I have to be honest, and admit that I am a bit out of shape. I have been trying to exercise and lose weight, but I always feel like its a chore more than anything,. No matter how I exercise, I find myself becoming too aware and losing motivation. I have even tried watching some of my favourite Youtubers like Cygnus Destroyer and GameSack while I exercise and that did help, but it was still not enough. This is why Fitness Boxing from Nintendo caught my interest when I heard about it. Exercise boxing is something I have looked into before, such as Taibo, but never tried. And with a selection of music to workout to, I figured this was definitely worth a try.
Fitness Boxing is definitely more than what I was expecting. While definitely taking inspiration from the Wii Fit series, the use of music and rhythm activities makes the game feel like a cross between Nintendo’s series and Ubisoft’s Just Dance. The workouts are set to a variety of songs and off you go with punching exercises. Not all the music was to my liking if I may be honest ( I am a metalhead for life), but I did actually enjoy working out to songs like Funky Town and even Video Killed The Radio Star. Now while I really don’t like some of the songs, especially by Justin Bieber, I do feel the instrumental versions are done well and are finetuned to the workouts.
Instead of the Wii Fit Trainer this time, we have Lin as the default trainer. After your introductions though, there are other trainers you can choose from if you so want. To be honest, I found the trainers to be less important that Nintendo probably had in mind. Still, I like that they tried to give the game more of a unique feel with actual characters this time, and it is a nice touch. Who knows, maybe we will see one of them in the next Smash Bros.
The control setup is simple and suits the switch perfectly. Just use the joy cons and grip them right, and away you are. You will need to go through a few basic exercises to familiarize yourself with how the game works, and you will also need to learn the rhythym of how a boxer moves. This involves bouncing and shifting your weight at times, all while keeping a constant pattern. Once the workout begins, you will punch and do combos to the beat of the soundtrack amid other exercises. You can also adjust the speed for a more intense or more relaxed experience if you are unsatisfied. There is a two player mode here, but I cannot comment on it, as I never touched it.
The actual workouts are fun and that’s what was important to me. This wont replace going to the gym, but is definiitely a good start for anyone as well as a fun way to exercise for 15-20 minutes when you have nothing else to do. It got me exercising a lot more, and I definitely feel the burn from this. Punching to the beat of an instrumental song works better than many of the activities from Wii Fit, and I like that Nintendo realized what needed to be changed from their previous workout games, and what worked. I will keep up with this as a new addition to my regular workouts and must commend Nintendo and Imagineer on a job well done. My only real complaints involve the music available,but I suppose that can be rectified in the future. I fully recommend Fitness Boxing.