Mario has been Nintendo’s unlikely hero for more than 30 years — a plump plumber who dates outside his class and, as shown in the opening moments of one of the company’s upcoming adventures, won’t even carry his own luggage.
Combine the Ring-Con with a leg strap affixed to your thigh, each one holding one of the controllers of the Nintendo Switch, and “Ring Fit Adventure” turns out to be hiding a pretty potent little exercise machine under its fight-the-dragon adventure premise. The Ring-Con can be used with shoulders and thighs for myriad exercises to target various muscles outside of the main game.
While there are echos of Nintendo’s Wii Fit, an instant hit when it was unveiled in Japan in 2007 and the victim of stock shortages for months in the U.S. upon its 2008 release, that item is likely collecting dust in most closets these days. Still, there’s no denying the Wii Fit foretold a future where game-like elements would creep into all aspects of our life.
All of these devices hold aspirational qualities. At long last, they promise, technology will not only make exercise and staying in shape fun, it will be easy! Not really — if you’re not already in the large segment of the population that craves physical movement it’s unlikely an Apple Watch, a Fitbit, an app or “Ring Fit Adventure” will provide some magical answer to loving exercise. That’s fine, though.
The main quest of player-versus-bullying-dragon alternates running in place with a host of exercises. We uncover more as we move more deeply into the game, and while this is meant to encourage us to keep playing and learn different fitness routines, as someone who suffers from occasionally paralyzing sciatica I wanted significantly more exercises available at the start of the game.
Male variety of Maleficent.