From Wii Fit to Ring Fit, Nintendo is no stranger to developing its own workout titles that are precisely designed to get you off the couch and exercising in a uniquely fun way through the power of gaming. This is the same mantra used for the Imagineer-developed Fitness Boxing series, which launched on the Switch in 2018, with every entry (except for the Fist of the North Star and Hatsune Miku spin-offs) published by Nintendo itself. As today marks four years since the release of Fitness Boxing 2: Rhythm & Exercise, let's see if Fitness Boxing 3: Your Personal Trainer has what it takes to be a knockout.
Fitness Boxing 3 starts with a tutorial that covers the basics of gameplay. Holding a Joy-Con controller firmly in each hand (and attaching wrist straps, of course), the goal is to perform a variety of boxing moves (including punches, hooks, uppercuts, ducks, weaves, swings, blocks, and back-and-forth steps) as instructed by a personal trainer in the rhythm of the music. A progress bar in the top middle of the screen shows how much time is left for any workout, and a score counter appears in the top right corner. Your overall score is determined by the timed precision of your movements, with target indicators on either side of your instructor, correlating with each hand.
As a rhythm game fanatic, I personally got hooked on the concept, and getting combos is very satisfying and addictive. However, it was immediately noticeable that the Joy-Con motion controls aren't as accurate as the game would have you believe. There were many times when I would perform a completely wrong action, such as accidentally performing a crouch instead of an uppercut, and it would still register as a successful punch. While it's definitely better for controls to be forgiving than overly punishing, some of the potential challenge is lost in the process.
During the training session, your personal trainer not only calls out which sequence of actions you should perform, but also which stance you should take and how your posture should look. Without the support of something like the Wii Fit Balance Board or the Nintendo Switch Sports leg strap, there's no way for the game to correctly judge whether you're doing the exercises correctly from the waist down. This becomes even more apparent during the optional pre- and post-stretch segments, which don't actually read your controller movements at all, and are essentially just fitness training videos. A good fitness training video, but a fitness training video nonetheless, which means that the quality and effectiveness of your training will depend mostly on how determined you are to perform the exercises correctly with the help of a personal trainer.
There are 6 personal trainers (also known as instructors) to choose from, each with their own personality and ambitions. This is a noticeable step up from the 9 that were featured in Fitness Boxing 2, but considering you'll likely be sticking to one instructor for your routine anyway, it's ultimately not a huge loss. Lin, Evan, and Bernardo return from the previous Fitness Boxing games, while the other three, Monica, Stella, and Guy, are newly introduced. The reason for the reduction in characters is that Fitness Boxing 3 has a stronger focus on creating a more personal relationship with your instructor. Once you've practiced enough with a specific instructor, you'll unlock one of five “Box and Bond” sessions where they'll tell you something about their life, leading to your chosen workout. It's nothing exciting, but unlocking each of them feels like a nice milestone.
All 6 conventionally attractive and energetic instructors are fully voice-acted, with English, Korean, Chinese (simplified and traditional) and Japanese language options. Despite the near-constant talking and frequent repetition of voice lines, all the voice actors do a good enough job that their words seem motivating rather than boring. We appreciate the reminders to breathe and drink water because it's easy to forget them for those who aren't used to heavy exercise.
A variety of customization options are also available for your instructors, including tops, bottoms, accessories, shoes, glasses, hats/hairstyles, and hair, skin, and eye color. Some item styles, like tops and bottoms, are exclusive to an individual instructor, while others, like accessories and shoes, can be used universally. More customization options are unlocked as you progress, and some require points to purchase. Points are collected by completing achievements (there are more than 130, such as landing a certain number of punches) or by completing daily/weekly missions. With all the stats, charts, data and monthly rankings found in Fitness Boxing 3, trying to unlock everything is a great motivator to get you into the routine of playing the game every day.
By entering your birthday, height and weight, the game calculates your BMI to more accurately estimate the amount of calories you burn for each workout. In addition, you will receive a personalized daily workout program based on your chosen preferences such as your goal (maintenance, movement, endurance or fun), which body parts you want to focus on (biceps, chest, core, hips, calves) and for how long you want to exercise (10, 20, 30 or 40 minutes). There are many options available because Daily Training is tailored to you and your needs. There are more than 30 possible exercises, each with three different levels of intensity.
All exercises can also be played separately from the daily training in free training (or in a separate 2-player mode), but you will need to successfully complete some to unlock others (it only takes a few hours to unlock them all). You can create your own program by selecting multiple exercises to seamlessly switch between them during your workout with almost no load time. Each exercise shows the length of time it takes to complete, the difficulty level, how many calories you'll burn, which body parts are affected, and which boxing moves are performed. There are 5 different background environments to choose from for each workout, with colorful visuals and lighting effects that look good without being distracting.
The free workout also has two unique other modes: Sit Fit Boxing, which is mostly the same as the regular exercises except you sit while doing them, and Mitt Drills, where you hit your instructor's mitts with directed actions instead of to a beat. Both of these modes include only three exercises with two intensity levels: beginner, intermediate and advanced. However, as with regular workouts, you can choose which song will be played during the workout. Fitness Boxing 3 features 10 original tracks and 20 instrumental covers of famous licensed songs that require points to unlock just like the customization options. There are also three different song speeds to choose from if you want to slow things down or speed things up.
Track list:
- Fox (What does the fox say?) / Ylvis
- Ghostbusters / Ray Parker Jr.
- I was made to love you / kiss
- I'm Still Standing / Elton John
- Sugar, let's go down / Fall Out Boy
- Bad guy / Billie Eilish
- The danger zone / Kenny Loggins
- I'm a believer / The Monkees
- Material girl / Madonna
- I miss you / Oliver Tree & Robin Schulz
- Take me / a-ha
- Don't worry about technique / Eric B. and Rakim
- …Baby One More Time / Britney Spears
- Stay / The Kid LAROI & Justin Bieber
- Super freak / Rick James
- Viva La Vida / Coldplay
- Ghost / Alan Walker
- I Should Be So Happy / Kylie Minogue
- Counting Stars / OneRepublic
- She's all I wanna be / Tate McRae
Fitness Boxing 3: Your Personal Trainer pulls the punches by providing an affordable workout experience that encourages a more active and healthy lifestyle. Charismatic personal trainers are great at properly motivating you to reach your goals with fun, if finicky, boxing exercises based on the rhythm of controlled movements. While the game doesn't do enough to differentiate itself from its predecessors for those who have them, it's still a pretty good fitness regimen for those looking to get an early start on their New Year's resolutions. Fitness Boxing 3: Your Personal Trainer launches exclusively for Nintendo Switch on December 5, 2024, and a free demo is now available via the eShop.
7/10
A review copy of Fitness Boxing 3: Your Personal Trainer was provided by Nintendo UK.
