What is Multitask Mode in Ring Fit Adventure?

By LUDWIG VON KOOPA - What you do when not playing Ring Fit Adventure.

My playthrough of Ring Fit Adventure on KoopaTV doesn't currently demonstrate this, but Ring Fit Adventure has other main menu options besides the adventure mode. One of those is Multitask Mode, which you don't actually play in-game. Pressing this option for the first time on the main menu will give you this explanation, and then will return you back to the main menu:

“In this mode, you can work out using only the Ring-Con without the need for a screen.
Enabling Multitask Mode records the number of presses and pulls you do with the Ring-Con while you watch television or do other activities.
To enable Multitask Mode, first set the Nintendo Switch system to sleep mode or turn it off. After that, attach the Joy-Con (R) to the Ring-Con and press the Right Stick as shown in the diagram.
While Multitask Mode is enabled, up to 500 reps of presses and pulls you do will be recorded. When you return here afterward, you'll get a bonus in Adventure mode according to how many presses you did. (This bonus is available once per player per day.)
If you're connected to the Internet, you can send the extra press/pull counts you've earned in Multitask Mode to your friends as a present. (Only once per friend per day!)”

You can also wait for 60 seconds to pass while not doing anything with the Joy-Con to turn Multitask Mode off.
It will also automatically turn off once you've gotten 500 reps.
(The Vibration button is B, and the Sounds button is A.)

Once you have more than zero repetitions, you'll be able to gift them to either yourself or to any of your Nintendo Switch friends who have Ring Fit Adventure. That gift gives you a generous (read: worth the effort) amount of coins (equal to the amount of reps you did), experience points (a multiple [3] of the amount of reps you did), ingredients, and drinks, and the quantity of goodies is increased if there are more presses/pulls behind it. 

Multitask Mode also features as a relationship management system for those friends who have Ring Fit Adventure. The game keeps track, on a per-friend level, how many gifts that friend has given you, and how many gifts that friend has received from you. The number of press/pulls isn't recorded, but, hey, it's the THOUGHT that counts. By the way, when you give a gift, it will dump all of the stored reps to the recipient. You can't choose to, say, give 250 to one person and 250 to another, unless you turn the game on once you reach 250, gift, turn it off, reach another 250, and turn it back on and gift. You can send multiple gifts a day and get as many reps as you want, as long as you're sending the gift to a different person (or yourself) once a day. Just note that, aside from the 500 mark, there's no indicator on the Ring-Con that visually keeps track of how many reps you have stored up. It makes a special noise when you get to a certain milestone, but I don't know what it actually is! (I assume every 100.)

Even though the in-game instructions indicate otherwise, you can turn on Multitask Mode while playing other Nintendo Switch games. For example, if you enter a Battle Arena in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate and have to spectate a match while waiting in line (or if you're stuck not spectating because the other participants don't have proper Battle Arena etiquette), you can press the stick on the Joy-Con while it's attached to the Ring-Con, and it won't screw up your normal controller. You know, assuming you're not trying to play Super Smash Bros. Ultimate with your Joy-Cons.

Just make sure your Joy-Cons get charged at some point. 

Since this is a gaming commentary article, here are my thoughts on this feature existing: I like it a lot. It keeps Ring Fit Adventure in your mind even when you're not playing (though it's unrealistic to, say, take the Ring-Con to a dentist's office or anywhere public where you'd really be waiting a long time), and gives a purpose to someone's inevitable thought on “I just want to push on that Ring-Con for good resistance training.” Plus, it introduces an actual social element to Ring Fit Adventure beyond Nintendo's stupid portrayal of background families making bizarre gestures while you're playing the game. Though I wish I could attach a hand-typed note with my gift. Then it could be a pseudo-substitute for Miiverse private messages, except you need to exert a minimum amount of physical activity to have the privilege to use it.

I wish it didn't take me over 10 weeks to start doing this, but that's another somewhat brilliant aspect to this. Once someone does gift you a Multitask Mode gift for the first time, the game makes a big deal about the feature existing, so then you know you gotta check it out. And then your life will never be the same.


Ludwig will alternate between presses and pulls, which can differ in difficulty based on how tired his arms are, and where they're tired. With so many of his Nintendo Switch friends owning Ring Fit Adventure, it'll take him a while to send gifts to everyone. It's a game in itself! It may also be better to just give himself gifts.


Ludwig dedicated an article to the Rhythm Game mode in Ring Fit Adventure as well, which is far more physically grueling than Multitask Mode's demands.
For more information on Quick Play and Custom modes, look here.