Gaming’s great success stories are often built on the backs of forgotten failures. Which is why Nintendo’s next Switch 2 exclusive, Drag x Drive, will only be remembered by real ones as the console’s Red Steel.
You can’t talk about the Nintendo Wii without talking about Wii Sports. The lightning-in-a-bottle launch game defined an entire console generation, single-handedly (or two-handedly in the case of its boxing minigame) selling the idea of motion-controlled games to the world. But you can talk about the Nintendo Wii without talking about Red Steel.
Ubisoft’s clumsy stab at a first-person Wiimote shooter was something of an anti-launch game in 2006. For every way that Wii Sports proved the potential of motion controls, Red Steel had a counterpoint locked and loaded. Desyncing motion controls left characters pirouetting on-screen. Players contorted their bodies into new shapes to pull off melee strikes with the Wii’s nunchuck. But Ubisoft’s swing-and-miss didn’t matter much: The Wii was taking players to uncharted territory, and there would be experimental duds along the way. Red Steel stumbled so that Metroid Prime 3: Corruption could double jump its way into rose-colored Wii retrospectives.
Drag x Drive is firmly in this pantheon. The mouse-controlled sports game is an inspired invention, a three-on-three basketball game where players navigate a small court in wheelchairs, where each wheel is controlled by an individual Joy-con mouse. It’s ingenious on paper, but hampered by the same technological growing pains that haunted Ubisoft in 2006. Awkward dual mouse controls turn a great premise into a relative non-starter that’s bound to hurt the perception of Nintendo’s unique gimmick more than it helps it. Pushing both forward accelerates the chair, while just moving on allows players to turn. That combines with motion controls, allowing players to lift a Joy-con off the table and mime a free throw to shoot. The shallow offering is destined to be a Switch 2 footnote.
There is toy-like charm to picking up Drag x Drive. I felt that new console magic the first time I slid both my hands across my snack table and watched my wheelchair rocket forward. The tutorial emphasizes the tactile satisfaction of each movement before peppering in the other nuances that need to be mastered to win. There’s not too much to juggle. Smash headfirst into an opponent and you’ll knock the ball out of their hands. There are a few other advanced tricks to learn, like launching off the quarter pipe surrounding the net to perform a dunk, but Drag x Drive aims to nail the same elegance that made Wii Sports a casual phenomenon.
When I’m at my most locked in, I can see the subtle strategic notes that come from well-timed passing, smart defense, and risky tricking to increase the value of two and three pointers. But it never goes too overboard with high-skill nuances, maintaining a pick-up game feel in its brisk three-minute rounds. However, the wheels started to come off Drag x Drive with every passing match.
After trouncing some low-level bots, I tried to get competitive and incorporate some more advanced tricks into my toolset. Reliability went out the window as my wheelchair would swerve instead of moving forward or vice versa anytime I quickened my movement. My cross-court chases were about as graceful as a three-legged race. Sometimes I’d try to go for a dramatic dunk only for the ball to anticlimactically drift off my fingers rather than slam into the hoop. I tried to lock in, paying close attention to my hands, but I was still running into errors every match.
Those control quirks become much clearer when you dip out of the court and into Drag x Drive’s frustrating micro challenges. Players hang out in a hub-like gym between rounds where they can aim for high scores in mobility minigames that test their mastery of each control nuance. Some have me dashing through an obstacle course as fast as I can, while others have me carefully turning through checkpoints. Beating the target time on each requires a level of precision that Drag x Drive sorely lacks. The simple task of launching off a half pipe to reach midair checkpoints turned into a physics crapshoot that had me hitting retry dozens of times.
Drag x Drive’s biggest problems aren’t entirely the fault of its (yet-to-be-announced) team at Nintendo EPD. The gameplay butts up against the limitations and annoyances of Nintendo’s new control scheme as the devs dare to use them to their fullest. There’s a good reason that games like Nintendo Switch 2 Welcome Tour utilize mouse mode for brief minigames. Playing like that for long periods gets uncomfortable due to the Joy-cons’ non-ergonomic design when placed on their sides.
Even finding a good surface to play on can be a hassle. I tried on my jeans, but I didn’t have enough leg real estate to work with. Dragging my controllers across my snack table produced a loud scratching sound as plastic scraped against wood. My best solution had me using the extra-large mouse pad on my desk, but that meant I had to ditch my natural living room setup to play. Drag x Drive didn’t invent these hurdles, but its demanding control scheme exacerbates them. (Perhaps some accessibility controls could have helped here, but it ironically features none despite being a game about athletes in wheelchairs.)
It’s like buying a Beyblade set because you just want to feel what it’s like to let it rip.
Even if it wasn’t butting up against the Switch 2’s inherent design flaws, the shallow package would still be a tough sell. Communication options are limited to three unhelpful lines mapped to the D-pad (“Cool!”) and there’s no in-game chat for strangers looking to coordinate. There’s no good way to tell a teammate when you want them to pass the ball to you. The dull character designs look like they were hastily repurposed from the ashes of Metroid Prime: Federation Force. Customization is very limited, with only a few unlockable helmets and a handful of color options. You will always play on the same court in the same game mode. After every two online games, you compete in one of two recurring minigames with minimal variation.
A light content suite is to be expected from a $20 package, but Drag x Drive feels like one piece removed from a larger minigame collection – as if it was meant to be bundled into Nintendo Switch 2 Sports. With no content roadmap floating around, it’s unclear if Nintendo intends to buff it up over time or simply treat this as a go-to dual mouse tech demo for new Switch 2 owners. It’s hard to imagine it capturing a consistent enough community to fill online servers for long in either case.
The thing is: Critiquing Drag x Drive as if it’s Rematch is a fool’s errand. Both may be multiplayer sports games, but they have entirely different objectives. Rematch packs deceptive layers of depth into its simple soccer gameplay, creating the framework for a replayable live service hit funded by a constantly stocked cosmetic shop. Drag x Drive is a toy. Plain and simple. It’s like buying a Beyblade set because you just want to feel what it’s like to let it rip. The value lies in the tactile experience of swiping two Joy-cons across a table and feeling the bumpy feedback of the HD Rumble in your hands. It delivers that satisfaction, even if only for a few rounds. Does that make it a success?
The reason I still think about Red Steel these days is because I played a lot of it in 2006. Some of my favorite memories with the Wii came from goofing around in it with friends while the console’s tricks were still fresh. The act of pointing a controller at a screen to move a gun and shaking a nunchuck to melee was a pleasurable sensation, even if the underlying game was a dud. It made me hunger for more experiences like it – preferably better ones – eventually leading me to more refined games like Metroid Prime 3: Corruption. My nostalgic love of the console’s waggle controls had just as much to do with those deathmatches as my hours spent bowling.
I have a feeling that the same will be true for Drag x Drive. As shallow and frustrating as it is, there’s a charming novelty in it that could only have worked this early in the Switch 2’s life. It’s not fun to play, but it’s fun to play with.
Drag x Drive will be released on Aug. 14 on Nintendo Switch 2. The game was reviewed on Nintendo Switch 2 using a prerelease download code provided by Nintendo. You can find additional information about Polygon’s ethics policy here.
