Nintendo reveals ‘Ring Fit Adventure,’ an exercise-focused Switch game and accessory

Last week, Nintendo teased a strange ring-shaped Switch accessory that it promised would offer a “new experience.”

Now, the company has revealed exactly what that was all about. As it turns out, the product is called Ring Fit Adventure and includes an actual game on top of an accessory.

In Ring Fit Adventure, players must defeat the evil body-building dragon Dragoth. To do that, you’ll need to explore a fantastical world, fight off monsters and level up your character in an RPG-like experience. The main difference here, however, is that you’re constantly moving your body to control your character.

To play, you slide one Switch Joy-Con into the ring and another into the accompanying leg strap. Once set up, the accessories will track your movement and the game will respond accordingly. Each level is on rails, but you’ll need to jog in place to have your character keep moving forward, while swinging your body down will have him jump.

When you encounter an enemy, the game shifts to RPG-inspired turn-based combat. To attack, you’ll need to use one of over 40 ‘Fit Skills,’ which you’ll carry out in the real world by following an on-screen prompt. These can include ‘Squat,’ ‘Knee-to-chest,’ ‘Overhead lunge twist’ and ‘Thigh press.’

Skills are designed to work various parts of the body and belong to one of four categories: arms, core, legs and yoga. Meanwhile, you’ll defend against enemy attacks by pressing the ring to your stomach.

Beyond the main campaign, Ring Fit Adventure features a variety of ‘Quickplay: Simple’ exercise mini-games intended for people who just want to jump in for a quick activity. These work everything from pectorals and deltoids to quadriceps and lats and require you to do the specified move as many times as you can in 20 seconds.

For a different challenge, you can hop into ‘Quickplay: Minigames,’ which have you running, rock climbing, hang gliding and more to achieve a high score. Finally, ‘Quickplay: Sets’ are groups of traditional exercises centred around muscle groups like upper arms, waist, glutes and abs.

Overall, Nintendo says Ring Fit Adventure is designed to be accessible for people of any fitness level. The game and accessories will be sold in one package, which will launch on October 18th at a cost of $99.99 CAD.

Source: Nintendo