Most of their fans would be happy to tell you that they never want Nintendo to stop being Nintendo. Thankfully, the consolemaker added another notch to their wacky bedpost today with the announcement of Ring Fit Adventure, an RPG that hands players a plastic ring known as a Ring-Con (as well as a Leg Strap) and asks them to do daily exercises to defeat “Dragaux the Bodybuilding Dragon.” And no, I’m not kidding:
In the Ring Fit Adventure game, players explore an expansive world, battling enemies along the way using real-life exercises to perform in-game attacks. The new Ring-Con and Leg Strap accessories that are included with the game respond to the player’s real-world movements, allowing the game to turn them into in-game actions, like jogging in place to move your character through the world using the attached Leg Strap, or squeezing the Ring-Con and turning that strength exercise into powerful attacks. By playing the game daily, players can regularly work out various parts of their bodies. With additional mini-games and workout routines, Ring Fit Adventure is a fun experience for players of various skill levels and lifestyles.
The Adventure mode featured in Ring Fit Adventure takes place across 20 different colorful worlds in a quest to take down Dragaux, a giant, chiseled dragon with an ego to match his oversized muscles. Jog, sprint, and do knee-highs in real life to travel through the world, and use the Ring-Con accessory to perform different in-game actions, like jumping, hovering in mid-air or steering a raft on a river.
To play Ring Fit Adventure, players attach a Joy-Con controller to both the Ring-Con and Leg Strap, which then translate your movements (known as Fit Skills) into attacks within the game world. A wildly upbeat Announcement Trailer, which has been embedded above, provides a pretty good overview of how it all works.
If you’re just in it for the exercise, players can compete in a series of minigames by dropping in to Quick Play, Simple Mode, or Set Mode. A Silent Mode with quieter exercises is also available for players who “live in an upstairs apartment or don’t want to make a lot of noise.”
Ring Fit Adventure will be released for the Nintendo Switch on October 18… which gives you plenty of time to watch that mesmerizing Announcement Trailer over and over and over again.
