Sports may be back in general in the United States, but the much-anticipated video game Sports Story will have to wait a bit longer. The sequel to Golf Story was officially delayed on Monday, unsurprising but tough news for the legions of fans of the title
Golf Story is an indie darling that also happens to be one of the best games on the Nintendo Switch, and certainly one of the best Switch-only games on the console. But Sidebar Games tweeted an update video out on Monday with unfortunate news: the game is delayed, with no timetable for when we might see it on the portable console. The “Sports Story delay trailer” is actually predictably charming, but doesn’t hide the bad news.
We've prepared a Sports Story update video to shed some more light on the situation. ⚽️🏏🎾⛳️📺 pic.twitter.com/FpGPVyFhD3
— Sidebar Games (@sidebargames) August 17, 2020
It’s unclear if all the increasingly wacky things mentioned in the trailer are actually going to be in the game, but what is made clear from the video is that the project got bigger than they anticipated and will require more time. Coach, your reluctant mentor and terrible chef from the first game, is in charge of things here and delivers the bad news.
“We came to this island for a holiday. And to our surprise, there was a lot more here than we imagined,” Coach says. “I guess you can say we’re still exploring.”
The video does hint at a lot of fun things in the game, including the bit about an island full of sports-adjacent things to do. Golf Story‘s extremely arcadey golf made for a wonderful RPG, and expanding past the links seems logical for a game that had you doing many different things with a golf ball in the first place. It’s why the news of a delay is so disappointing for fans that loved its story and characters as much as the actual golf mechanics.
Sidebar released a similar-sounding update in their own words on Twitter, making the delay official.
The game has become rather ambitious and we are excited about how it could turn out. But the price is currently being paid as we try to make our plans into reality. We are eager to reveal the results of these past 2 years so please look forward to future updates.
— Sidebar Games (@sidebargames) August 17, 2020
Sports Story was originally slated for a mid-2020 release but, well, it’s kinda been that kind of year for us all. Even retro-looking games come with the modern issues of crunch and sprawl, so while it’s unfortunate Sports Story was delayed it will likely result in a better product once it actually finds its way to the Switch. Until we get a new date for Sports Story, though, it’s back to playing Galf for the rest of us.