Fernando Tatis Jr. hit a ninth inning home run to put an exclamation mark on the San Diego Padres’ 10-2 win over the Los Angeles Dodgers. The blast came after fans in LA had harassed the Padres outfielders, throwing trash and a baseball at them.
Social media erupted after the homer, with the Fox Sports MLB account posting a Wii Sports related meme. Nearly two decades after the game’s release, the pop culture references still reflect just how big of an impact Wii Sports has had.
On Nov. 19, 2006, Wii Sports released alongside the Nintendo Wii. The free game was included in every Wii to showcase the motion controls of the console in a fun and simple way, but Nintendo created much more than that. To this day, Wii Sports remains one of the most fun sports games of my lifetime.
Wii Sports – and its successor, Wii Sports Resort – are brilliant sports games. It may just be the nostalgia talking, but I’ve had just as much fun playing Wii Sports as I do playing modern sports games.
Madden, NBA 2K and MLB the Show may have real-life rosters, realistic graphics and advanced game modes, but Wii Sports has a level of simplistic beauty to it. Sports games in general can get repetitive – although Wii Sports has less game modes, it has enough to keep you hooked in.
The 2006 Wii Sports game features tennis, baseball, boxing, bowling and golf. It thrives on simplicity: from the gameplay to the characters and the graphics, everything is meant to display what the Wii can do.
For the gameplay, Wii Sports relies entirely on the console’s motion controls to emulate the sports. The game shines in this area. Even though it’s not the same as actually playing the sport, swinging the Wii remote and promptly bat-flipping it into the TV is as close as I’ll ever get to hitting a home run.
While the graphics and rosters of newer sports games are great, there’s something about the motion controls of Wii Sports that is so fun. MLB the Show is a great game, but just pushing a button to hit a home run isn’t quite as satisfying.
There are obviously more advanced sports games than Wii Sports, but the game provides enough to keep the game fun. While the Wii Sports gameplay is the same every time, the AI opponents get progressively more difficult as you progress up the points chain.
Wii Sports may not have Lamar Jackson or Steph Curry, but it has Matt. The beloved character is just one of the game’s many pop culture references.
The characters in Wii Sports are all Miis, the avatars that players can customize for the Wii.
This means that whatever demented creations you make can appear in any of the sports.
Wii Sports might not have 4K graphics, but what it lacks in detail, it makes up for in charm.
There’s also something amazing about the social aspect of Wii Sports. Some of my favorite memories from childhood and college include playing Wii Sports with friends and family.
My competitiveness kicks in when playing Wii Sports, and I’m both proud and ashamed to admit I spent an afternoon learning how to bowl a perfect game.
Overall, Wii Sports is one of the most fun sports games of all time. From the gameplay to the social experience, it still holds its own against today’s sports game.