Winter Sports: The Ultimate Challenge features nine athletic contests with multiple game modes and four-player support. Featured outdoor and indoor events include alpine skiing, bobsleigh, skeleton, luge, speed skating, cross-country skiing, ski jumping, curling, and figure skating. The single-player Campaign Mode offers 42 individual challenges and rivals to defeat, while the Career Mode involves earning skill points over time to improve various attributes. Each event can also be played alone or against friends in a choice of split-screen or hot-seat play.