Sports Story is a 2022 video game created and released by Sidebar Games for the Nintendo Switch. It is the follow-up to the 2017 game Golf Story and was released on December 23, 2022.
The game was first announced in December 2019 but faced several delays because the game's design became more complex. When it was released, it received mixed reviews. Critics praised its graphics but criticized the game for having too many fetch quests, a story that lacked focus, and many technical problems. Many people believed it was not as good as Golf Story.
Gameplay
Sports Story is a top-down adventure game where the main character from the original game investigates strange actions by the large company PureStrike and the criminal group Iron Dragons. Unlike Golf Story, which focused only on playing golf, Sports Story includes more sports such as tennis, soccer, cricket, volleyball, and BMX. The game uses gameplay elements inspired by these sports, including mini-games, exploring dungeons, and sneaking around. It also includes a detailed story about a tennis academy that is separate from the main story.
Development and release
The game was announced on December 10, 2019, during a Nintendo Indie World showcase, with a planned release in 2020. Like the development of Golf Story, Sports Story faced several delays because the game's design became more complex over time. The game was finally released on December 23, 2022.
When the game first came out, it included a hidden room (which appeared to be a game development office) where characters discussed problems with an unnamed project's "troubled development." Some media outlets suggested these comments might refer to the long development process of Sports Story itself. Later, a game update acknowledged the hidden room but removed access to it. The characters' dialogue was also changed to be more positive, though still sarcastic.
Reception
The game received "mixed or average reviews" from Metacritic, a website that collects reviews, based on 13 reviews from critics. Most critics said the game was not as good as the previous version.
Nintendo Life gave a mixed review, saying the game had good writing and visuals but had many bugs and glitches, too many fetch quests, and a story that was sometimes hard to follow. Siliconera said the game lacked tutorials and had a story that was not clear, and they said some parts of the game were clearly broken. GameSpot’s negative review criticized the fetch quests, the story, and technical problems, but said the golf part of the game was the best. Vooks said the golf parts were still fun and believed the game was better than the problems it had.