Go Vacation

Minigames range from activities such as kayaking and horseback riding, to activities like table hockey and minigolf. Different resorts can be accessed using vehicles such as trolleys and bicycles. Players can customize the outfit of their avatar and decorate their house with furniture. The game's development began in 2009 and lasted two and a half years. It was announced at the 2011 Electronic Entertainment Expo as an entry in the We Ski series; the game was released later that year for the Wii. The game was ported to the Nintendo Switch in 2018 and included new features such as the ability to take photographs. Surveys were held in the United States, Europe, and Japan to determine which sports and activities should be included in the minigames. Although the resorts were not directly based on real-life locations, producer Kobayashi said Hawaii was a possible influence for the Marine Resort. Vacation had a mixed reception; critics praised its multiplayer aspects and creativity but criticized its soundtrack, environments, controls, and the quality of the minigames. It was the third-best-selling game in Japan the week of its release, selling 47,209 copies. A Nintendo Switch port developed in collaboration with Nintendo was released in 2018.

• Title — Go Vacation • Developer — Namco Bandai Games • Publisher — Namco Bandai Games Nintendo Switch • Series — We Ski • Producer — Kenya Kobayashi • Composer — * Taku Inoue • Norihiko Hibino • Platforms — Wii, Nintendo Switch • Released — Wii Nintendo Switch WW: 27 July 2018 27 December 2018 • Genre — Party, Sports • Modes — Single-player, multiplayer

• Illustration — A split screen view of four players having a water gun fight Go Vacation is a party and sports video game. Players explore four resorts located on the fictional Kawawii Island: Marine, City, Mountain, and Snow. They start the game in the Marine Resort. More than 50 activities, both competitive and co-operative, are available. These include bungee jumping, ice fishing, scuba diving, miniature golf, tennis, off-road racing, and snowman building. Some minigames require or allow for the use of different controllers and accessories, such as the MotionPlus controller, the Wii Zapper, the Balance Board, or the Wii Wheel. Winning some minigames unlocks more challenging modes. The island open world can be navigated at the player's leisure by walking or riding on vehicles, the type of which depends on the resort, and each resort has certain places where players can fast travel to. In the Switch version, players are able to find and take photographs of animals that are scattered across the resorts, and find boxes with rewards in them. The Marine Resort, which contains coves, jungles, and beaches, is themed around watersports, including beach volleyball, surfing, water gun battles, and Marine bike races. The City Resort, which centers around extreme and leisure sports and skating, is the second and smallest resort. It hosts games such as table hockey, carnival games, skate tricks, and mini golf. Players can use skateboards and roller skates found throughout the resort to ride on skating rails. The third resort, the Snow Resort, is a huge ski resort that focuses on winter sports like ski jumping, snow tubing, snowboarding, dogsled, and snowball fights. The final resort is the Mountain Resort, where players can partake in many outdoor activities. It includes forests and rivers, which are the locations for activities like rafting, paragliding, off-road car racing, and horseback riding. It also contains a lake with a castle and a shooting park. Go Vacation can be played using a Mii or one of 284 avatars divided into eight categories such as "Grandmother", "Grandfather", "Boy", and "Girl". Treasure chests containing outfits for the players' avatars are scattered around the resorts. Players can create a virtual dog and a non-player character (NPC) to accompany them as they explore the resorts which, with some exceptions,. Up to four players can play together through local multiplayer. Occasionally, NPCs may ask players to embark upon a small quest, such as getting an item and taking it back to them. After playing 20 minigames, players gains access to their own virtual villas, which can be decorated with furniture or photographs taken during the game. Furniture can be found in the game's world or unlocked using "silver keys" that are obtained after completing minigame goals. Furniture is gained in sets, of which there are 90. Players can alter the exterior of their villas using "gold keys", earned by completing challenges.

Go Vacation was announced at the 2011 Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3) as the third entry in the We Ski series. Bandai Namco Games began development of the game in 2009, shortly after the release of We Ski & Snowboard because the developers felt they had not given players a "complete sense" of winter in the previous game. When discussing ways to address this, the developers decided winter alone was not enough; they wanted to depict other seasons. Producer Kenya Kobayashi wanted the game to focus on the experience of going on a resort holiday, rather than strictly focusing on the minigames themselves. Part of the game's development was outsourced to other companies; the rest was done by Bandai Namco Games staff who had previously worked on the Ridge Racer series. After realizing the word "vacation" is frequently associated with relaxation, Kenya Kobayashi named the game Go Vacation to clarify that it is a game in which you must be active. The resorts were not directly based on any real-life locations, although Kobayashi said the Marine Resort "might be inspired by things you find in Hawaii". The developers conducted surveys in the United States, Europe, and Japan to determine what activities to include in the game. The development team included 50 minigames in Go Vacation because most of the game's contemporaries included only 10 to 15 minigames. Developing the controls for the game's vehicles felt like "second nature" to the development team due to their experience on the Ridge Racer series. Go Vacation was released for the Wii in 2011, the exact date of release vary depending on region. It released on 11 October in North America, 20 October in Japan, 4 November in Europe, and 17 November in Australia. The game was distributed by Nintendo in all PAL region territories. It was later ported to the Switch. The port released on 27 July 2018 in all regions except for Japan, where it was released on 27 December. The soundtrack of Go Vacation consists of both original music, as well as instrumental and vocal arrangements of music from past Namco games. Several composers, musicians, and vocal artists worked on the soundtrack for Go Vacation, including Taku Inoue, Norihiko Hibino, Aubrey Ashburn, and Jody Whitesides. Two soundtrack albums released. The first, the officially licensed album Namco Music Saloon, was released on 21 December 2012 by Japanese record label Sweep Records, and includes live instrumentation and vocals. The album consists of original arrangements of songs from other Bandai Namco Entertainment titles, including Ridge Racer, Dig Dug, Pac-Man, New Rally-X, and Kotoba no Puzzle: Mojipittan. The second, GO VACATION BGM Album, was released by Namco Sounds digitally on iTunes on 23 March 2013. This album contains original music composed by Taku Inoue for Go Vacation. Some music also returns from We Ski and, while absent from the Go Vacation soundtrack albums, are present on the "We Ski Original Soundtrack" released in 2023.