Ring Fit Adventure (Nintendo Switch)

I absolutely love the Ring Fit Adventure! I'm not a fitness guru or some athlete. I'm a normal woman who needed to lose weight. I bought the Ring Fit in July of 2021. I was almost 240 pounds and walking was getting difficult to do. I was breathing heavy and was not happy how I looked in clothes. I knew I needed to work out and this video game seemed to be a good option.When I started this, it beat my butt! It's now been eight months and I have lost 38 pounds. I can now walk and breathe better. I'm happy with how I look in clothes. I have watched what I eat and the Ring Fit is my go-to when it comes to fitness. Their are a variety of exercises that target the arms, stomach, legs, and whole body. These workouts are intense and by the end of a workout I'm sweating like ... MoreI absolutely love the Ring Fit Adventure! I'm not a fitness guru or some athlete. I'm a normal woman who needed to lose weight. I bought the Ring Fit in July of 2021. I was almost 240 pounds and walking was getting difficult to do. I was breathing heavy and was not happy how I looked in clothes. I knew I needed to work out and this video game seemed to be a good option.When I started this, it beat my butt! It's now been eight months and I have lost 38 pounds. I can now walk and breathe better. I'm happy with how I look in clothes. I have watched what I eat and the Ring Fit is my go-to when it comes to fitness. Their are a variety of exercises that target the arms, stomach, legs, and whole body. These workouts are intense and by the end of a workout I'm sweating like a pig. You can adjust your level if it's too difficult or easy. I love Tipp in the game because he does warm ups and cooldown. He is also the one to check in on the difficulty level and gives general fitness and nutrition information. It has a good storyline and definitely keeps me engaged. Thank you Nintendo for making this game. It has literally changed my life for the better!

Entertaining, just know that this is an exercise program first and foremost with a very child-friendly story. It is nothing amazing in terms of the video game aspect, most people will find it boring as the story is predictable and repetitive. If you buy this, it's for the exercise and health benefits. It helps you get a workout in, but will not help you lose weight unless you are actively eating healthy as well. So don't buy this expecting to lose extra weight while still eating junk food.As far as exercise equipment goes, it is the most entertaining. Comes with the joycon accessories needed and game.

I have finally able to get a copy of Ring Fit Adventure. Back in February, right before leaving for Japan for a month, I was in the local Best Buy store and had it in my hand and thought about buying it. I figured I'd wait till I get back from Japan as I did not feel like spending yet another $80 on top of the $300 for the Sony headphones I was also buying that evening, plus the money I needed for the Japan trip. Well, no sooner I get back is when the COVID-19 lockdowns hit! With the gyms being closed, I really wish I'd bought Ring Fit Adventure as it pretty much became unobtainium at that point. At least with springtime coming and the warmer weather, I was able to make do with outdoor exercising such as running, cycling, swimming. Now that autumn is here and ... MoreI have finally able to get a copy of Ring Fit Adventure. Back in February, right before leaving for Japan for a month, I was in the local Best Buy store and had it in my hand and thought about buying it. I figured I'd wait till I get back from Japan as I did not feel like spending yet another $80 on top of the $300 for the Sony headphones I was also buying that evening, plus the money I needed for the Japan trip. Well, no sooner I get back is when the COVID-19 lockdowns hit! With the gyms being closed, I really wish I'd bought Ring Fit Adventure as it pretty much became unobtainium at that point. At least with springtime coming and the warmer weather, I was able to make do with outdoor exercising such as running, cycling, swimming. Now that autumn is here and weather is getting colder, it is nice to finally have a good way to workout in the house as I am still not really comfortable to return to the gym with all the COVID-19 restrictions sill in place.To give a little bit of my background, I have ran a few marathons, have pedaled a few centuries and even competed in a few triathlons. I am also a professional skier, so I do a lot of physical training to keep myself in shape, including going to the gym to lift weights as well as attending many of the group exercise classes. Unfortunately, with the current situation, I have not been able to really get to the gym, so in comes Ring Fit Adventure.Within the Ring Fit Adventure box, you will find three major components. The first thing you will find upon opening the box is the game software itself in the form of the physical game cartridge you would need to insert in your Nintendo Switch. The second component is what is essentially a Pilates ring in which you slot the right Joy-Con controller. Nintendo dubs this the Ring-Con. The third piece is a leg strap with a pouch in which to insert the left Joy-Con controller and is fastened around you left upper thigh with velcro. The Ring-Con ring is actually pretty well built. It has certainly taken a bit of abuse from this relatively large guy! The leg strap does sometime have an annoying tendency to slide down my thigh. I found wearing a pair of tights on which the strap can kinda grab helps with that as oppose on my bare legs under my shorts.The actual game consists of a main story campaign that plays out like an action RPG, along with several other modes include "quick mode" in which you could just do workouts, several mini-games, a mode were you can do the running through scenery, and more. A recent update even added a rhythm game, although I've yet to try it.The main part of the game is the actual story campaign. You are playing as a young athlete that gets tricked into releasing a 'roided-up' dragon call Dragaux. Along with you is an anthropomorphized Pilates ring called, well, Ring. He basically acts as your guide and fitness training. You pretty much will run through the various ares while running in place. There are various obstacles you would encounter that you would have to get around or clear by performing certain exercise moves. For examples, sometimes you will encounter a large boulder in your path that you would have to "crush" by squeezing the Ring-Con against your abs and holding it for a small bit. Eventually you will encounter monsters along the way that you have to do battle with. This is were the main workout really occurs. To defeat the monsters you have to perform various exercises. As you work through the story campaign, you will unlock more exercises to use against the monsters. In addition, the exercises are color coded, such as blue for legs, red for arms, etc. There is a point where you would gain an attack advantage of performing an exercise against a monster of the same color, such as arm exercises against red monsters. When the monsters attack, you have to perform a defense by squeezing and holding the ring against your abs to basically put up a shield. In addition, you eventually can upgrade your character's outfits, to gain better attack and defense bonus, kinda like getting better armor in most traditional RPGs. Also like potions in traditional RPGs, there are smoothies that you drink to regain health, buff your character, etc. There is also a fairly simple crafting mechanic in which you collect ingredients as well as gain smoothie recipes to make more smoothies. Compared to most traditional RPGs, such as Final Fantasy or Dragon Quest, this is not the most deepest of experiences. There is some strategy that can be used between using the matching color exercises against the monsters as well as some exercises attack multiple enemies for smaller damage or a single enemy for larger damage, especially the Yoga moves. Also, you pretty much move in a linear fashion, "on rails" through the world, so there is no going off to explore. In addition, if approached like a "normal" game, it can actually get repetitive as well, especially in the later part. Still the whole idea is to make it all accessible to anyone, even those that have never played an RPG, that would like to have a fun and unique way to try to get some physical fitness in. The whole thing is presented in a very colorful and typical Nintendo positive way. The scenery is bright and colorful. Some of the outdoor sequences actually kinda look a bit like the old Road Runner cartoons. Also the actual story is basically trying to tell how physical fitness can be fun and does have to be intimidating. The dragon basically represent all that is toxic to the fitness culture. That guy you seem to always see at the gym that grunts loudly, can be a bit egotistical, always showing off his muscles, giving bad fitness advice to anybody whether they wanted it or not, and that kind of thing.As to the actual physical fitness part, I find it will not completely replace a good workout like I could get at the gym, especially with some of the group exercise classes as well as what I normally do with weights. Still, I can get a really good workout with this thing, plus I have the difficulty set fairly high. It is especially nice given the current COVID-19 situation as I don't really feel comfortable going back to the gym yet with all the restrictions and such. In addition, the game presents the physical fitness in a very positive and gentle/accessible way. It will show how to correctly perform the moves and the game does a fairly good job of accurately tracking your moves. On occasion, it will miss a rep, but not enough to detract from the experience. Personally, I do have a problem with it tracking squats for me, especially given the knee surgery I've have a few years ago, thus I am unable to squat really low. With that said, I will have to dive into the game settings as there are plenty to allow customization to setup your workout to what works best for you. This thing is supposedly be able to accommodate anybody from those that are getting of the couch for the first time to somebody like me that is a marathon runner/triathlete. Also, there is nothing in the game that talks about weight, BMI, and that type. If you are getting this specifically to lose weight, you are not going to find any weight-loss specific guidance here. You will only find general fitness guidance such as proper form, rest, eating a balanced diet, etc. Also, after about 15 minutes of actual exercise, the game will prompt you to quit and take a break, but you can easily dismiss it, although it will warn you to not overdo it and to stay hydrated. Most likely that is a way for Nintendo to cover their butts in case somebody does go a bit overboard and end up getting hurt. As I typically like to get a good half an hour or so in, I end up having to dismiss that prompt a couple of times.As I mentioned, there are other modes for those that don't want to go through the story campaign and just want to get a workout in. There are some fun mini-games to play as well, complete with leader boards. Although to access the leader boards, you do need the online Nintendo service, which I don't have (just what we need in this world - yet ANOTHER subscription service!).Finally, to really get the most out of Ring Fit Adventure, you need the full Switch console, with the detachable Joy-Con controllers, not the Switch Lite. If you have an extra set of Joy-Con controllers, it may be theoretically possible to play this on a Switch Lite, but since a Switch Lite cannot be docked to use the large TV screen, it would be difficult to play this using the tiny screen of the Switch Lite itself as it would be hard to see the exercise demonstrations and to read the text (and there is a lot of text).Overall, if you are looking for a really fun and accessible way to get a fitness workout in, and you have a Switch console, I would recommend getting this. I've seen some gripe about the price of this thing at $80. However, compared to a gym membership, that is only about two months worth of what a typical gym membership costs. If you can stick with it and perhaps even use it as a "gateway" to other physical fitness pursuits, I honestly believe you will see actual results in your overall physical fitness, whether that is losing weight, getting better muscle tone, or just generally trying to feel better about yourself.