remote sideways with one hand and throws the Frisbee by mimicking the exact same motion as one would do when throwing a real Frisbee. The direction in which the player will push the Wii Remote will determine where the Frisbee will go, the angle at which it'll be thrown the distance and the sideways angle will determine which direction the Frisbee turns to mid-air, useful for bonus balloons in Precision throw and to avoid threes in disc golf. It is also possible to toggle "B Release" in the options, "B release" requires the player to keep "B" pressed while holding the Frisbee and letting it go when they want to let go the Frisbee.

Archery

One of the early ranges in the Archery game.
One of the early ranges in the Archery game.

The archery game is structured in three gradually difficult sets that all contain four different ranges, the goal being to shoot as many arrows in the bull's eyes as possible to gain the maximum number of points. The player is allowed 3 shots at every range. Shooting in the bull's eye will grant the player 10 points every circle around it will grant 1 point less per circle. In every level there is also a hidden hard to hit target that worth more then the bull's eye.

Set one

The first set has some relatively easy ranges, the distance the player is apart from the targets is rather low and the wind is a minimum.

Set two

The second set in, wind and distance also start to play a somewhat major role. Targets also are moving from this point on.

Set three

In addition to the already moving target the third set introduces moving obstacles that the player will have to avoid as well as farther distances and more wind.

Archery like most of the games in Wii Sports Resort can be played by up to 4 players in a turn based fashion either individually or in teams of two. When playing in teams the first member of the team shoots 2 arrows then the first member of the opposing team shoots two arrows then finally the remaining members each get to shoot one golden arrow that is worth twice the points it lands in. The next round the players who got to shoot the golden arrow in the previous round get to fire the two normal arrows and so on.

Controls and mechanics

In order to play the archery game the player is required to plug in the nun chuck attachment. The Wii Remote and the Nunchuk are hold in way emulating how an actual bow is held. The player holds the string (the Nunchuk) with his/her strong hand (right for right handed people and left for left handed people) and the Wii Remote pointing up with the other hand. In order to shoot an arrow the player will first have to keep "A" pressed to enter "bow mode", here the player can already see the reflection of his or her weak hand that is holding the Wii Remote. In order to draw the string "Z" on the Nunchuk needs to be hold and a pulling towards oneself motion with the Nunchuk has to be executed. Once the bow fully drawn a circle that symbolizes where the player is aiming will appear on screen, as time passes this circle becomes smaller allowing a more precise aim, after a while though the player will lose focus and the circle will become big again. Once the circle starts flashing it is about to "un-focus" making it the perfect time to release the "Z" button to shoot the arrow. Once focus broken the process of drawing the string has to be done again. Wind as well as distance will influence the arrow's trajectory so that have to be accounted for when aiming.

Basketball

3-point shootout

Dunkin'
Dunkin'

One of the new modes in Wii Sports Plus that was demonstrated during Nintendo's E3 2009 presentation. In the shootout the player has to try and toss as many balls as possible in the basket in less then 60 seconds. Around the basked are placed 5 racks with each 5 balls, once a rack is empty the player's Mii will automatically move on to the next rack that is placed in a slightly different angle. The last ball of every rack is called the "money ball" and is worth 2 points instead of 1 when thrown into the basket.

3 on 3 game

Mii Sport resort also has 3 on 3 mode in which 2 player can play against each other. Both teams take turns attacking and a turn ends if the ball is intercept or a basket is made. There is a 5 second limit for the opposing team in the throwing zone and only there can a player start a throw. Dunks can only be performed once under the basket, this can be pulled of by smart pass work and making opponents fail their grabs for the ball.

Controls and mechanics

Basket ball is played by holding the Wii Remote in one hand like a hammer. In order to throw the ball the player will have to keep "B" pressed and perform a upper hand throwing movement similar to how a real basketball is thrown. Both velocity and angle of the wrist when throwing will decide the trajectory of the ball. In the 3 on 3 mode passing is done by simple pressing the button indicated above the team member the player wants to pass to (either "A" or the D-pad) and snatching balls from opponents as well as jumping in order to defend from a throwing opponent is done by doing a forward motion with the Wii-Remote, missing a "snatch-attack" will result in the player falling and the opponents approaching the basket.

Ping-Pong (table tennis)

Regular match

With regular ping pong the first player to get 7 wins get the match if the other player has at least 2 wins less. If ever the other player has 6 the game continues until there is a gap of 2 points. Regular match can be played with two players in a vertical split screen.

Serve Counter

In this mode a AI controlled Mii will fire progressively harder serves at the player the goal being to send them all back, as soon as the player misses on of the serves or sends it of the table the game stops. Every now and the empty soda cans will appear on the table would the player manage to counter the serve into the can 3 extra bonus points are added. This mode can be played with a total of four players in a turn based fashion.

Golf

Being one of the returning games from the original Wii Sports, golf is one of the games that benefits the most from the Motion Plus add-on.

  • Short game
  • Tournament
  • Controls

The speed of the swing is now controlled by the velocity of the Wii Remote instead of the its angle as was the case in the original Wii Sports. Like Tiger Woods 10 it is possible to give an effect to the player's ball by twisting the Wii Remote in the desired direction upon hitting the ball. Hitting a ball to hard (on the rough for example) will result in the ball going way of target.

Bowling

The Bowling game is one of the returning sports from the original Wii Sports. The game now features 3 different main game types that all originate from the original Wii Sports but now can be played with up to four players instead of only regular bowling. With the exception of the tighter controls and the two new modes, the bowling game is similar in presentation compared to the original Wii Sports. Some minor tweaks did happen though, this time around more Mii's are present in the crowd and 100 pin bowling has no frame rate issues like it used to.

Regular game

A regular game consist of 10 lanes on which a maximum of two balls may be thrown per lane, the player who manages to knock over the most combined pins at the end of the 10th frame wins the game.

100 Pin Bowling

Like regular bowling but with 100 pins to knock over instead of 10. 100 pin bowling was already present in the original Wii Sports but as a bonus game that only one player could play. Just like regular bowling the player can throw 2 balls per range and the player who knocked over the most combined pins at the end of the 10th range wins.

Obstacle Bowling

Like 100 Pin Bowling Obstacle bowling also was present in the original Wii Sports as a training mini game. In Wii Sports Resort it has been turned into a 10 range gradually difficult mode that like normal bowling can be played with 4 players in teams of 2 or individually. In obstacle bowling blocks are placed on the range that the player need to be able to avoid and still hit as many pins as possible while doing this. In addition to fixed obstacles Wii Sports Resort also introduces moving obstacles to make this mode even harder as it was in the original game. In order to succeed in obstacle bowling the player will have to master and think through effect throws and placement. During multiplayer the player who is doing the poorest will get an handicap and will get easier lanes until his or her score comes closer to the top players.

Controls

Unlike in the original Wii Sport the "B" button does no longer have to be released in order to throw the bowling ball. The player simply has to press and hold "B" to start the walking sequence and perform a underarm swing motion that ends at the limit line to throw the ball. It is also possible to give the ball effect by twitching the wrist in the direction the effect should spin the ball. With the left and right arrow of the Wii Remote the player can move the bowler's initial position to the left or right and by pressing A can change the angle in which will be thrown, a useful feature for obstacle bowling.

Jet-ski

Check Point race

It's always good to hurry a bit
It's always good to hurry a bit

Check point race can be played by one to four players in turns the goal being to pass the check points as fast ass possible. Every time the player crosses a checkpoint a new one pops up with a 10 second time that is counting down that faster the player reaches the checkpoint the more time will be left on the timer, this time will be added to the total time collected. In some occasions smaller hoops will appear in checkpoints, passing through them will result in the double of the remaining time to be added to the total time collected. Missing a gate will not end the game however it will add 0 seconds to the total time collected. There are a total of 6 different tracks to race on.

Track race

This mode can only be played by two players both equipped with Wii Remotes with the Motion Plus add-on and Nunchuks.

Controls and mechanics

The Jet Ski game in Wii Sports Resort is controlled by holding both the Nunchuk and the Wii Remote like one would hold the steer of a motorcycle. Steering is done by twisting the Nunchuk and the WIi Remote in the same direction simultaneously. To accelerate either the "A" or "B" button of the Wii Remote needs to be hold. A temporary speed boost can be performed by turning the Wii Remote towards oneself like when accelerating on a motorcycle. Since Jet-skis can only turn when the player is accelerating the boost is a handy tool to to make quick and sharp turns possible, after using the boost the meter drains up but swiftly refills. It is possible to use the boost when the meter is not full however the acceleration in which this will result is negligible.

Kayaking

  • Co-op multi-man canoe race
  • 1 on 1 race

Controls

The kayak is controlled by mimicking a left right peddle movement, the faster the players peddles the faster the kayak will go. Peddling only on the left will make the kayak turn right and vice-versa for the right. When in movement holding the peddle still in the water will make the kayak turn in that direction since it will act as a rudder.

Cycling

  • Time track
  • Two player race
  • Controls

Skydiving (group 12)

Skydiving photo shoot

The skydiving photo shoot game is a variation of the introduction game in which the player jumps out of a plane and connects to other Mii's who are doing the same to form formation. In this mode the goal is to connect to as many Miis as possible and then turn the formation in a manner that as many faces as possible are facing the camera. As soon as the player connects with another Mii the a countdown timer will start and once it reaches zero a photo will be taken. Unlike the initial game that starts when the player first boots up Wii Sports Resort other Mii's have a tendency to cling to the player for a much shorter amount. For every Mii the player connects to, some additional bonus time is added to the overall timer.

Controls

The Mii the player is controlling is direct 1 to 1 reflection of how the Wii Remote is hold, hold it sideways and the Mii will be sideways, flip it in the air and Mii will do the same. Making the Mii face down will make him descend faster while having him parallel will slow him down, pitching him will allow the player to fly towards other Miis that will automatically snap on and for a formation for a couple of seconds.

Flight (group 12)

Bi-plane exploration

In the plane exploration mode the player is given 5 minutes to discover and fly into as many points of interest as possible. Points of interest found in one flight will remain visited in further flights. There are a total of 80 points of interest spread across the island some of the only appearing during certain times of the day. Every 10 POI collected a upgrade for the plane and other things will be unlocked as for example double guns that the player gets at 30 POI collected. Other then the POI there are also balloons that can be popped either by flying into them or by shooting at them, balloons are however locked until the player finds 10 POI. Progressively the player will unlock new times to go out and fly to find more POI's. The Bi-plane exploration mode can only be played single player.

Bi-plane 2 player dogfight.

In this mode to players must try to shoot the balloon that is hanging behind each others planes. The balloon initially takes 10 hits to pop and will decrease in size the more it gets hit. Every couple of seconds a notifier will pop up saying that a 10 life points is available at the location represented by a small picture, getting this along with the life boost will also result in the balloon growing in size. A player can stock up to 30 life points. These life point boost do however disappear after a short period of time. Shooting the opponents balloon will result in him or her losing one life point, crashing one's plane will result in the player losing half of his or hers total life points with the exception of the final 3 life points that the player will lose one by one when crashing. Crashing with one life point left will result in no penalty what so ever. The game ends when either one player has no life points left or when the timer hits 2 minutes, in this case the player with the most life points left will be declared winner. The Bi-plane 2 player dogfight game can only be played by 2 players that both have a Wii Remote and the Motion plus attachment.

Controls

the plane is flown by holding the Wii Remote flat in the player's hand (the IR pointer pointing toward the screen), the angle of the Wii Remote like the sky diving game determines the angle of the plane, the forward and backward pitch of the Wii Remote will determine if the plane will go down or up, holding it parallel makes the plane keep its pitch. Doing a swift turn to the left or right will result in the plane doing a barrel roll in that direction extremely reminiscent of the Star Fox series. "A" allows the player to shoot while "1" is used to shoot flares. The D-pad (or the analog stick of the Nunchuk if plugged in) control the camera mainly handy for dogfights. Pressing "B" will result in the engine stopping allowing the player to use free fall to his/her advantage when facing other players.

Intro Video Bug

The first time Wii Sports Resort is booted, the game will run an unskippable three-minute introductory video regarding proper use of the Wii Motion Plus Attachment. In the Japanese version of Wii Sports Resort, there was a bug that would trigger if the player had previously played a WiiWare title off of an SD Card that would cause the introductory video to play each time Wii Sports Resort was booted. This bug was fixed with with a system update that upgraded the Wii firmware to version 4.1 that was released in mid-July 2009, roughly a month after the game's Japanese launch and prior to the release of the game in Europe and North America.

Easter Eggs

  • In the free flight game, when passing the small residential area below the electric wind mill park, a very faint version of the Super Mario theme can be heard. Crashing in this area will result in the "jump" sound from those games being played and then the "lose a life" sound.
  • By flying next to the lighthouse, players can overhear a conversation talked out entirely in Morse Code. Translated, it says: DOES ANYONE OUT THERE KNOW MORSE CODE? SORRY. USE YOUR RADIO.