For someone who hates video games as much as computers, I’ll admit that the Wii Sports Resort game is kind of fun. To add an even more realistic and fun experience to the Wii Sports Resort game, check out this set of attachments in the CTA Wii Sports 8-in-1 Pack. They glom onto the Wii remote and/or nun-chucks to add some interesting physics during game play. While add-ons such as these are produced by several manufacturers and are readily available in brick & mortar stores (I initially purchased the “Nerf” brand for example) I stumbled onto the Wii Sports Pack only when browsing through Amazon and was impressed at just how many accessories it sports (ha) compared to those available in stores.
The Wii Sports Pack contains eight different attachments (compared to about three for the typical brick & mortar sets that are readily available) including a sword and archery bow. The sword option alone made me hit the “BUY” button. Think I made a good impulsive purchase?
The Wii Sports Pack contains the following attachments:
- Sword
- Oar (yes an Oar)
- Bow
- Wakeboard Controller
- Golf Club
- Table Tennis Paddle
- Jet Ski Controller
- Flying Disc
It also contains a god-awful upper and lower piece of molded plastic packaging the size of Alaska that displays the items in a gaudy (though, I must admit, effective) manner fit for a carnival. But it’s still a cool set.
Although no one will tell you (and in fact one of the reps at a popular electronic store whose name rhymes with “Pest Pie” neglected to tell me), the Sports Resort (and other Wii games) require you to occasionally point at the screen with the remote in order to advance or select items on the screen at the beginning and ending of a game. If the add-on attachments cover up the infra-red portion of the remote, then you cannot easily access these selection options and you have to remove the attachment, point and click at the selection, and then re-attach the attachment. This is the main problem I had found with the store-bought attachments: they covered the infra-red beam and made the games clunky and annoying.
In contrast, the Wii Sports Pack attachments have a cut out to allow for this point-n-select action that is needed to navigate certain menus during the course of the games. That is a huge factor to keep in mind when considering these various attachments. I had to return a few sets of attachments to brick & mortar stores due to this oversight before I found the Wii Sports Pack.
Now although the attachments in the WSP have a cut out for the infra-red beam, it can still be a little difficult to get the pointer to the correct spot all of the time (see the video at the end of this review for an example of trying to perform a point-n-click maneuver with the Sword attachment). But this was not a huge problem as I walked through each of the games with the various extensions. The fun factor was not adversely affected.
Some of the attachments (for example, the sword attachment) are built such that they will support either a naked remote (i.e. a remote without the rubbery skin or grip that comes with the Wii console) or a remote that is outfitted with a skin. I found, however, that when using a remote with the rubbery skin that I had to push really hard to get it into the attachment and it was difficult to get a good fit. Without the rubbery skin, an adapter or spacer is provided to hold the remote within the attachment. This option, though, was not always a tight fit, and could make some of the sports moves (most notably with the sword) and made sword fighting sloppy. I ended up using the rubber cover and squashing it into the sword attachment. I really like the sword fighting games, by the way, and highly recommend them. I plan on getting a weight vest to wear for extra cardio action (no, not to pretend it is a set of armor).
So what is the final score for the Wii Sports Pack? Buy it! Yes, it has a few faults, but this is the best alternative I’ve found to the brick-n-mortar versions which are limited in the number of attachments and don’t have the infra-red beam cut out.
Here are shots of each of the attachments . . .
Let’s see a few of the attachments in action
Video demonstrating the point-n-click menu selection process with the sword attachment, a little clunky, but achievable:
Video demonstrating the use of the archery bow, pretty fun:
Video demonstrating the flying disc, a little hard to get used to:
Product Information
| Price: | $30 |
| Manufacturer: | CTA |
| Requirements: |
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Nice review; I’m thinking about picking up two of these sets. I was hoping you’d answer a couple questions:
[1] Are you able to attach the safety strap to your wrist when using the frisbee? (it looks like the cutout you hold is a little far from the bottom of the Wiimote… I don’t want to throw that thing into my TV).
[2] I have a Wii Kama wireless Nunchuck, which has a little wireless transceiver that plugs into the bottom of the Wiimote (instead of the cable). The transceiver is wider than the wired plug; will it work with the bow? (I specifically got the wireless Nunchuck because the cabled nunchuck is a little too short for the archery game).
Thanks!
[1] Yep I can get the strap through the frisbee just fine.
[2] I couldn’t find a very good of a photo of the wireless transceiver, but I think it will fit; the bow has a hole in the bottom roughly 7/8 inch wide by about 1 1/8 inch high; so it is a little larger than the wired nunchuck’s plug. If it does not fit, you could always enlarge the hole with a Dremmel tool. Also, you’ll probably want to use the bow with the remote wrapped in the rubbery slicker; that way you’ll have a little more chance of getting a fit. One more thing about the bow: it comes with a plastic sleeve for the nunchuck. The nunchuck sleeve has a little hook on it and that hook is how you can pull the bow’s cable. You can see this in the archery video. I don’t know how well (or if) the wireless nunchuck would fit in that nunchuck sleeve though you don’t have to use the sleeve; it just makes the bow and archery game more fun.
[3] Another thing I found about the Sport Resort is that if you attach the optional Internet connection I think it updates the games. For example, I’m pretty sure that when I first used the disk that it did not have the variations on some of the games, most notably (and most fun) the speed slice and super hoard attack games. But, again, not sure of that, still learning the in’s and out’s of this thing.
[4] Have fun!