Fresh off the back of PAX 2019, Nintendo wanted to give us a special demonstration of the new fitness game for Nintendo Switch, so we headed to their official headquarters for a very special Ring Fit Adventure hands-on.
Ring Fit Adventure is the first Nintendo Switch fitness game that includes an accessory that assists with the gameplay, but there’s a huge twist and it’s not just your waist doing the twisting. In our Ring Fit Adventure hands-on demonstration we learnt that the game is actually a fully-fledged RPG, offering countless hours of enjoyment as you burn those calories.
One joy-con slots into the ring accessory, while the other attaches to a thigh strap which you tighten onto your left thigh. After some basic calibration, we were soon squeezing and stretching our way through the first few levels of the Ring Fit Adventure story mode. The story is that Dragaux has been trapped inside an ancient ring and has found a way to escape so it’s up to you, the adventurer, to battle him using various exercises. Fortunately, he hasn’t been able to work out while being trapped in the ring so your encounters with him will gradually increase in difficulty as he regains his strength.
The adventure mode was instantly recognisable as a Nintendo game, and appears like a world map with levels and then a boss at the end. There are 20 worlds in Ring Fit, though we only got to sample the first few in our Ring Fit Adventure hands-on. Levels vary from 2 minutes to 10 minutes and will also depend on how fast you are. Jogging on the spot will make your character travel through the level on a fixed rail, but there’s plenty to do along the way. Squeezing the Ring-Con will fire a blast out of the on-screen ring, while stretching it out will cause a suction effect that sucks up nearby coins and some other objects. You can face the Ring-Con down and squeeze to make your character jump, and if you hold the squeeze the character can float, giving your legs a quick break.
There are also a whole bunch of mini-games which would be fantastic for parties. We got to sample a few in our Ring Fit Adventure hands-on and managed to set a record and unlock an S ranking score which nobody had done yet in the Nintendo Australia Ring Fit hands-on experiences! Mini-games included wall-climbing, robot bashing, crate smashing, and much more, giving players a varied work-out.
You can also set up a unique workout regiment using the many different exercises in Ring Fit Adventure. We were very surprised by how customisable the game was, with difficulties changing depending on how often you work out, how old you are, how much you weigh, and simply how hard you want the game to be. If you’re more fit then the game will push you to do more reps, while if you have an active injury you can let the game know and it will avoid aggravating it.
After every activity you can check your heart-rate. Did you know your Joy-Con that you’ve had since you bought your Nintendo Switch has a heart-rate monitor on the bottom of it? Neither did we! It’s a good idea to pace yourself while playing Ring Fit Adventure. We found it was very easy to start sweating, and it was reassuring to know that the handles on the Ring-Con and the thigh strap are all machine washable.
Ring Fit Adventure is a comprehensive work-out game with a very attractive adventure mode and great mini-games to play with friends and family. We weren’t expecting it to be as immersive as it is, and we’d put it in an entirely different category to the likes of Wii Fit, EA Active and Ubisoft’s Your Shape.
Nintendo was nice enough to let us keep the Ring Fit Adventure that we went hands-on with, so make sure to stay tuned to Rocket Chainsaw as we prepare our full review over the coming weeks. Unfortunately, this is one game you can’t just smash out in a few days! For more on Ring Fit Adventure, head to the official website.
