Aussie sports game gets surprise release

The Brisbane-made sequel to 2017 Nintendo Switch hit Golf Story got a surprise Christmas Eve release after two years of delays

The long-awaited sequel to 2017 hit Nintendo Switch game Golf Story has received a surprise Christmas Eve release, after years of delays and speculation about its release.

Sports Story was released on the Nintendo Switch eShop on December 24, as part of Nintendo’s “Inside the House of Indies” event. The event saw five consecutive days of indie game announcements, which featured 20 titles announced, nine of which were released throughout the week upon announcement.

Sports Story is the follow-up to 2017’s Golf Story, a pixel art golfing game made by Brisbane-based Sidebar Games. Golf Story made a huge splash on the global market, attracting millions of fans in the Switch’s first years on sale for its charming artwork, solid arcade golf gameplay, and hilarious Australian writing.

At one stage, Golf Story was even named as Nintendo President Shuntaro Furukawa’s favourite game, an absolutely astonishing feat for a small independent game made in Australia.

Nintendo's incoming CEO Furukawa said his recent favorite game is "Golf Story."

— Takashi Mochizuki (@6d6f636869) April 26, 2018

The sequel, Sports Story, takes the basic premise of Golf Story and turns it up to 11, introducing a dozen more sports and activities to enjoy and taking the player on a massive journey throughout the sporting world, and even into RPG-like dungeons.

The Aussie indie game sequel was announced to be coming soon last month, with a release date tentatively set for sometime in December. However, the game has suffered many delays in the past, after it initially planned to release in 2020, and many suspected that the release date might slip again.

Sports Story was planned to release in 2020, but was ultimately delayed multiple times. Picture: Sidebar Games

Other games released on the Switch during the “Inside the House of Indies” event include turn-based card battler Floppy Knights, surreal rhythm game Melatonin, and sailing adventure game Sail Forth (thanks Vooks!). You can see the full list of announced and released games coming to Nintendo Switch below:

Released

• Mortal Shell: Complete Edition
• Floppy Knights
• The Punchuin
• The Captain
• Sonority
• Sail Forth
• Melatonin
• Hyper Gunsport
• Sports Story

Announced

• Pupperazi
• Roman Sands RE:Build
• The Gecko Gods
• Risk of Rain Returns
• Tin Hearts
• Potion Craft
• Afterimage
• Smile for Me
• Sea of Stars
• Dust & Neon
• Undying

The announced games are all scheduled to release in 2023.

The Australian games industry is doing better than ever, according to a new report from peak games industry body IGEA. The report detailed that the Aussie games industry has almost doubled in size in the last six years, with more growth expected in the coming year.

Written by Oliver Brandt on behalf of GLHF.