Summary
While getting in shape can be difficult, finding anexercise video gameto help can be easy! Nintendo is known for supporting healthy gaming habits, periodically releasing accessories that involve movement and interrupting loading screens to remind people to take a break from gaming. With movement controllers andVR, there are moreexercise video gamesthan ever before, and Nintendo has been keeping stride.
The recommended amount of exercise per day is just 20 minutes, but that can feel like forever if there aren’t any points being earned, coins being collected, or a completion bar being filled. Luckily, gamers trying to be more active this year can look forward to dancing, fighting, and competing through the best exercise games on the Nintendo Switch!
Updated on day month 2024 by Marc Storch:While we all wait with bated breath for the long-awaited Switch 2, or whatever they end up calling it, there are still plenty of excellent exercise games on the Switch to keep you fit.
Ring Fit Adventure
WHERE TO PLAY
Explore a fantasy adventure world to defeat a bodybuilding dragon and his minions using real-life exercises! Traverse grass-swept plains by jogging in place, attack enemies with overhead shoulder presses, and refill your health meter by striking some yoga poses. Two new accessories, the Ring-Con™ and Leg Strap, measure your real-world actions and help turn them into in-game movements. With additional minigames and customizable workout routines, Ring Fit Adventure is great escape for players of all skill levels and schedules. In Adventure mode, defeat enemies with attacks based on real-world exercises as you traverse more than 100 levels in over 20 worlds. As you work through each level (and possibly work up a sweat), you’ll earn experience points. Between fights, you may encounter some unusual methods of transportation such as squat-powered launch pads. Then, pass around the Ring-Con and leg strap accessories and select from a few minigames: break boxes with gusts of air, craft pottery using squats, and more.
WhenRing Fit Adventurewas first released, Nintendo struggled to meet demand as people quickly realized just how much exercise they could get while playing. Arguably one of the best exercise video games available,Ring Fit Adventuremanages to make running in place feel rewarding while the full-on exercise moves are actually pretty fun, especially the victory pose at the end of each track.
The game comes with a resistance ring anda leg strap, both of which usethe Joy-Consto track movement. There are additional accessories too, but other than what’s in the box, all that’s needed is ample space to stretch out and move.
The difficulty can be adjusted slightly to force longer runs and more repetition, plus players can choose from a wide variety of exercise moves to use as attacks. What’s great about this selection is that there are four types of exercise moves, color-coded to let gamers know what they’re working on during their adventure: arms, legs, abs, and yoga. Not only do these options let players choose what to focus on, but they also allow for different levels of skill to begin the game. For instance, the yoga T-pose is much easier to do than 20 squats, yet both offer a physical challenge.
While people who are already very active and exercise regularly may findRing Fit Adventureto be more of a warm-up, people who never exercise or only do light workouts will definitely feel the burn.Ring Fit Adventureis the perfect game for players who aren’t totally out of shape but who don’t normally exercise. It’s great for building endurance and can help people new to exercise understand which parts of their bodies they should focus on and improve. For instance, a player may begin and find that running in place is no problem, but balancing the yoga poses is nigh impossible, while another player might only struggle with the hip movements.
Fitness Circuit
Fitness Circuit is a great game for enjoying working out. Featuring a virtual trainer, the goal of the game is simply to get players to workout for 10 minutes a day, three days a week. The low-commitment exercise game uses a mix of low and high-intensity workout routines to maximize the effects on players. Each routine can be tailored to player preferences, but there’s also an online aspect where up to four friends can workout together online!
Ring Fit Adventureis a few years old now, and it is showing no signs of being dethroned as one of the best exercise games around. However,Fitness Circuitmade a respectable attempt and was able to become the new favorite for some gamers. Released in March of this year, the game is significantly cheaper thanRing Fit Adventure, though it’s missing the titularresistance ring accessory.
Fitness Circuithas a much more adult aesthetic, focusing on anime-style characters and challenges rather than the after-school-special vibes thatRing Fit Adventurehas. The game itself offers quick workouts that maximize effects by alternating between aerobic and anaerobic exercises, though it does tend to focus on leg work more than anything else.
The game comes with Joy-Con leg straps, so it makes sense that most of its 45 different training moves involve squats. While the motion detection and strength training can’t compete with an integrated resistance ring,Fitness Circuitcan be just as effective asRing Fit Adventurefor plenty of players, especially those who may be getting bored with the older title.
Nintendo Switch Sports
Face off against opponents worldwide and strive to reach the Pro League in every sport. As you play online in random matchmaking, redeem points you earn for in-game rewards like outfits, sports accessories, gear, and much more for your avatar. The selection of items rotates each week, so check back and see what’s in stock!Play with friends and family in the same room or across the worldBowl, spike, and duel with friends in all 8 sports! Pass a Joy-Con controller to a friend for some 1v1, 2v2, or a free-for-all that will get everyone moving. In Bowling, all players can bowl simultaneously—no waiting for your turn. Play each sport online, or team up with a friend on the same system to take on opponents near and far in team sports like Basketball, Volleyball and Tennis.
In 2022, the long-awaited return ofNintendo’s sports mini-gamesfinally arrived in the form ofSwitch Sports. While the name may imply that there are tons of activities to do, the gameplay largely relies on the Joy-Con’s motion controls. However, if exercise isn’t something that’s normally done, players may be out of breath sooner than they think.
Games like bowling and golf may not be very movement-based, but the rest of the activities can really make someone sweat. Chambara is especially active because who doesn’t want to play with swords? Plus, blocking and timing swings are fairly important during matches, so it’s easy for players to get caught up and start really lifting, tilting, and swinging their arms. Likewise, tennis and badminton get competitive fast, especially when playing couch co-op.
Soccer and volleyball offer a good medium between the nearly motionless games and the more intense ones, with gamers simply needing to lift an arm or leg to win. Overall, this variety of intensity is what makesSwitch Sportsan awesome exercise video game. No matter what level of fitness a player is at, they can have fun while burning a few calories!
Switch Sportsis just barely an exercise game, meaning that it’s the best place to start for gamers who are struggling to even begin working out. It’s easy to go from flicking a wrist on the couch to standing while swinging an arm to full-body movements to avoid sword hits over the course of a few weeks. There’s less pressure to be active but plenty of incentive to do so. After all, it’s fun to see friends and family standing up to take their turn, being cheered on by the couch commentators, and besting other players in a more tangible way than with traditional game genres
Let’s Get Fit
Switch players can really get in shape with Let’s Get Fit! Featuring pre-made workout programs ranging from soft gymnastics to high-intensity exercises, the game lets players track their progress with an in-game calendar. There are challenges to complete and an infinite number of custom workout routines ready to be tailored to specific fitness goals. With more than 100 fitness moves available, players can easily get a full-body workout.
Players who are ready to step up their at-home exercise game, but still can’t seem to get engaged with video or app-based training can get the personal attention they want throughLet’s Get Fit. Although the game looks like it runs on an emulator, the gameplay itself is fairly thorough.
The game comes with 100 fitness moves, ranging from easy warm-ups to high-intensity moves that will really cause players to break a sweat. Each move can be reviewed beforehand, so gamers know exactly how to move their body. Players can follow specific fitness programs that last about 30 days, or create their own custom workouts and track their consistency on the in-game calendar. Players get scored, can see how many calories they burned, and can attempt to complete challenges for trophies and achievements. There’s even an online element ready to help friends compete and encourage each other as they work towards healthier living!
All in all,Let’s Get Fitis a great way to get the personal trainer experience on a budget and without leaving home.
Just Dance 2023 Edition
Welcome to a new era of dance with Just Dance® 2023 Edition! For the first time ever, dance to BTS with “Dynamite” and other top chart hits! Now with new online multiplayer, personalization, 3D immersive worlds, and new songs and modes year-round,* you can experience a never-ending dance party all year long!Host a Private Group and invite up to five other players and play like you’re all in the same living room! Discover all new playlists, game modes, and songs. Thanks to a new and intuitive user interface, everything is one click away!Get a personalized experience with custom-made sessions and songs tailored to your preferences and playing habits! Receive one month of access to Just Dance®+ with new tracks added all year long and exclusive seasonal benefits!
Just Dance 2023doesn’t reinvent the wheel, and that’s okay. Gamers will be able to dance away their calories all the same. As with allJust Dancegames, there’s plenty of color and style for eyes to feast on while dancing along to bangers like Britney Spears’s “Toxic.” Ubisoft is still going along with their subscription-based songs, butplayers get 40 tracks when they purchase the game.
Possibly the best change is that users can now turn off the constant notifications and adverts for theJust Dance+subscription service. Ubisoft has introduced another big change to their game: online matches. Yes, players can now sync up and have a dance battle against five others. Along with these changes,Just Dance 2023also comes with a narrative modethat can force players to try songs they’d normally just skip over without a second thought, and there are expanded customization options for avatars, emotes, and more.
Finally, there’s plenty of gamification in use to keep players engaged and wanting to do their dancing exercise every day. Goals and checklists make it easy to track skills as they improve, and the songs have been organized a bit better to help players choose songs for workouts, partying, or more relaxing movements. Gamers who like good music and easy-to-follow dancing will have fun withJust Dance 2023.
Naturally, gamers should expect to be out of breath if they play this though.Just Dance 2023will test players' aerobic capabilities as well as their endurance to keep moving to the beat for a solid few minutes. Some gamers might scoff at that, but there are plenty of other gamers who will feel the burn even within that short amount of time. Gamers who just can’t seem to be motivated to exercise might find that the flashy lights and energetic music are enough to keep them engaged on a regular basis.
Zumba! Burn It Up
Everyone’s favorite dance party is back! Zumba® is a global movement that brings the fun to fitness with over 15 million people taking weekly classes across 186 countries.Get your fix of the Zumba® program anytime, anywhere with high-energy routines and hip-shaking jams including chart-topping hits and Zumba originals. Use the Joy-Con™ controllers to track your movements and get rewarded for dancing with energy and flair.Over 30 Songs: Dance to today’s top hits including “I Like It” (Cardi B, Bad Bunny & J Balvin) and “Level Up” (Ciara) plus pulsating Zumba® original tracks, guaranteed to get you moving.Choose Your Dance Style: Pick the intensity of your workout with a choice of fresh new routines and classic favorites including exhilarating dance styles from around the world.Superstar Instructors: Learn from the best! Real life superstar instructors keep you motivated and on track.Stunning Live-Action Visuals: Keep it cool with stylish locations with stunning live-action visuals that respond to how you play and reward your efforts.
Zumba: Burn it Upis anotherdancing exercise game, but it’s more tailored to gamers seeking a solution to their workout routine problems. WhileJust Dancepumps up the volume on music and fun,Zumba: Burn It Upis closer to a video exercise than an exercise game.
First and foremost, the gamification is limited. There are of course some points to score and stars to have filled out, but players are mostly expected to follow the video moves to get their exercise in. Despite this, players familiar with Zumba will probably have a blast. The Joy-Cons do help track a user’s body, and doing the moves correctly is key to scoring any points at all.
There are 30 songs to choose from and while they aren’t the most well-known hits, they are choreographed by real Zumba trainers who bring all the energy and excitement needed for this exercise routine. It can take some getting used to for players who aren’t familiar with going to a Zumba class, but it’s a fantastic way to acclimate to such a setting and maybe go join a class IRL someday.
TheZumba: Burn It Upexercise video game is perfect for players who aren’t interested in the flashy atmosphere found inJust Danceand would rather have a fun dancing game that focuses much more on getting an actual workout done. The game’s goal isn’t simply to get players moving, like withJust Dance, but rather to guide them through specific movements that target their hips, waist, and legs. It’s excellent for very inactive gamers who would like to start taking their physical activity levels seriously, but aren’t ready to jump right into running in place or mimicking a real sport.
Fitness Boxing: Fist of the North Star
Improve your daily exercise habits, get into shape, and draw back the curtain on a new, legendary body! While retaining the basic features of Fitness Boxing, this new installment adds characters and settings from the world of Fist of the North Star for truly effective workouts!Fist of the North Star Characters Are Your Instructors: The Fitness Boxing series is a boxing exercise game that utilizes the Joy-Con™ to let you throw different punches in the same way as in a rhythm game, while receiving directions from in-game instructors voiced by popular voice actors.In Fitness Boxing Fist of the North Star, Kenshiro, the protagonist of Fist of the North Star, and his rivals guide the player as instructors.New “Battle” Mode: A new “Battle” mode has been added that lets you defeat enemies in the same way as in a rhythm game. The game contains two modes that let you experience workouts with a greater emphasis on action: Outlaw Battle, in which you take down scores of outlaws with your punches, and Boss Battle, in which you fight Kenshiro’s rivals such as Raoh.Music and Costumes that Further Boost the Fist of the North Star Experience: Background music is absolutely essential for exercise. The game features not only Fist of the North Star classics like AIO TORIMODOSE!!, TOUGH BOY, YURIA EIENNI, and SILENT SURVIVOR, but also original songs tailored to each character for a total of 20 songs.Characters' outfits can be changed to fit your mood. Many original outfits are available, so check out all the new outfits never before seen in Fist of the North Star.
While combining a famous manga and anime with a fitness game might seem like a weird choice, it actually isn’t the first time that Fist of The North Star has done this. The spiritual predecessor to this game, Fighting Mania: Fist of the North Star, was a Konami arcade cabinet that had the players put on boxing gloves to play the game. While this version doesn’t come with boxing gloves, it is still a great way to get the body moving, and even if people are not fans ofFist of The North Star, the characters are a great way to get motivated.
This game is basically a re-skin of the original Fitness Boxing game for the Switch, but instead of the pleasant Nintendo trainers walking players through the exercises it is instead coached by classic Anime characters with Popeye-esque arms and muscles. While the peaceful coaches of the first game were excellent motivators in their own right, something hits differently when Kenshiro (the show’s protagonist) says, “Always focus on your abs.” while he is more muscle than man.
The daily workout is the mode most players will find themselves coming back to. Gamers can set their fitness goals, choose what parts of the body they want to work on, and how active the exercises should be. But there is a battle mode that is unique to this version of Fitness Boxing. In this mode, gamers fight their way through a series of opponents from the anime. The gameplay in this mode is fairly similar compared to the daily workout, but it does help change the pace a bit when the exercises get boring.
Arms
Reach beyond the average fighter Fighting superstars from around the world share one thing in common: extendable arms! So fight as never before: equip each arm of each fighter with a super-powered weapon to create a slew of unprecedented combinations. Then use simple motion or button controls to dish out highly strategic beatdowns in 1-on-1, or even 2-on-2 battles!A chain-wielding ninja… A massive undead behemoth… These are not your average fighters! Use their incredible abilities, like teleportation and healing, to make your way around volatile stages tricked out with spring-loaded platforms, deadly traps, and more. Whether you bring the fight to your friends over local wireless or across the world via the Internet, reach beyond your limits. This is a fighting game unlike any you’ve played before, by any stretch of the imagination.
Moving to an even more fantastical boxing game, Arms is an excellent option for any gamers who want a bit more of a competitive experience in their exercise games. Arms is jam-packed with fast-moving action, scenes of exploding color, and mechanics that reward practice and perfect timing making it a great way to easily get at least 20 minutes of exercise.
While this game can be played with a pro controller or in mobile mode, it really gets the blood pumping when playing it with the motion controls. However, the motion controls have a bit more of a learning curve compared to games like Fitness Boxing. Depending on how players feel about the skill ceiling being kind of high, this can be a pro or con, but for the sake of exercise, Game Rant sees it as a pretty big plus.
Besides the more cartoonish mechanics, Arms sets itself apart from other boxing exercise games, because of its competitive nature. Gamers who need outside motivation for exercise will find no short supply of motivation with this game. Players can challenge other boxers in online matches to test their skills, and despite the game being over five years old, the player base is still fairly active. Plus, there is a split-screen co-op mode for gamers who have an in-person exercise partner.
How To Pick Out The Perfect Exercise Game?
Play Style
Arguably, the play style of an exercise game is the most important part. If it’s not a fun game, then it might as well just exercise in real life. Of course, this depends on the gamer’s preference, but the crucial takeaway for this is, should the game be a game first and exercise second or vice versa?
For example, games likeRing Fit Adventureplays as a game first and a way to exercise second, with its deep lore and actual game mechanics that progress through a story. Knockout Home Fitness, on the other hand, is exercise first and a game second, with its main focus on the actual workout, and the only gamified feature is the “rewards” for logging in each day.
Exercise Type
A lot of the games mentioned in this list feature a variety of exercise types, but others mainly focus on one type of workout. Just Dance 2023will give gamers a great dancing workout, but if they are looking for a strength training or yoga-type workout, it is not going to be a great game for them.
For those gamers who want to focus on a specific type of workout, be sure to check the description of the game before purchasing. And even though we are kind of out of the age of demos, a lot of Switch games still offer free trials to try out the game before purchasing, which is highly recommended.
Consistency
Any decent exercise game should encourage players to exercise regularly through elements like giving daily rewards and celebrating milestones. On top of this, accessibility is key. After all, what good is the game if it’s never played, or not played very often?
The ease with which players can jump in and get a quick workout done can be the difference between daily exercise and dusty exercise equipment. Even logging on for a few minutes of exercise is often enough to build on existing healthy habits.
FAQ
Q: Is Nintendo Switch Sports good exercise?
Switch Sports won’t get you moving around as some of the games talked about on here, but it is a great exercise game nonetheless. After a decently long session of volleyball or one of the higher-activity sports, it is easy to work up a sweat.
Q: Can Ring Fit replace a workout?
Ring Fit is possibly one of the best workout games to come out in recent years, and that is in large part due to the fact that it can actually replace a full-on workout. Most games, regardless of fitness level, will probably find themselves winded after playing a session of Ring Fit.
Q: Does Ring Fit Adventure count as strength training?
Ring Fit Adventure is a great mix of cardio and strength training. Running through the levels will get gamers warmed up, and the monster battles (especially boss fights) are a great way to work on strength.
