In early May 2007, game-industry research firm Media Create placed Wii Sports third in their list of top-20 games in Japan.
The games use the motion sensor capabilities of the Wii Remote and Nunchuk attachment to control the actions of the on-screen character.
After the Wii's release, players began incurring injuries while playing Wii Sports, among other games, when they accidentally hit other players or objects while swinging the Wii Remote.
Wii Sports consists of five separate sports games—tennis, baseball, bowling, golf, and boxing—accessed from the main menu.
Every game has a single-player or two-player mode, and some games allow up to four players via various methods.
GameTrailers called it a good complement to the Wii system and referred to all five games as a "nice total package".
Because Nintendo did not expect players to purchase the Wii solely to play Wii Sports, they bundled the game with the console; Nintendo believed players would be more likely to play Wii Sports through this distribution method.
Wii Sports is the first Wii title to use this feature.
Each game features a standard play mode, training mode, and multiple player options.
Miis created on one Wii can be transferred onto the internal memory of a Wii Remote for use on another Wii with different save data.
Bowling and golf allow for multiple players taking turns with a single Wii Remote, while tennis requires each player to have their own.
The standard play mode mimics each game's respective method of play: tennis, a doubles match; baseball, a simple three-inning game of pitching and batting; bowling, a ten-pin, ten-frame game; golf, playing on a 3-hole or 9-hole golf course; and boxing, a three-round boxing match.
The game, along with Wii Fit, has been credited with attracting more casual, female, and elderly gamers.
