Nintendo Switch Ring Fit Adventure | First Impressions.

Monday 18 May 2020

It wasn't that long ago that I was having a moan about lack of fitness games for the Nintendo Switch only to be surprised with a Ring Fit for Christmas and I wasn't disappointed at all! When I first saw the Ring Fit being advertised I wasn't too impressed with it, it looked a bit silly and like something that would break easily after a few months but I was wrong, the ring you use is pretty sturdy and able to take a lot of pressure so when you push in or pull out it can be difficult at first until you learn your own strength. Along with the ring, there is a strap that goes across your thigh and picks up your leg movements, unfortunately, this strap would fall down on a lot of my workout gear so I had to wear my cotton leggings to make it stays up. 


The strap reminded me a lot of the ones that came with the Zumba Dance Workout games except it was meant to go around your waist, the most similar thing is putting the controller inside the strap to help track movement.  When playing Ring Fit with the strap attached and holding the ring moving your arms pretending you're working out won't work you have to get your whole body moving which is what makes it a good tool to help lose weight. As I said before the leg strap slips down but when you're using it and it stops slipping it works your inner thighs and buttocks out really well. With the left controller inside the strap it's really sensitive and picks up when you're not doing a movement correctly and the game lets you know so you can address this and work on it.

The ring can be awkward at times but it gets your arms moving more than you would think it would, I spent a good chunk of time doing arm workouts with it and I actually felt a difference, I wouldn't say it was as good as using weights but it still makes your arms ache when working out so I try to incorporate using both throughout the week, mostly using the Ring Fit as a warm-up. Having the option of using the ring fit for more than just small bursts of exercise will appeal to a lot of people especially because there is an element of a fun battle system bound which forces you to work out whilst battling, bare in mind when playing you don't have to play this mode in order to play other modes, the decisions up to you. 


A cool feature is that the ring can be used in an offline mode called the Multitask mode, where you can do arm presses or thigh presses, you can do up to 500 presses that you can either send to yourself or your friends once you turn the switch back on. It's a pretty clever feature and in order to use it you will need to put the switch on sleep mode, make sure the right joy-con is still attached to the ring and push down on the analog stick, it will beep and you can do presses if you stop it will automatically turn off but will record how many you have done and automatically send them to the switch/game.


The name of the game and device is very clever and makes working out sounds fun rather than a chore, I personally hate working out but Ring Fit Adventure does a great job in getting you in a good and excited mindset for working out. I don't know about anyone else, but when I'm in a bad place with my MH I don't want to workout, I would rather play games. The Ring Fit Adventure helps pull me out of the bad place I'm in because it's a video game. 

Although it helps me with my MH, I don't rely on the game solely for working out as I use the Wii Fit, Just Dance, Yoga, and my exercise bike for workouts too as they suit my needs with my chronic illness where as the Ring Fit on its own doesn't. I tend to use this more for a warm-up before I do my main workouts, it helps me prepare. my body for what's to come, I think some people tend to forget how important warmups can be, this game is perfect for them. There are a good few options in-game to play through the game and lately, I prefer the custom mode to the adventure as I feel I get more out of it when it comes to warming up. When it comes to my chronic illness, I find it very hard to do running so I tend to use my exercise bike when it comes to getting my legs moving rather than the Ring Fit. 


I wouldn't say the Ring Fit is accessible as it's calibrated to work with certain positions you stand in when wearing the leg strap the Switch needs to make sure you're stood/sat in a certain position and the ring needs to make sure you're holding it right but I don't think it there was much thought for disabled players when this was being designed. There is an assist mode that helps with certain parts of the body, for exampke instead of having to runyou can stand there and just do arm movements. I do wish there was an option for those who can't stand long or are wheelchair users though. This is a let down considering how much more accessible the original Wii was for players, yes I'm aware they're different consoles but there should be some kind of accessible mode. Even then you have to go through the process of setting up both controllers before playing before getting to any settings so if it did have accessible settings this start-up calibration would need to be changed. 


I've spoken to a few mates who play Ring Fit and nearly all of them have told me their biggest issue with the game was the strap slipping so I'm hoping that Nintendo will come up with a different kind of strap we can use that at least stays in place. Much like the Wii fit the game tracks your time playing, calories burned, etc which is very helpful when it comes to putting the info into my Fitbit. My overall thoughts on the game are obvious that I like it and enjoy it, I just wish it was more accessible to disabled players, they're missing out on a whole different group of people who would love to be able to play. 



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