Super Beat Sports (Nintendo Switch) Review

There are five different "sport" modes in here, but if you expect to experience a pure sports game, you are in the wrong place. Super Beat Sports is, by all means, a rhythm title that just happens to visualise that with baseball, volleyball, and golf-like courts. At the centre of it all is Lil, your androgynous Mii-esque avatar, who must swing his/her bat to hit balls at the right time, while music bops along - oh, and by the way, while few will need it, kudos to Harmonix for including a sync calibration option.

Take the first mode, as an example, which is a musical take on baseball. Whacky Bat throws you at a court with three lanes, cute colourful aliens are throwing baseballs at you, and you press 'A' at the right moment to send them back. Now, while you can definitely judge what the right moment is with your eyes, as with the Rhythm Paradise series, it's the ears that will do most of the work here. There are multiple Tiers to try out, with three tunes in each one, and you can always try the Pro mode, which complicates things even more.

Net Ball is basically the same but with a beach volleyball theme, but, for some strange reason, it actually simplifies things, as there are no lanes to move on, and the challenges that the stages offer are less… well, challenging. Whacky Bat is where the developer focused on and it shows, as there are far more levels to try out, and, as a result, more tunes to listen to. Speaking of which, don't go in expecting a fantastic OST. Most will hum along while the music plays, but no one will do so once everything is done.

Moving on, Gobble Golf is probably the worst of the bunch, first, because the music available is even more unimpressive, but mostly because it's basically a memory game: a short array of notes play out, and then you repeat them, feeding aliens in the process, something that feels tedious, and is also unnecessarily long and slow-paced. It's important to note that all three game modes can be enjoyed along with a friend, but, similar to the solo play, it's the Whacky Bat that most will have fun with.

There are two more modes, and although one can try them out with the use of bots, these are mainly multiplayer ones, focusing on two/four-player ball-hitting fun. The first, Buddy Ball, has a simple concept, and yet is, undoubtedly, the best. Players throw a ball to one of the three aliens, which then bounces back to another player, and as the match goes on, the aliens turn into bombs that take away a "life," or become bonus items that stir things up a bit. It's all very simple, and doesn't really revolve around music, but it's still fun, nonetheless.

The final mode, which is exclusive to Nintendo Switch, is Rhythm Racket, and is basically a two/four-player Pong-like game that is a bit more complex in terms of gameplay, compared to the rest, that is, as it's not just about guarding your goal, but also hitting the ball at the right moment, in the right way, and with the best possible direction. Once again, the music aspect gets a major backseat, without that meaning this won't offer plenty of PvP joy.

Forget the differences between the modes, however, as the main issue with Super Beat Sports is the lack of variety, and, as a result, the lack of a decent replay value. This counterbalances that with offering prizes to unlock (just a bunch of aesthetic items), either by simply playing, or by gaining better medals, but while this can definitely be quite addictive, apart from the Pro levels, this is not exactly a very challenging rhythm title, thus most will actually manage to gain tons of platinum medals on their first run.

The weird thing is that, despite all this, for some strange reason this still is a very enjoyable piece of software. Is that due to the extremely cute, cartoony visuals, upbeat kiddy tunes, and overall light-hearted, and feel-good aura it offers? Well, it's hard to put it into writing, but Super Beat Sports is just… fun! Needless to say, though, this will mostly give pleasure to the youngest of gamers, or at least those who want something far more casual to fill their time than what the genre usually offers.