When a new Nintendo console launches, without fail there are always some experimental games released to show off the new hardware. Most consoles don’t really need these specific showcase games, but Nintendo’s penchant for more interesting hardware means that it’s a nice way to learn about the kit you’ll be enjoying for the next five to ten years. On the Wii it was obviously Wii Sports which did this best, on the Switch we had the slightly less beloved but very stylish Arms, alongside 1,2 Switch, and now on the Switch 2 we have Drag x Drive.
Drag x Drive is a 3v3 wheelchair basketball game, where you use your two Joy-Cons as mice to propel your wheelchair around the court at breakneck speed and aim to score the most points. It must be said that these controls are pretty intuitive, and if you’re familiar with propelling a wheelchair (my husband regularly likes to watch me fail at moving around in his) you’ll discover it’s pretty true to life. In the brief tutorial you’ll be given the chance to practice alternating the directions you push for sharp turns, braking to stop, and those more subtle movements that’ll help you dodge the defence of the rival players. I was impressed how well the mouse controls worked on the surfaces I used (mainly my legs and pyjama shorts) and they very rarely caused an issue in matches.
When it’s time to take a shot you’ll need to lift the Joy-Cons up and use motion controls to throw the ball towards the hoop and hopefully earn some points. I never quite worked out how much the strength or direction of the throw mattered or how much it was luck that determined whether a shot went in, but as long as you’re facing the hoop directly there’s a good chance you’ll help the team reach glorious victory.
It didn’t take too long for me to start scoring for my team and feeling like I was actually helping us win a match, but defensively it was a different story. To get the ball from an enemy player you need to slam into them from the front, which is easier said than done when they’re speeding towards your goal hole. You’ll need to really master sharp turns and get good at predicting how opponents dodge if you want to block their offence, but when you do you’ll feel like a god.
For a whole host of obvious reasons, wheelchair basketball usually takes place on a flat court. Drag x Drive decided that a concrete skatepark was a more fun location for the sport though, and to be fair: it works. With hoops surrounded by half pipes, if you’re fast enough you can dunk by launching yourself up these ramps, which feels pretty badass. There are other tricks like bunny hops and backflips you can do too, and if you score with one of these stylish methods you’ll earn extra fractions of points that might just lead you to victory in a close contest.
Once your three minute match ends you’ll be given a chance to explore “The Park” where Drag x Drive takes place. This grey arena is where your lobby of about a dozen players hangs out, and has a few little activities to keep you busy outside of games. You can go hop over the skipping rope, knock over bowling pins, or even try and take on little time trials to show off your skills. It won’t take you long to see everything in this drab environment, but it is nice to have some distractions while the matchmaking does its thing.
Where Drag x Drive really falls short is in everything surrounding the matches, like the customisation options, which are mostly just different hats your robot character can wear. You can change the colour of different parts of your outfit and wheelchair too, but the determination to be dingy means these are all somewhat muted and miserable looking.
There are also a handful of helmet options that are unlockable, which you’ll be able to access by completing tasks like winning a few matches in a row or ticking off achievements around The Park. These are the only bits of progression the game has whatsoever, without even a battles passe to level up or really any reason to keep playing other than the matches themselves. For a multiplayer game released in 2025 it just feels so lacking in hooks and content, and will mean most fall off the game pretty quickly.
The other thing that put me off jumping onto Drag x Drive after a tough day of tidying or hiking is that it’s hard work. Especially in this recent heatwave I’d be getting hot and sweaty after an hour or two of play, and if you just want to relax with a video game then you’ll have to play something else. This becomes an accessibility issue too, because so many people will physically not be able to play Drag x Drive. I understand that standard button controls would take away the whole point of the game, but having a power wheelchair mode that also allows people who use electric wheelchairs to feel included would’ve been such a perfect solution to this. The irony of a game about wheelchair basketball having such huge accessibility issues is almost too much to handle.
While I had fun playing Drag x Drive, the tiring nature and lack of reason to keep playing make it hard to really recommend. The control scheme is clever, though, and mimics using a wheelchair in a totally unique way that a video game has never managed before. If you’ve got friends to play this with and don’t mind the lack of hooks you could have a great time, but don’t expect a relaxing experience after a hard day.
