Ring Fit Adventure is a fitness video game created and sold by Nintendo for the Nintendo Switch. The game includes two physical items: the Ring-Con, a ring that players hold and insert a Joy-Con into, and the Leg Strap, a piece of fabric attached to the player's leg that holds the other Joy-Con.

The main part of the game is a turn-based role-playing adventure where players perform actions by doing physical exercises with the Ring-Con and Leg Strap. The Joy-Con's motion controls track the player's movements, and the Ring-Con has a sensor that detects how much it is bent. Other game modes include guided fitness workouts and party-style games. These activities focus on common exercises, helping the game support Nintendo's goal of improving players' daily lives, similar to its earlier game, Wii Fit. The game was released worldwide on October 18, 2019, and received mostly positive reviews from critics. By March 31, 2023, the game had sold more than 15.38 million copies, making it one of the most popular games on the Nintendo Switch.

Many people wanted the game, and Nintendo did not expect such high demand. This caused shortages in some countries, and in the United States, some sellers sold the game for over $300, which is much higher than its original price of $80.

Gameplay

Ring Fit Adventure comes with two accessories: the Ring-Con and the Leg Strap. These items have special holders to keep the Nintendo Switch's Joy-Con controllers in place. These accessories are needed to play the game because the Joy-Con's motion sensors track the player's movements during gameplay.

The main game mode is a role-playing game where the player controls a young athlete who meets a living Ring. Together, they fight against a powerful, muscular dragon named Dragaux. The player moves their character across the game world and into different dungeons to battle monsters. Movement in the game world is similar to a rail shooter: the player runs in place to move forward, jumps over obstacles by squeezing and releasing the Ring-Con, and fires at targets by squeezing the Ring-Con in the direction of the item. When facing monsters, the game uses turn-based combat. The player attacks enemies by doing exercises, and the damage dealt depends on how well the exercise is performed. To defend against monster attacks, the player presses and holds the Ring-Con against their stomach for as long as possible. When monsters are defeated, the player earns experience points. As the character levels up, they can unlock new exercises that cause more damage. Exercises are grouped by color, with each color representing a different body area: red for arms, blue for legs, yellow for core muscles, and green for yoga poses. Monsters also have colors, and exercises that match their color are more effective against them, but this ability is unlocked early in the game.

In addition to the adventure mode, the game includes a fitness routine mode where players can do exercises outside of the story. It also features mini-games based on specific exercises, which can be played alone or with others. An update in late March 2020 added a "Rhythm Mode," allowing players to exercise to music from the game and other Nintendo titles, such as Super Mario Odyssey, The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, Splatoon 2, and Wii Fit.

The game offers a "quiet mode" option to reduce noise for others nearby. For example, in quiet mode, the in-place running in adventure mode is replaced with doing squats.

Development

The game was first introduced in early September 2019 with a video showing people using the Ring-Con and Leg Strap, but the game itself was not shown. A full announcement about the game came one week later.

Some reporters noted that the game is part of Nintendo's ongoing effort to make video games more physically active, a goal first started by Satoru Iwata with the Wii console, especially in the game Wii Fit. Some features of the Nintendo Switch were influenced by player feedback from Wii Fit, which aimed to create smaller controllers that could be attached to the body for more ways to play.

Ring Fit Adventure was released in North America on October 18, 2019. The game comes with the Ring-Con and Leg Strap and costs a bit more than other games.

On March 26, 2020, a free update was released, adding a rhythm game mode.

Reception

Ring Fit Adventure received "generally favorable" reviews, according to Metacritic, a website that collects reviews. It has a score of 83 out of 100. IGN, another review site, gave it a score of 7.8 out of 10. Critics said the game is not meant for strength training but can help people stay fit. They also noted that the game's role-playing elements are simple, making it easy for casual players to enjoy, but some players who wanted more complex challenges may have been disappointed.

Ring Fit Adventure first appeared at number 3 in the UK, and number 1 in Japan and South Korea. In Japan, it sold 68,497 copies in its first week, becoming the top-selling game in the country. By December 2019, the game had sold 2.17 million copies worldwide.

Demand for the game was higher than Nintendo expected, leading to shortages. On June 18, 2020, it was announced that the game sold over one million copies in Japan, with a total of 1,006,069 copies sold in the region. From its launch to September 2020, the game sold 5.84 million copies worldwide.

By March 31, 2022, the game had sold 14.09 million copies, making it one of the best-selling Nintendo Switch games. By March 31, 2023, it had sold 15.38 million copies worldwide.

The game was nominated for "Best Family Game" at The Game Awards 2019, for "Family Game of the Year" at the 23rd Annual D.I.C.E. Awards, and for "Game Beyond Entertainment" at the 16th British Academy Games Awards.

Exergames, which are video games that combine exercise and gameplay, such as Wii Fit, Kinect, and Ring Fit, have been studied for their potential health benefits. Research suggests these games may help lower Body Mass Index (BMI) and improve mobility, especially for older people.