Ring Fit Adventure Kept Me Active During 2020: A Retrospective On What Might Just be the best Exergame ever made.

 

Look at this image above you. This image was taken on September 8th of 2020. The culmination of a Tuesday night, dedicating my evening to a final gauntlet of exercise after a long day of work. The grind of retail wage-slavery still wore at me to the point where I had to have eaten immediately after getting home, and yet I was determined. I was going to beat this beast back and claim my victory. It was late into the night, just shy of midnight, but I had to beat it. And in proper JRPG Fashion, after two phases of boss battle in a grueling battle of endurance, I had done it. Awash in exhaustion and post-exercise afterglow, I sat down on my bed and watched the credits roll.

I had beaten Ring Fit Adventure. Now, let me tell you about the journey of getting there.

Witch Thief (Nintendo Switch) Review.

YAY! It's time for a review of a shmup game, a 3D shmup game at that.  That's all that I need to say to get your attention.  This is Witch Thief for the Nintendo Switch.  (Click on "Read More" to read the full review.)

Monster Puzzle (Nintendo Switch) Review.

Hush little monster, don't you cry.  Emerald Rangers has a new Nintendo Switch game review from Retrokai.  Now will this game be a hit, or will it be a little shhh.  The only way to find that out, click on "Read More" to feed this trout...  Yeah, I couldn't find anything else better to rhyme with "out".  I guess that I could've said scout, but I like the idea of being a fish better.  (Click on "Read More" to read the full article.)

RICO (Nintendo Switch) Review.

No! This isn't a game based on the former WWE superstar, Rico.  This is the action packed FPS game released by Rising Star Games...  Huh? This game got released by a big publisher? That's a genuine surprise.  UGH! I gotta stop leaking out about how I feel about a game before the review even starts.  Anyway, this is RICO for the Nintendo Switch.  (Click on "Read More" to read the full review.)

Steamburg (Nintendo Switch) Review.

Welcome to Steamburg! The futuristic city of the past where robots are trying to kill you.  That's all I'll say for this little teaser.  You are going to have to read the full review for if you want to know more. The truth!  The truth of whether or not this game is any good.  (Click on "Read More" to read the full review.)

Samsara - Deluxe Edition. (Nintendo Switch) Review

The indie puzzle game, Samsara has just gotten a special deluxe edition release for the Nintendo Switch.  Will it be anything worth while? Find out by reading my review, you silly goose. (Click on "Read More" to read the full review.)

Horizon Shift '81 (Nintendo Switch) Review

One studio that I'm always looking forward to be playing their games from is Flump Studios.  They made some of the most high quality neo-retro shmups such as Horizon Shift and Hyper Bounce Blast.  (I reviewed Hyper Bounce Blast ages ago in my early video review days.)  Now they are back with Horizon Shift '81 for the Nintendo Switch.  What are you waiting for?  Let's kick in with the review already shall we? (Click on "Read More" to read the full review.)

Coffee Crisis (Nintendo Switch) Review

You know what's awesome? Metal, coffee, aliens, and retro video games.  So, lull and behold, a game that takes all of these elements and rolls them into one neo-retro beat 'em up called Coffee Crisis.  The name itself already makes the game sound awesome.  Will Coffee Crisis step up and be a great game, or will it just be another phoned in failed attempt at reviving the genre? (*COUGH* Double Dragon IV *COUGH*) (Click on "Read More" to read the full review.)

Akihabara - Feel the Rhythm Remixed (Nintendo Switch) Review

You a fan of puzzle games and want to go to Japan but can't afford to?  Well, I can't help you there.  What I can help you with is by telling you whether or not that this game is any good.  What game am I talking about? It's a puzzle game that's set in Japan.  This is Akihabara - Feel the Rhythm Remixed for the Nintendo Switch.  Yup, this is also a stand alone updated version of Akihabara as well (the game, not the place).  This is quite a risky move but will it be worth it?  (Click on "Read More" to read the full article).

Bouncy Bob (Nintendo Switch) Review

One thing I have noticed about digital Nintendo Switch releases is that there are a lot of ports of PC games.  Most of these games were released for cheap on the PC and it's nice to see that they are also being released for cheap on the Switch as well.  This can lead to a whole bunch of problems for the Nintendo Switch, with the main one being that it leaves the console library opened up to being full of shovelware.  What's this all got to do with today's review?  Well this game just happens to be one of these PC ports.  Will this port be the beginning of the end of quality games for the Nintendo Switch?.. Obviously not!  That honor goes to Vroom in the Night Sky.  I'm sure that Bouncy Bob won't be that bad but will it be any good? (Click on "Read More" to read the full article).

Sonic the Hedgehog Arcade (Arcade, Nintendo Switch) Review

Today's game review is of a game that we all know and love, Sonic the Hedgehog.  Why do I feel the need to review this masterpiece of a game? It's because this game just got re-released for the Nintendo Switch...  Yeah, you are still questioning my choice.  I know, I know, Sonic the Hedgehog has been released on everything, it's on PC, Sega Saturn, Tiger Electronic, Sega Dreamcast, and that one bizarre port that Guru Larry talked about (ech! I hate mentioning Internet celebrities in my articles! Even the ones I like!).  Yup, Sega were re-releasing it like crazy and this was before they started porting it to Nintendo, Microsoft, and Sony consoles.  Heck!  This game even got s****y ports for the Game Boy Advance and the Apple iPod.

So what's so b****y special about the Nintendo Switch port?  Other than adding moves from Sonic-Mania (Aussie! Aussie! Aussie! Oi! Oi! Oi!) it has the arcade version that came out on Sega's Mega Play hardware.  Yes, I'll be reviewing the arcade version of this classic game and only that.  Thank you for pretending that the title of the article didn't spoil the version of the game that I am reviewing.  (Click on "Read More" to read the full article).

Danger Mouse: The Danger Games (Nintendo Switch) Review

If you are anything like me then you'll be a person in their late 20's - early 30's that grew up on cartoons.  One of those cartoons may have been Danger Mouse, which also has a pretty decent reboot series as well... And yup, we ended up getting a game based off of this series.  I really wasn't expecting Danger Mouse to get a game outside of the NES and retro PC era of gaming and I certainly wasn't expecting it to be released for the Nintendo Switch.  I was certainly excited to see this game on the Nintendo eShop, so excited that I bought this game without hesitation...  And boy, I sure regret this decision as this game isn't very good.  (Click on "Read More" just to read how much of a mess, Danger Mouse: Danger Games truly is).