This is an ongoing list where I attempt to do the following: Play, Complete, and Rank every video game in the known universe in order to finally answer the age old question "What is the greatest game of all time?" For previous entries find the links on the attached spreadsheet.

How did I do?

I won't lie, I am a little overweight. I'm not at my ideal weight, and I have spent the past 20 years of my life realizing that I'm not magically going to just shed pounds and have a six-pack overnight. There is some good news, I actually enjoy working out. When I was younger, I would love getting outside and playing Basketball with any friends I could gather, when people started growing up and having less free time for basketball, I switched to going jogging. Later in life, I would go to the gym and use machines (bikes, ellipticals, treadmills, etc.) but I was always looking for more, after all "variety is the spice of life." When the kinect came out, I saw it as a possible alternative to working out. Here I could follow workout routines, play "sports," or just generally enjoy my passion of playing video games, while getting a little exercise in at the same time.

Ring Fit Adventure was next in line in trying to meld exercise and video games to motivate people to exercise and have a healthy life. I got in on Ring Fit early, and never had to worry about pandemic pricing, but to be fair I really only used Ringfit in the winter time, when it was too cold for me to get out and take walks or jog for my exercise. As we are finishing up yet another Winter, I have been using Ring Fit fairly regularly and have completed the official story, years after the release. However, as we talk about Ring Fit, we need to judge it on two different merits, unlike most other games. The first is obviously how it ranks as a game, is it fun to play, good story, music, etc. But the other is how successful and useful is it as an exercise tool, because this game was designed with a very specific purpose in mind.

Before we get to far, lets describe the game, shall we? Ringfit adventure is an exercise game that came with its own equipment. The first is a strap that can house a joycon controller, that is then fastened to your leg in order to track your movement. The other is a yoga ring, which houses the other joycon. This piece of equipment is your main tool for the game. Hold it above your head and squeeze, and you are working one muscle group, sit on the floor and put it between your legs and squeeze and you are working another group. In the story mode (which we will mainly be discussing), you, the player, find a magical ring and are trying to restore its power while stopping an evil dragon from taking over the world. By exercising with the ring, you are not only powering it up, but using it to attack your enemies. As you run (literally) through levels, you will come across areas where you are tasked with doing an exercise to progress forward (squats, high knee running, core work), and you will come across battles with enemies. Enemies are coded a certain color (Red, Blue, Yellow, and Green) and are weak to certain attacks that correspond to an exercise type. For instance Red means the enemy is weak to Arm exercises. In order to successfully make it through levels, you need to equip yourself with a good variety of attacks, and then perform them correctly in order to do maximum damage.

Like any exercise done without a trainer, the game can only read your attempt to the best of its ability. There is no camera here or trainer who can actually correct poor form. You get a small video of what the exercise should look like, and both the ring, and leg joycon are doing its best to track you, but this is not a perfect system. If you are familiar with an virtual exercise (youtube video, DVD, Kinect game) you can always cheat your way to victory, but if you are playing this game to get healthy, you are best served to give it your best shot. The game does a pretty good job of telling you where you should feel the muscles being worked, and shouting out some little pointers here and there, but you will be the best judge as to whether or not you are doing something correctly. If the exercise hurts, or you aren't feeling it in the specified muscle group, then you might want to double check the video and correct your posture. Despite playing this for multiple years, there are still some exercises that I feel I am doing incorrectly. While being attacked you are asked to push the ring into your stomach and squeeze, I can always perform it, but I never feel the muscles in my abs activating, so it is an exercise that I just don't feel does anything for me.

Which while we are discussing it, lets talk about Ring Fit's biggest negative. Before each level you are asked to equip yourself with exercises that you will use throughout the level. In nearly every level it is a good idea to have a couple exercises that correspond to each color enemies might be. That might be one of each color or two, but it gets more complicated then that. Exercises also have an attack power, as well a range of enemies it can hit. You can have an exercise that is super weak, but hits all enemies, or strong, but only hits one.. and everything in between. Nothing crazy, if you are someone that plays video games, but this is actively a deterrent to the goal of exercising different muscle groups. It is very natural, and something you need to do in order to progress the game, to equip your strongest skills in order to quickly defeat enemies before you are defeated. That means for multiple sessions, you might have the same skills equipped for multiple levels at a time. I am no fitness expert, but even I know, that you should be trying to switch up your exercises, so your body doesn't get used to doing the same motions over and over. Here is where the game part of Ringfit is actively working against the exercise part of Ringfit. For instance, my strongest Red move right now is an overhead squeeze, it has an attack power of 600+ (which is a lot) and only hits one enemy. I have had that move equipped for more than an entire world (more on that later). I could certainly unequip it and switch it to a different move, but I would probably be changing a power move from 600+ to something only doing 400 power. To any of us that play video games often, that is like equipping a less powerful sword or armor, not something you normally do. So, you are forced to choose in the game, should I go with my strongest attack, or should I switch it up because I have worked that move a lot this week, knowing that it might prolong battles, or give enemies more turns to attack you. My brain is always working against itself, I want to kill enemies faster and more efficiently, but I don't want to do the same moves over and over again.

The game is long, like really long.. There are 23 worlds, and each world has probably around 10 levels. Now not all levels are required to hit the end of the game (some are alternate paths), but if you add those levels into the amount of side quests, which usually require you to replay a level and do something special), If you try to do everything or even close to everything, you are playing over 200 levels in order to complete the game. If you are wondering, each level will probably take you around 10 minutes long, but that is dependent on a couple different factors. How fast do you run, how many rounds you take per battle, and how quick are you to navigate the menus. Obviously, this game is not a race, if you are using it to get in better shape, you hopefully aren't looking to do the bare minimum just to beat the game. With this many levels, you will see a lot of repeats, both environments, enemies, and general exercises. Again, it's no different then getting on a stationary bike or going for a jog outside, at some point you are going to be jogging past the same areas over and over again.

One more negative and then I promise, I'll stop. The time spent in game does not equate to time working out. There is a lot of downtime between navigating levels, equipping skills, etc. where you are not actively working out. The game does keep a counter, where it tells you how long you are 'active' and does not count time in the menu, but obviously that is now how real time works. If you are like me, and only have an hour or a half an hour to workout, I have found that you will probably only be active for 30-40 minutes during the hour exercise, or 15-20 minutes during the half hour time frame. Any exercise is better then no exercise, but depending on your availability of time, you might find yourself just starting to get a sweat on, and then realize you have to quit. There are ways to speed up your time, but spending less time in menus, less time picking skills, and not visiting the shop, etc. but you are never going to have your in-game time match your workout time. That might not be a big negative for you, but with limited time it can feel like its just not enough to get a real workout.

Lets quickly, and I mean quickly, talk about the game aspect. Ring Fit does have a story, but it is pretty cheesy and not something you are really going to care about. In every world you are essentially working your way to fight a boss (mostly the dragon) and while the dragon is in the land people are not happy. Beat him, and he runs away and you give chase, hoping to finally beat him, before he powers up too much and crushes you. The music is.... fine... but I would recommend putting on a podcast or listening to your own music, whatever is going to get you more engaged in working out. There is a good variety of enemies that all have different powers. Some enemies will heal each other, others will call for backup, and some can do big damage, make you have to employ a little strategy per battle in terms of who you target first, but ultimately I have not found the game very hard and have only really "died" twice, but there are a bunch of items you can get/make that allow you to refill your health midbattle which will get you through all encounters.

So where does Ring Fit stack up on both fronts. Well if you are playing this strictly as a game, you are going to be pretty disappointed. The story might be dumb fun, but I don't think it is going to really propel you forward, or have a lasting memory of that time you beat the Dragon with your favorite squat. We then have to pivot to how successful Ring Fit is in terms of making you healthier, and that is a tougher question to answer. Some of it obviously comes down to how active you are now, Ring Fit will help you get more active, and if you aren't someone who is very active, you will see bigger returns then someone who regularly exercises. The other important aspect that needs to be examined is how much work you are willing to put in 'around' you exercising with Ring Fit. I talked about how despite enjoying exercising, I still find myself overweight. That is because I really like eating and Ring Fit can't do anything to help me curb that weakness that I have. For Ring Fit to be truly effective, you have to be willing to throw yourself into all aspects of being healthier, not only exercising regularly, but eating right and honestly probably finding a supplemental type of exercise that will work for you. I think Ring Fit, if used correctly, and prioritizing your health over game elements, is a great exercise tool, and I think people can see results they want, but like any exercise equipment or plan, if you don't make it a lifestyle change, it can only take you so far on its own.

Is this the greatest game of all time?: No

Where does it rank: Judged purely on its game element, Ring Fit does not score that highly, but I think it would be unfair to rank this game based on that element without examining its purpose. It would be if I reviewed a fork based on its look, but not how it handles food. Which means I am giving it bonus points for being an exercise that I think is fairly fun to do, and offers entertainment outside just running on a treadmill. The game aspect (story, characters, etc.) alone probably puts it in the low 70s, but since its a tool to be used to make exercising more fun, I will bump it up and place it as the 60th Greatest Game of All Time.It sits between "The ABC Murders" (59th) and "Moving Out" (61st) Out of 116 games.

*No Upcoming games list, since I don't have anything planned at the moment. I am still trying to get through quite a few games, but I don't want to rush on account of posting for a recreational blog. So if you don't see anything from me next week, know that I am still plugging away and I will be back upon completion of a game.*

Anyone looking for it: here is the link to the list and more if you are interested in following along with me (this is not a self promotion).Here. I added links on the spreadsheet for quick navigation. Now if you missed a blog of a game you want to read about, you can get to it quickly, rather than having to scroll through my previous blogs wondering when it came up.

Ring Fit rules, it was just such a well-executed concept. Looking forward to more games doing this sort of thing.

@csl316: sorry for the delay.. thanks for the read and comment. Ring-fit did finally manage to do the thing that others have tried and failed. While I wish more games came up with peripherals that are key to their game, I do feel like then we set ourselves up for another rockband situation, where people have a bunch of unique items that can only be used in one game.

Will be curious if they do a ring fit 2 and if it uses the same yoga ring, or if they pack a new one with added benefits.

Great article! To confirm your point: When we bought it, my partner and I watched each other play it, and corrected our posture and form, and it went fine. We stopped playing together and a few evenings ago, she told me she's hurting from the "bow pull" exercise. I've also noticed my form is slipping when she's not around to correct me.
I'd suggest for people new to ring fit to have someone check on them, comparing them to the video, since that can be difficult to do when you're playing (especially because some of the exercises don't make it easy to keep your eyes on the screen/video).

@worntunic: thanks for the comment.. that really is a great piece of advice. Even if you can't have someone around for the whole workout, even just calling them in for any exercises you might think you are doing wrong, could help correct bad posture..

However for others that are doing this solo or alone without the possibility of a spotter, you just have to use your best guess and stop if things feel off in any way.

I have Ring Fit, but have yet to play it owing to reasons, one of which is that I'm in an upstairs room and running would be noisy. I really appreciate the way that you described how the attacks vs colours works. Otherwise they may have spent some time telling you what to do in the game, but sometimes that's mentioned once in games and I'm forgetful so it's useful to have this as a reference :D

@mekon: thanks for the read and comment.. well I will say I didn't quite write the review to be a guide, but I'm happy if it provides any help for you.