Sports Connection

Sports Connection was one of the Wii U launch titles from publisher Ubisoft and offered a collection of sports minigames designed to demonstrate as clearly as possible the capabilities of the new gamepad combined with motion control. The game includes a range of disciplines from tennis and golf to American football to winter sports like skiing and other winter activities, with each discipline using a different combination of controller and gamepad movements to control the on-screen character according to the specific sport.

Gameplay targets mainly casual players and family entertainment for groups, similar to older titles like Wii Sports, but with emphasis on using the gamepad as a second screen with additional controls or match statistics overviews directly in the player's hands. The presentation of individual sports is colorful and simple, with emphasis on quickly understanding the rules without needing a complicated tutorial at the start of each discipline. The game supported local multiplayer for multiple players taking turns with one gamepad and classic Wii Remote controllers.

Contemporary reception saw the game as a typical launch title demonstrating technology rather than depth of gameplay, and critics pointed to the limited lasting entertainment value after the initial excitement over the gamepad and its new possibilities wore off. Today, Sports Connection serves mainly as a period memory of how Wii U tried at launch to showcase the diverse uses of its control concept in everyday family entertainment for the general public. Compared to later exclusive sports titles from Nintendo, it was a more modest but honestly delivered launch offering meant to quickly show players what the gamepad combined with motion could do. For families looking for undemanding entertainment without complicated setup, it was an understandable choice from the launch lineup in the first weeks after the console's start.

Why play it: For families looking for undemanding motion-based entertainment with the gamepad without complicated setup, it's an honest, if content-wise modest, launch showcase of Wii U's capabilities.