Sports Story

Guardian: 3 / 5 by Sarah Maria Griffin

The long-awaited follow-up to Golf Story is rough but characterful, with plenty of retro warmth

Nintendo Life: 6 / 10 by Mitch Vogel

Compared to the unexpected highlight that was Golf Story, Sports Story is damningly mediocre. Although the writing is as good as ever and the visuals have received a nice upgrade, the performance issues, tedious fetch quests, and occasionally confusing gameplay all hold this one back quite a bit. Despite its shortcomings, there's certainly still an enjoyable game on offer here, but you'll have to decide for yourself whether it's worth the negatives, especially given that the Switch eShop is lousy with great games these days. If you loved the original, you'll likely find Sports Story to be a fun-enough follow-up, but there's no denying that it feels like quite a letdown after years of waiting. Assuming Sidebar can sort out the worst of the technical issues, we'd give Sports Story a light recommendation to anyone looking for a quirky take on a sports RPG, but this one doesn't deserve a spot at the top of your list.

Game Informer: 6.5 / 10 by Brian Shea

Even if Sports Story was polished and bug-free, it would still fall strikingly short of the first title in the series. The new sports don’t play well, the fetch quests are tiresome, and the story is tedious and less charming than that of Golf Story. What remains of the retro golf experience is fun, but the whole game feels like a textbook example of being unable to deliver on lofty ambitions.