Introduction

If you've ever wanted to feel like an international sporting god while wearing sweatpants and eating chips, Olympic Games Tokyo 2020 - The Official Video Game for Switch is here to help. Developed and published by Sega (with a little help from Yuke's), this officially licensed take on the Tokyo Olympics squeezes 80 playable nations and a roster of events into a compact, colorful package. That ridiculously large roster - the most nations ever packed into an Olympics video game - is the title's biggest flex, and it sets the tone: inclusive, a little ambitious, and occasionally eager to please. The title went through an odd release schedule (Japan got it in July 2019; the rest of the world waited until June 2021 thanks to that party-crashing pandemic), but once it's on your Switch you get a decent mix of single-player and multiplayer modes across a variety of events, from classic track sprints to swimming, team sports and some DLC additions.

Gameplay

This is a sports party game wearing an official Olympic badge, so expect bite-sized events that are quick to learn and often quicker to rage-quit. The base game ships with 18 events covering athletics (100m, 110m hurdles, 4x100 relay via later DLC, long jump, hammer throw), aquatics (100m freestyle, 200m medley), and a smorgasbord of other sports - baseball, basketball, beach volleyball, boxing, BMX, football, table tennis, tennis, and more. Sega later added four sports as updates/DLC (including judo, rugby sevens and sport climbing), which padded the experience in sensible ways and kept the Olympics feeling like an evolving festival rather than a one-night flash mob. Controls are approachable by design. The events are built around quick inputs, timing bars and rhythm-like sections rather than insane simulation complexity, which makes the title a solid pick for local multiplayer sessions where somebody inevitably tries to turn the Joy-Con into a baton. Training mode introduces "top athletes," a set of licensed high-difficulty rivals used as boss targets. There are 20 top athletes across events, and the challenge of beating them is where the game's longevity shows its teeth. The game tracks how many times you beat these pros and hands out rewards - a neat carrot if you like replaying the same event to shave off tenths of a second. Customization and presentation are both surprisingly competent. You can tweak your athletes' looks and kit, which adds a bit of personality to what could otherwise be a sea of indistinguishable polygonal humans. The menus and presentation are clean and carry that shiny official-event feel without being suffocatingly earnest. It's pleasant when the game actually remembers it's supposed to be fun and not a national broadcast. The single-player experience can feel a little lonely and limited, a point several reviewers noticed. If you're the type who enjoys unlocking costumes, chasing leaderboard times, and battling the top athletes, there's mileage here. However, if your idea of Olympic glory involves a long campaign with dramatic training montages and an emotional backstory about sacrificing a childhood pet for glory, you might come away wanting. Multiplayer - local and online - is where this game genuinely shines, converting the short, snappy events into heated living-room feats of pride and trash talk. Bring snacks. Event variety is a genuine strength. Digitally Downloaded called out the breadth of different sports and how they all play differently, and that's accurate: the game rarely reuses the same mini-game template twice. That said, depth varies by event. Some competitions are brilliantly tuned; others feel like they could've used one more iteration in QA. Still, the combination of an accessible control scheme, meaningful top-athlete challenges, and a ton of countries to represent makes for a satisfying, if sometimes shallow, sports compilation.

Graphics

On Switch the game opts for a bright, stylized aesthetic rather than photorealism, and that choice suits it. Built on Hedgehog Engine 2, the presentation is tidy: clean stadiums, vibrant color palettes, and character models that are expressive enough to sell the action without needing to flex GPU muscle. Animations are serviceable, and the variety of venues helps the feed of events feel fresh. This isn't a visual showcase for the Switch, but it doesn't have to be; the art direction is friendly and functional. Crowd detail and background polish are kept economical (this is a multi-platform, mid-budget title, not a triple-A stadium sim), yet the game generally maintains a stable and pleasant look while you're sprinting, diving or smacking a ball. If you're comparing it to hyper-real sports sims, you'll notice the difference. If you size it up against arcade-style party sports games, it holds its own and looks charming while doing it.

Conclusion

Olympic Games Tokyo 2020 - The Official Video Game on Switch is a charming, often fun little collection of Olympic events that wears its official status proudly without getting bogged down in awkward seriousness. It's at its best in multiplayer sessions and in bite-sized bouts where the accessible controls and event variety let everyone join the fun. The game's big selling points - 80 playable nations and a solid spread of sports, bolstered by DLC additions - give it a weighty 'official' feel while still being playful. It earns a respectable 7/10: a rewarding pick for parties, fans of arcade sports, or anyone who wants to represent a less-common nation with pride. Single-player purists looking for depth and story will find it a little thin, and a few events could use further polish. Still, if you've got a spare Joy-Con and a friend who thinks they can beat you in the 100 m, this one's worth the download. It won't change your life, but it might make you a national hero for 30 seconds - and that's the Olympic dream, right?

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