Xtreme Sports on Nintendo Switch Review

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Dropping in from the year 2000 is fine but looking past the sketchy landing is tough.

Fast Facts

Xtreme Sports. The re-release of the classic Game Boy game, arrives on the Nintendo Switch promising a dose of nostalgic fun. What I played is a game that feels pretty authentic to the original experience. Unlike many classics, however, this authenticity doesn’t travel as well as I might have hoped. 

You’re age is showing…

Let’s start with the graphics. Xtreme Sports might have been a visual marvel on the Game Boy, its transition to the Nintendo Switch is a questionable. The anime-style pixel art looks cool it tends to feel like a splash of style in a slightly ugly-looking game. I found a lot of the environments to be minimal to the point of boring without charm. Meanwhile the character models look stretched, elongated and odd even for the time. Some of the visual cues and signposting fail to catch the eye let alone guide the player. A lot of this could be a sign of the times. Perhaps and subconsciously looking for modern accoutrements or expecting that retro chubby aesthetic. But in truth I really struggle to imagine this game appealing to me at age 8 back in the 90s. 32 year old me in 2023…found it really tough to look at.

This is a part of the problem overall with my time playing the game. It’s divided into two main components: the over-world and a series of extreme sports mini-games. The over-world, as mentioned, feels a little dry and unclear to navigate. It feels clunky and uninspired when compared to anything from the last twenty years and that might seem unfair. However at a time when games from the Pokémon and the Final Fantasy Series were thriving I felt like these elements of Xtreme Sports feel subpar when compared to its contemporaries. Yes, it was originally released a long time ago, but when other games of the time were thriving in this space it’s difficult to point the finger at the passage of time. 

Micro-Frustrations

The mini-games themselves left me feeling frustrated, confused and disappointed. The transitional work on the anime-style character designs made me feel like I was about to jump into the real meat of the game. Instead, the challenges reverted to type, looking a little ugly, stiff to play and providing little clarity regarding what it was I needed to be doing. The idea is that after the player has managed to navigate the over-world they get to engage in challenges reminiscent of X-Games events, skateboarding, bmx’ing, jet ski challenges and the like. This provides a pretty cool platform for some fun mini-games but they fall short, feel frustrating and just didn’t provide me with a whole lot of fun overall. 

Not every game needs a remake

Now much of my frustration may sound like it’s rooted in the age of the game and the standards of the time. “That’s how games were back then!” Right? Sometimes. I play a lot of retro games and I’ll always be excited to play a remake or re-release for that nostalgic kick. Unfortunately, Xtreme Sports would have felt poorly designed and frustrating to play for 20 years. In 2023 Its failings are glaringly obvious. 

Having said all of that it’s admirable that efforts are made to preserve older games and make them playable on modern consoles. I’ll always be an advocate for anyone who attempts to make these older games available but that has to come with a buyer beware. As great as our memories with these games are they don’t all translate well. I think the team at Way Forward have done a pretty good job of providing an authentic version of Xtreme Sports. They should be celebrated for that if nothing else. 

Conclusion

In summary, Xtreme Sports for the Nintendo Switch provides an authentic Game Boy Colour experience for anyone who has fond memories of the original. Unfortunately, this is one of the game’s biggest shortcomings overall. The game looks bland and outright strange at points with little pots of style that can’t quite elevate the game aesthetics overall. Paired with frustrating gameplay, awkward controls and an overall lack of instruction and direction for the player my experience with Xtreme Sports on the Nintendo Switch wasn’t great. 

It was authentically unfun…the music was cool though.

Rapid Reviews Rating

1 out of 5

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You can buy Xtreme Sports now on Nintendo eShop