Wii Sports Resort is celebrating its 15-year anniversary today, June 25, 2024. Below, we list the full suite of games, as ranked by the still-active community that loves them.

Games give players an escape. A vacation, if you will. For the last 15 years, millions of players have found themselves spending their free time playing table tennis and tearing up the basketball court on Wuhu Island, the tropical setting of Wii Sports Resort.

Like its predecessor, Wii Sports Resort's compilation of games has kept longtime fans occupied through competitions, speedrunning, and content creation. We went to these folks--speedrunners like Benson44, who are consistently challenging themselves to one up their previous high score--and asked them to rank Resort's game modes from worst to best.

We took the advice of these players and streamlined Wii Sports Resort's catalog, coming up with an ideal list of 12 modes. We've combined frisbee and disc golf and included smaller modes under the umbrella of a main mode. Six separate lists made by longtime fans were combined, giving each sport a number of weighted points. Here are the combined results from those lists, as told and argued through the community that's committed to them.

12. Wakeboarding

Gorgeous sunsets on the water. Incredibly tricks off the waves. One of several water sports included in Wii Sports Resort, wakeboarding offered incredible views of Wuhu Island while providing a tight gameplay loop that made it especially enticing for those looking to one up their own high scores.

Our rankers viewed wakeboarding as rather simple when compared to other game modes, which hurt its overall score. That hasn't stopped players from riding the waves to incredible runs, although the mechanics and strategies players have come up with aren't as deep as other modes.

Image: Adriaan (YouTube)

11. Canoeing

Like canoeing in real life, Wii Sports Resort canoeing is both an immense physical and gameplay challenge, making it somewhat harder to take on for players who came back to the other modes again and again in order to establish world records or special strategies.

Canoeing, unlike table tennis or basketball game modes, is a struggle against yourself. You could say that about anyone chasing a world record in speedrunning, but Wii Sport Resort's version of canoeing hasn't gained nearly as much of a following all these years later. It's good for a workout, at least.

10. Archery

Olympic archer Trenton Cowles was driven to pick up his passion--in part--by Wii Sports Resort's archery mode, and now he's competing in the Paris 2024 games. Archery is a classic staple of gaming--from Skyrim to Link's Crossbow Training--and Wii Sports Resort provides an incredible arcade experience.

Cowles hit the target so well in Wii Sports Resort that he actually built his own bow while vacationing in Yellowstone National Park. If you see him competing this summer, imagine this little tune playing in the background.

Resort's archery mode sends you around Wuhu Island as you shoot basic and hidden targets. It's pretty incredible launching an arrow over two tennis courts in order to hit an innocuous fruit on the ground next to a bench. Despite the drive many players have to break world records in this mode, archery is basic, without much flare spice up the gameplay. That's why it ends up higher on this ranking.

9. Bowling

Bowling was and is iconic in the original Wii Sports. The music and the announcer have been featured in movies, TV shows, and hundreds of memes. The flick of the wrist to send the ball rolling down the middle for a strike was universally loved when the original mode launched.

Motion tracking improved significantly in Wii Sports Resort compared to Wii Sports. The Motion Plus made hand tracking in bowling far more advanced and made the overall mode more similar to real bowling. In other words, the flick of the wrist in Wii Sports got a big nerf.

Bowling is still fun in Wii Sports Resort, but it didn't change much or inspire many to commit themselves from becoming the best of the best. That's why it appears lower on our list.

Image: AwesomeGamerLand (YouTube)

8. Frisbee

Combining both frisbee and disc golf, this game mode has a mode where you throw frisbees to a dog, what else can we say? Landing in the middle of the pack, frisbee is a natural pick for a compilation like Wii Sports Resort. Its throwing mechanics make for the ideal swing of the Wii Remote.

Frisbee, despite the lovely pooch, doesn't do a lot to set itself apart from many of the other games in Resort. The controls feel like anything but throwing a disc--in either the disc golf or other frisbee modes--making it feel weird amongst other games that have tried to simulate their real world counterparts more closely.

7. Basketball

Basketball has had players chasing perfect strategies for their Miis for the last 15 years. Both the 3-point contest and the 3-on-3 pickup modes are hot topics in the Wii Sports community, as incredible speedrunning strategies have been discovered and shared throughout the community more than a decade after Wii Sports Resort launched.

"Wii Sports Resort basketball has always been an S-tier game," YouTuber Del Xeno said. "This game is incredibly fun against friends and perfectly goofy for some hilarious moments. The mechanics are perfect and it actually takes some skill to be able to sink the ball in the basket every time. With the Wii's motion controls, you actually feel like you're playing the sport rather than just pushing buttons. Plus, I don't think there is anything more satisfying in life than dunking on your opponent."

6. Swordplay

A quick online search will show that fans of Wii Sports Resort Swordplay mode love it so much that they've tried to find similar experiences in full games. Red Steel and Skyward Sword have been mentioned, but few games have captured the experience of fighting off a stream of Miis with a blunt object.

Swordplay gave players a unique experience--especially with how infamous Matt (one of the variety of Resort's Mii opponents) has become online. Fans of the series have created the map and mode in other platforms like Roblox since Wii Sports Resorts launch, too.

Image: AwesomeGamerLand (YouTube)

5. Power Cruising

Power Cruising had our rankers divided, as the boating game showed up all over their lists. YouTuber Plyd, who's explored all sorts of Wii Sports related topics on his channel, highlights the mode as something completely different when compared to other modes.

"There are so many micro strategies you need to master to be able to get the highest scores possible or the lowest time possible," they said. "When I used to speedrun Wii Sports Resort, I loved trying to come up with strats to save every individual frame. It controls very well and managing your boosts on the oncoming waves made it really appealing. I know it's an unpopular opinion and I imagine most of the other people will have this sport near the bottom, but it's always had a soft spot in my heart."

Image: WatchMePlayNintendo (YouTube)

4. Cycling

There's nothing like seeing the tropical backdrop of Wuhu Island via bike. Cruising around and chasing world records is just what Wii Sport Resort speedrunner Benson has been all about over the last several weeks. It's their favorite mode within Wii Sports Resort.

"There [are] lots of unique stages," he wrote, "as well as having a high skill ceiling which makes it very repayable."

Image: Adriaan (YouTube)

3. Airsports

Channeling the class Pilotwings, Airsports brings three separate sports to Wuhu Island: Skydiving, Island Flyover, and Dogfight. Island Flyover connects everything else within Wii Sports Resort, giving you a bird's-eye view of all the other locales where mini games are played. It's perfect to bring scale and a bigger feeling of relaxation to a vacation experience.

The idea of dogfighting other vacationers is both incredible and quite weird, though.

Image: WatchMePlayNintendo (YouTube)

2. Golf

Golf is a mainstay of all Nintendo sports games. Wii Sports Golf, Mario Golf, and even Golf Story make up a wonderful catalog of games that are unlike other mainstream golf games. Wii Sports Resorts golf honors this trend.

That's why there's an incredible history of Wii Sports Resort golf world records. One of the greatest speedrunners of all time, Super Mario Bros. runner Darbian, picked up Wii Sports Resort during a 12-hour challenge and actually established a new world record in that time.

1. Table Tennis

Table Tennis wasn't a unanimous favorite, but it was pretty close to it for the creators and speedrunners we polled. Veteran Wii Sports fans say that its short bits of gameplay encapsulates the meaning of the series as a whole.

"Table Tennis is not only the best Wii Sports Resort sport, it's the best sport in the entire series," said longtime Wii Sports Resort veteran and YouTuberShockwave TLS. "Fast-paced, technical, and bite-sized, it's a sport I cannot resist playing every Resort play session. I always consider gameplay above anything else, and Table Tennis is so free-flowing, personable and skill-based without a single annoying mechanic."