My fitness gaming journey started with the Nintendo Wii and the Wii Balance Board. As an introvert who wasn't comfortable with public gyms, it was a perfect combination of my favorite media and physical activities I needed. My favorite Wii Fit routines included boxing, hula hooping, and marching with an orchestra. The less pleasant part was the body measurement, as the board served as scales for weighing.
To play some games, you also needed an additional part for the remote controller known as the Nunchuck. I remember having some technical issues while playing games because the board had intermittent connection issues with the console. That's all I can remember from the negative experience. Oh, and the board was quite heavy, making it difficult to take on trips.
When the COVID-19 pandemic started, I decided to recall my previous experience with fitness gaming and got myself Nintendo Switch. Here is a list of active games I have tried so far:
Knockout Home Fitness (Digital)
YOGA MASTER (Digital)
Let's Get Fit (Digital)
Zumba Burn It Up! (Game Card)
Jump Rope Challenge (Free/Digital)
Fitness Boxing (Game Card)
Fitness Boxing 2: Rhythm & Exercise (Game Card)
Ring Fit Adventure (Game Card)
Just Dance 2018-2024(Game Cards and Digital)
Fitness Circuit (Digital)
Most of the games were disappointing due to poor motion detection and not so good game design decisions, but a few have become regular in my routine. I play them for various purposes, such as a warm-up before lifting weights, as a high-intensity training on cardio day, or as a 30-minute burner session after a body part workout.
My top 3 fitness games are
Just Dance series (2009 and still going)
Pros:
It's fun
It has your favorite songs
Different difficulty range
Interesting maps and dancing routines
Cons:
To get more songs you need a paid subscription
Some content has region restrictions
Your favorite songs can pop up and disappear from the catalog anytime
Fitness Boxing 2: Rhythm & Exercise (2020)
Pros:
Good choice of trainers, songs, backgrounds
Variety of everyday routines
Compared with the first part, you can avoid certain actions and movements or activate an assist feature, especially if you have any knee or joint injury like I do
Cons:
Not for regular training as it gets a little boring
P.S. Good to know that upcoming Fitness Boxing 3: Your Personal Trainer will feature seated workouts
Fitness Circuit (2023)
Pros:
Nice set of exercises
Cons:
Long score screens after each exercise. As a result, a workout doesn’t feel like a whole, but torn to pieces
I should mention that some active games require additional equipment: like a Ring-Con and a Leg Strap accessories for Ring Fit Adventure, or boxing grips for Fitness Boxing (optional). However, most games do not. To clarify my opinion about the highly promoted Ring Fit Adventure, it's primarily a game, not a workout opportunity. Setting up your routine, reading all the dialogues, and buying and cooking health drinks take too much time, time which I could spend on an actual workout. If I had a whole day for it.. But we are all busy people, aren’t we?
To sum up, I believe that games, as a highly interactive media, encourage physical activity more than workout recordings. We all know that physical activities are beneficial for health, can prevent diseases, improve metabolism, endurance, and boost confidence in the body. My choice of the Nintendo Switch was obvious, considering the wide range of available games and its compact size, allowing for easy transportation.
