Nintendo Switch Sports brings back a familiar Wii story: broken TV screens

Nintendo Switch Sports brings back the motion-controlled, sporty fun of Nintendo’s watershed video game, Wii SportsFor a new generation. However, with the return to in-living room tennis and bowling there is a curse: The ominous threat of broken TV screens.

Published in 2006. WiiSportsIt was well-known for turning videogame-avoidants into avid gamers. Numerous octogenarians had their first Nintendo experience. Wii SportsYou can relive the excitement of playing in virtual bowling alleys by using the intuitive Wii Remote. However, Wii SportsAnother reason that made the Wii Remotes famous was their ability to whip their Wii Remotes so hard, sometimes breaking LCD panels and creating expensive, unintended digital art.

Years later, and the Wii had yet to escape this reputation, even despite its dramatic warning screens chiding players to use the remote’s wrist strap. Flying Wii Remotes even became joke fodder for Hollywood, with 2009’s Alvin and the Chipmunks, The Squeakquel.

A few days later Nintendo Switch Sports’ release, the threat of busted TVs and monitors has returned. Two unconfirmed reports claimed that Joy-Con users let their Joy-Con controllers fly over the weekend. This resulted in the deaths of two perfectly fine screens.

Reddit: Roman, a Nintendo Switch owner confessed that he shattered a television screen while playing Nintendo Switch Sports’ chambara mode, a swordfighting-meets-American Gladiators jousting sport.

Roman’s first reaction, he said, was to turn off, then turn on, the TV in the hopes that that would fix this very visible wound — but to no avail, of course.

On Twitch streamer 63man demonstrated to his viewers how a Joy-Con, a quick-moving Joy-Con, can affect a monitor. He claimed he was just playing Nintendo Switch Sports “very passionate[ly]” and threw his controller directly at the screen. “Now my monitor is broken,” 63man said in a YouTube upload of the incident. “It was fun though […] 10/10.”

Nintendo enthusiasts saw the coming of a new wave in screen destruction. Nintendo Switch SportsAs a natural process. “And so it begins again,” said Reddit user Mykeprime in response to Roman’s Reddit post about his broken TV. “This is the content I’ve been waiting for,” replied another.

Nintendo, naturally, has been anticipating the return of flying game controllers. It has already made warnings. Nintendo Switch SportsPlayers are often urged to add the accessory’s wrist strap to Joy-Cons to prevent them from playing. How many Switch owners are going to bother or remember where the accessories are located? Mine, never used, still sit in their original plastic bags from the Switch’s launch in 2017.

In 2022 how many of these cases will turn out to be real? And how many Switch owners are trying to get viral and gain influence? Joy-Con stories about screens being destroyed by Joy-Cons should be viewed with caution. While these stories of folly may seem true, it is important not to take an inextricably damaged screen as gospel.

Importantly, all players should use their wrist bands when they play. Nintendo Switch Sports. Like seatbelts and face masks, it’s better to be safe than sorry. You can also order replacement Joy-Con Straps from Nintendo if you misplace yours.