The new year is upon us, and what better way to "ring" in the new decade with a fitness game to help get you in shape and meet that resolution? Nintendo's Ring Fit Adventure certainly can help get the job done. It provides a solid and enjoyable foundation for fitness, offering a fun, intuitive, and innovative way to help shed pounds and get toned.
Still, despite the charm of this spiritual successor to the phenom that was Wii Fit, there is certainly no shortage of weird quirks, ambiguities, and confusing moments within; both mechanically thematically.
With that said, let's break a sweat as we take a deeper look into this unique fitness romp and cover 10 aspects of Switch's Ring Fit Adventure that just don't make sense.
10 The Mystery Of The Unnamed Protagonist
Sure, games that hold RPG qualities often tend to make the protagonist something of an unknown, blank slate that gamers that place themselves into. It creates a sense of immersion, which, for a game like this, proves crucial.
Still, it would have been nice to get some sort of background on this unnamed protagonist, whose physical traits are about as plain and ambiguous as their personality or backstory. Just why is this athlete the "chosen one" to take out Dragaux? How do they hold this special power to take out baddies, and apparently make their hair erupt in flame? You could say that Ring granted them these powers, but why them?
9 Unleashing Dragaux
For that matter, just what are the motives of the beefy dragon villain known as Dragaux? Why and how did he manage to get himself imprisoned in the confines of Ring, and why was Ring willing to do this? After all, even though Ring had been able to keep him from being unleashed, it had seemingly rendered Ring helpless to unleash his own powers or even speak, until our protagonist freed him.
Of course, we shouldn't exactly expect a dynamic villain - or narrative in general - with a fitness game that's meant to be accessible and to-the-point. Still, some more depth and/or explanation into the narrative could have helped make us more engaged and interested in this journey.
8 Smoothie Ingredients
There are a number of bizarre elements when it comes to crafting smoothies in Ring Fit Adventure. Firstly, how is an apparently insta-healing or enhancing smoothie able to be crafted by simply mixing just a few basic ingredients?
It's also rather odd that all of these ingredients can be gathered up in various spots of the outdoor wilderness, only to be instantly mixed into a consumable beverage. It's a bit too convenient, and not particularly hygienic, for that matter. It's also pretty strange that these ingredients are somehow converted into some glowing orb which is then squeezed into juice by Ring.
7 Just Who Or "What" Is Ring?
Much like our chief villain and protagonist, there is very little known about this strange talking ring protagonist. Obviously, this uniquely circular-shaped character is meant to represent the Ring-Con attachment that you'll spend most of your time clinging to when burning through Ring Fit Adventure.
Still, it's tough to get past the bizarre nature of this guy, given his unique powers and ability to speak, while being granted virtually no backstory or depth.
6 Nobody Talks But Ring?
Speaking of which, there's a rather jarring inconsistency when it comes to the voice acting (or lack thereof) and the dialogue exchanges in Ring Fit Adventure. While it's implied that everyone spouting readable text is actually speaking their dialogue, we only actually hear audible speech from Ring. Meanwhile, everyone else who "talks" can only be heard making noises that are reminiscent of those old 90s platformers from Rare.
This somewhat dated trait and clash of styles can tend to pull you out of the experience at times. It's just an odd vibe throughout the campaign to have everybody silent except for the inanimate object.
5 Inconsistency of Stretching Cool-Downs
Stretching and cool-downs can be a crucial part of having an effective workout.
At the very least, doing them will make you less likely to be sore or pull something during these intense workouts - and yes, these Ring Fit Adventure sessions can be surprisingly rough. Not only will you be doing cardio, but you'll be piling on frequent bouts of resistance training with the Ring-Con, which is quite durable and resilient.
And yet, the "stretching" segments of this game feel somewhat shallow and inconsistent. The game does a good job of stressing the areas you worked the hardest. Yet, you tend to get a full-body workout (or close to one) regardless of which muscles you emphasize, which makes it strange that sometimes the trainer will completely skip over a region.
4 The Passive Nature Of Yoga Poses
Clearly, the inclusion of the "green" yoga sequences is meant to be something of a throwback to Wii Fit, and to likely serve as a sort of in-game breather amidst the grind of resistance reps. Still, these poses feel rather pointless in the scheme of things, as they typically just consist of slow, subtle movements as most of your body remains in place.
It's particularly amusing to see these very slow-moving actions wallop certain enemies, dealing dozens of HP worth of damage - especially against green baddies that are weak against them.
3 The Calorie Counter...
Although it's a useful and overall neat feature, it's a bit peculiar that a game that leans more in the direction of strength/resistance training puts much merit in a calorie counter. For one, this can be imprecise - given that it only has the resistance of the ring, your weight, and movement of the leg strap to draw from.
On top of this though, while cardio exercise tends to burn the bulk of the calories in one fell swoop, strength training is more known for its ability to engage in a sort of "slow burn." This is to say; far fewer calories initially, yet over time, as you continue to use your taxed muscles, you'll burn more. Thus, it's tough to imagine this counter being that accurate, given that it seems to tally these calories in real-time.
2 Enemies Taking Their Sweet Time
Of course, everyone who's even casually aware of RPGs knows of the unrealistic stretches of time that comprise turn-based battles, where there is more "downtime" than actual on-screen action. Enemies will wait indefinitely for the player to initiate their action, and vice-versa.
Yet, it can be particularly amusing in Ring Fit Adventure to see this play out, as your attack sequences can often take well over a minute or longer to complete. This is especially true when doing something taxing like squats. It's certainly gracious of these monsters to grant you 60-90 seconds to attack them while they just stand around!
1 Ab Guard Yields Damage
One of Ring Fit Adventure's neatest traits is the blocking feature, which (at least on a passive level) allows you to do a bit of an ab workout by pressing the Ring-Con to your stomach and clenching your abdomen. At the same time, the way it works is a bit of a head-scratcher, as enemies will still shave away some of your hearts even when executed perfectly. Why should this be the case?
Reportedly, a high-level differential will alleviate this, but there should be a method of performing a perfect Ab Guard which allows you to deflect most (if not all potential damage). The implementation and lack of depth here is questionable, to say the least.