There’s a moment with Drag x Drive that I’m just getting to grips with. I think there’s potentially a lot of strategy in this moment, a lot of gamesmanship. But Nintendo’s latest multiplayer confection is new and quite nuanced and so the entire playerbase is currently getting to grips with it too. I am genuinely fascinated to see, in a week or so, how it’s all playing out.
Drag x DrivePublisher: NintendoDeveloper: NintendoPlatform: Played on Switch 2Availability: Out now on Switch 2.
Drag x Drive is wheelchair basketball – three-on-three most of the time but the best games I’ve had have actually been two-on-two. Anyway, this moment I’m talking about comes just after your team score, and a sort of seismic nudge pushes all rival players – that’s you if you’ve just scored – away from the hoop so the team that just lost a point can get the ball and do something with it.
All great. But what this means is that you’ve just been shunted out of the shooting area (I am not a basketball fan, as my somewhat vaporous terminology should have made clear) but you’re still right by the enemy hoop. You can turn around quickly and be in a perfect position to face the action when your enemies are coming out with the ball. What do they do about this? What do you do about it? What do they do about what you’re doing about it? I am excited to see how really good players shake this all out.
After a very brief afternoon with the game, I’m broadly on board with Drag x Drive. For one thing, Nintendo has been very slow with accessibility over the years, which means players with disabilities have been neglected when it comes to the company’s games. On the Switch 2 you have an interesting attempt at closing the accessibility gap with some console-level button-remapping options, and here in Drag x Drive you have legit representation too. It’s lovely to see. It’s a start, albeit a belated start. (Although even then, as one wheelchair user rightfully pointed out on reddit, there’s a profoundly disappointing irony in a game based on wheelchair sports still being unplayable for many of those who use wheelchairs themselves, thanks to the nature of its control scheme. Nintendo still has quite some way to go here.)