So far in 2019 I’ve bested mechs the size of skyscrapers, pummelled ancient demons into the pavement, even terrorised the citizens of a sleepy English village as one very naughty goose. But the greatest video game enemy I’ve faced this year? It’s Ring Fit Adventure’s stairs. These things .
Ring Fit Adventure reviewDeveloper: NintendoPublisher: NintendoPlatform: Reviewed on SwitchAvailability: Out 18th October on Switch
It’s a burn you’ll feel in your thighs, mostly. Heck, it’s a burn I can still feel tingling away, a full day since I last played this fascinating new Switch game. You might not even consider it a game, really – a successor of sorts to the hugely successful Wii Fit, it’s a piece of fitness software that, as my aches attest, is remarkably effective.
But if Wii Fit was emblematic of that era of Nintendo, cheerily blurring the lines as it courted – and attained – mainstream success, then Ring Fit Adventure is emblematic of this current Nintendo era. This is a video game, and loudly and proudly so. At its heart Ring Fit Adventure is an RPG in which you’re guiding your avatar through fantastical meadows and sugar pop savannahs, fighting off magical beasts as you level up and learn new abilities along the way.
Oh, and you’ll be doing this while holding the Ring-Con, the packed-in accessory that enables all of this. It’s a pilates ring effectively, a thick matte rubber thing that works in unison with the Leg-Strap that’s also included, and it’s all sturdy and slim enough to pack in your bag so you can play anywhere (I wouldn’t advise busting out the squat thrusts during your commute, though it is handy to be able to carry it with you on short trips – and you can even set the activity to low impact so you don’t wake people up in the hotel room downstairs).