Everyone Is Playing Switch Sports Volleyball Wrong And I Hate It
Switch Sports is a whole lot of fun, especially Volleyball. At long last, I can finally play my favorite sport in the comfort of my own home without facing the stigma that comes with dropping hours into Dead or Alive Xtreme 3. (Why is it so hard to make a good volleyball video game that isn’t about women wearing the smallest swimsuits possible?) That said, I wish my teammates better understood what they were doing when playing the game, specifically when it comes to blocking.
So here I am, on my hands and knees (because you failed to help me stop the ball and that means I had to dive for it) begging for y’all to start read blocking–using data pulled from observations of your opponent to limit how well a spiker can hit the ball as opposed to outright stopping it. It will make life so much easier for your partner when they’re preparing to receive the ball and bump it up.
Nintendo puts a greater level of importance on blocking (jumping up to stop a spike) than it should, given how it’s framed volleyball in Switch Sports’ Volleyball mode. Traditionally, two-versus-two volleyball is played on a beach, where sand balances out the lack of available receivers (defending players responsible for bumping up the ball so that it can be set) by restricting a spiker’s jump height (and thus the available places they can easily hit the ball to). Switch Sports, however, opts for indoor volleyball, which is traditionally played three-versus-three or six-versus-six. Getting more bodies on the court means there are more receivers covering more ground to counter a powerful spiker.