Summer Sports features seven different sports: basketball, badminton, beach volleyball, horseshoes, lawn darts, mini-golf, and croquet.^[1] The basketball game does not contain a full game of basketball, but instead allows players to play horse, Around the World, and shot clock. Horseshoes and lawn darts play their respective normal games using Wii Remote motion controls.^[1] Beach volleyball and badminton also play like their normal counterparts, and use motion controls. Mini-golf and croquet include a power meter which measures the player's strength on their shots, giving the player accurate feedback.^[1]

Summer Sports: Paradise Island received mostly mediocre reviews from critics, who found fault with the game's control scheme; the game received a 53.3% from GameRankings.^[2] IGN's Daemon Hatfield criticized the game, stating that five of the seven mini-games were "terrible" and that the other two were "okay".^[1] He noted that the instruction manual for the game was misprinted, giving instructions for basketball three times, and croquet and horseshoes instructions twice, while neglecting to have anything about the other four games.^[1] Gaming Nexus's Cyril Lachel felt that the compilation was, "not as consistent" as one would hope.^[3]