Late last week, Nintendo teased a new experience for the Nintendo Switch, showing a series of people using Joy-Con and a pair of accessories to perform different exercises. Now, the company has revealed details about the game that was behind those exercises.
The game is called Ring Fit Adventure, and as the initial video let on, it"s a fitness game, but Nintendo actually refers to it as an adventure game first and foremost. Physical exercise is the standard interaction method in the game, and there are two accessories that make this work - the Ring-Con and the Joy-Con Leg Strap. You"ll need to slot a Joy-Con into each of the accessories to start playing, as seen in last week"s video.
The Ring-Con is actually an electronic device, which can detect movements and "turn physical force into powerful attacks". Its sensitivity can be adjusted for people with different levels of fitness, so it should be possible for almost anyone to play. The leg strap simply wraps around your leg and houses a second Joy-Con to detect lower-body movement.
Ring Fit Adventure tells the story of a world that"s been put in a state of chaos by a bodybuilding dragon. You"ll use the aforementioned accessories to explore a large number of levels. Moving through these levels is done by jogging in the same place, but there are other actions you can perform. Pointing the Ring-Con down will make your character jump, for example, or you may need to raise your legs higher to be able to climb stairs more quickly.
While traversing the world, you"ll encounter monsters, as you would in adventure games. Battles against monsters require you to perform specific exercises or hold certain poses, which will charge up an attack. Different kinds of exercises result in different kinds of attacks, and monsters may be weaker against specific attacks, so you"ll need to change things up a bit. As you win more battles, you"ll earn points to level up, increasing your capabilities and learning new attacks based on different exercises.
Since it"s still a fitness game, you can play at your own pace, setting the length of your play session even in adventure mode. There are also other modes, including Quick Play, where you focus on doing specific kinds of exercises in the given time period, and Minigames, which are also played using your body.
Ring Fit Adventure is coming to the Nintendo Switch on October 18. Notably, it"s a perfect example of the kind of experience you can"t have on the Nintendo Switch Lite, since it officially can"t connect to a TV, and it shows Nintendo is still committed to the original Switch concept.