Ring Fit Adventure Fitness Log Week 15: Here's A Quiz!

By LUDWIG VON KOOPA - If you don't know where the bathroom is, try the river.

Welcome to yet another edition of KoopaTV Fitness Fridays, and thanks for sticking by. The whole point of this is to get fit and tell the world about it so I can stay motivated, but I gotta say, the possibility that the whole Tokyo Olympics might get cancelled due to virus outbreak is concerning and not helping the ol’ motivation. Note: This article, thanks to the nature of the world discussed in it, somewhat functions as a walkthrough. That means there's spoilers everywhere for Ring Fit Adventure.

On Sunday night (February 16), I started up Ring Fit Adventure once more, to take on World 15: Quizton. (Retaining difficulty level 29.) The gimmick of this world seems to be the population is fond of pop quizzes, which I'm not as good as anymore now that I've long since transitioned from school. (And while I was in school, pop quizzes weren't a popular tactic from teachers and professors anyway.) We go to the town to try to find a road forward, and meet the Mayor of Quizton. He agrees to help us... so long as we complete his quiz. The rest of the townspeople also ask quizzes, though they don't offer any dialogue boxes to choose among options. They just give you the answer if you press the A button after they ask the question.

I wonder what the Splatfest was that resulted in this stupid law.

Fortunately, Hubby and Honey in General Store 13 don't ask any questions to get us to buy their new outfits, which are the Burning Ant (all red) and Skip Hopper (an ugly lime-green set that also restores hearts with repeated knee lifts). Despite having no set bonus, I'll wear the Burning Ant set.

The Mayor's quiz has higher stakes than the townspeople NPCs. The town has two different paths, north and south. The correct path that will lead us further is based on the following question:

A: Static stretching (Upper Road)
B: Dynamic stretching (Lower Road)

Unfortunately for me, if I'm going to 100% this world, I'll have to do both paths eventually. For now, I know for a fact the correct answer to “Before working out, what kind of stretching do you normally do?” is Dynamic Stretching because Tipp keeps offering me to dynamically stretch before each playthrough, and to static-stretch after each playthrough. Ironically, the dynamic stretch sequence is static (it's the same stretches every time) while the static stretch is dynamic (the stretches change based on what you did during the playthrough). Still, I'm heading to Lower Road.

Lower Road is a delightful level with about three Wing Ability sections and otherwise minimal running. It had a treasure chest with “Yellow Ingredient Recipes” with the following recipes we can now make:

1. Yellow Mix Smoothie — For 2 Pineapple, 1 Ginger, and 1 Apricot, boost Yellow Attack power by ↑, and recover three hearts.
2. Ginger Herb Smoothie — For 2 Gingers, 1 Cinnamon, and 1 Lemongrass, you can boost your Yellow Attack power by ↑↑, as well as restore four and a half hearts.
3. Apricot Coffee — For 2 Coffee Beans and 2 Apricot, you can boost your Yellow Attack power by ↑↑ AND change all of your Fit Skills to yellow!
4. Banana Shake — By mixing 3 Bananas and 2 Vanilla Ice Creams, you can not only boost your Yellow Attack power by ↑↑, but you'll also get an extra turn out of it! (This is clearly the best one, though Vanilla Ice Cream isn't common.)

I sort of wonder what Ring would've said if we went to the incorrect road first. Maybe I'll find out with this next question:

A. Broccoli (North Road)
B. Strawberries (South Road)

Alright, so the first question/answer is an in-game knowledge thing. But the per-gram vitamin C content of broccoli vs. strawberries? That wasn't discussed within the confines of Ring Fit Adventure. This already makes Quizton's gimmick a bad game mechanic. 

I chose the South Road (Strawberries) because the recommended level for that is higher (114 vs. 113... I'm level 135). I even found Abdonis's pants (Ab Master bottom) in a treasure chest. However, there was no road that progressed us. The Mayor didn't mock us for it, Ring was just surprised. Alright... then it must be BROCCOLI that has more vitamin C per gram!

...I wonder if we'd find the Ab Master on the North Road? Let's head up there. North Road noticeably has a unique level design (while South Road was a retread) that features the Bootstrap Tower minigame as... an actual in-level thing. That means “This level is all about climbing.” and you're slamming down the Ring-Con in the air to propel yourself up the climbing wall. There's even a climbing wall rock that phases in and out of existence (coloured blue). (You'll want to take that blue wall rock hook to get the Persimmon Smoothie recipe.) Upon completion, the Mayor said I had good spirits that I took an involuntary detour and still had the motivation to keep going. He invited me to participate in Quizton's Battle Gym, which, according to the Battle Gym Counter robot (who cites the Mayor), is the only entertainment facility in all of Quizton. No wonder they constantly make quizzes. There's nothing else to do. (I reject the idea that a five-round Battle Gym is fun, though.)

With the Battle Gym beaten in ten turns and me now getting the Boat Pose Lv.2 from leveling up to level 137, we can head to the second half of the world. Well, first going through the (squat-swing-filled misery-ville known as) Upper Road, just for completion sake. Plus, there's a treasure chest in-between the North and South roads now containing the Side Step Lv.2 Fit Skill, though I never got the first level one. There's also a Gold Hoplin on top of the Town, but we'll worry about that later. We're done for tonight, since I'm drenched with sweat and exhausted!

The next day, this dude named Daimon, who I'm not really sure who he is (I think someone said he's the Mayor's son, but...they...look...nothing...alike), is going to lead us through the second half of the world. His question?

A. Light exercise (Aerohead Road)
B. Taking a rest (Sedentary Swamp)
C. Cold water (Condensation Corridor)

Alright, so this is referring to the cooldown static stretch, right? So it's the inverse of question 1? It's gotta be A, light exercise, so I'm heading to Aerohead Road. All three have the same recommended level of 116, so no hint there. Fortunately, it's a genuinely beautiful level to go through, involving a beautiful open area full of wildlife that you're double-jumping along progressively higher log platforms, leading into a massive flight section with chirping birds flying alongside you. Then there's a Black Tea recipe chest, which lets you make Black Tea for five Black Tea Leaves—doubling money from battles, the same as Pumpkin Soup. Excellent experience. AND, it was the correct answer! What a pleasure. Also, apparently Dragaux was a master at passing quizzes back in the day, according to Ring.

Next, I'm tasked with a level called Hot Spot, which apparently exists just so Daimon can think of another quiz for me. Sounds like filler. It's an excellent place to pick up Soy Milk, however, if you can withstand the tough conveyor belts.

That gave Daimon enough time to come up with an ADVANCED quiz question:

A: Squat (Squat Square)
B: Bench press (Benchpress Battleground)
C: Dragon flag (Redflag Ring)

While the Big Three basic exercises to train the whole body was never covered in Ring Fit Adventure, I've never heard of that last exercise. Dragon flag sounds like something Dragaux made up. Also, I want to avoid squats. So we're going to Redflag Ring. Daimon warns us that the wrong choice could have painful consequences. I can tell you that Redflag Ring has the highest recommended level, so for an area that will certainly involve a miniboss fight, that seems like a good indicator.

At Redflag Ring, we get not red enemies... but cobalt enemies, with miniboss music! It's the Cobalt Stomper with two Cobalt Matta Ray+s. The new Side Step Lv.2 Fit Skill that was pretty much given to us earlier seems to be a good tool to deal with the three enemies simultaneously, although my coordination with it is about the same competency as the Israeli horah. (That is to say... minimal.)

Upon defeating the Cobalt Stomper (so special moves from it or anything), Daimon explains the Big Three exercises are the squat, the bench press, and the deadlift. Ring then gets suspicious of Daimon's motivations and pinches him, believing him to be Abdonis in disguise. (Consider that Abdonis has disguised himself twice now.)

Ring is stopping random dark-skinned people and suspecting them of wrong-doing?
Who is he, Michael Bloomberg?

Daimon cries from being pinched by a sentient ring with no hands, and the real Abdonis appears and states that he was too busy sleeping in (we did just beat him in the previous world) to stop us. Daimon pleads for us to stop Dragaux and runs away, upset from his assault.

Alternatively, assaulting innocent and harmless dark-skinned creatures is arguably Mario's thing.
Just as cruel! Ring is a bad fellow.

We could go right for Dragaux now, but more than half of the world remains incomplete due to skipping all of the wrong answers. I quickly ran through the Sedentary Swamp in under two minutes, and also rushed through the foggy Condensation Corridor in under a minute and a half. No unique game mechanics in either of those, but Condensation Corridor did contain a treasure chest with the Cherry Smoothie, a new and potent revival drink that restores 5.5 hearts upon being brought back to life. Meanwhile, Squat Square and Benchpress Battleground just contain one normal (not a miniboss) enemy fight each.

I took a break on Tuesday and Wednesday, with my Wednesday excuse being that I got pulled into watching the Democrat presidential primary debate because it was far more entertaining than I thought it would be, with multiple people telling me I just gotta watch it.

On Thursday night, I turned Ring Fit Adventure back on to take requests. First, Dashley wants me to go through Hot Spot within 300 steps as part of the Marathon of Youth. You can do it easily within 200 if you're not caught up from the conveyor belts trying to push you in the opposite direction. Next, an Old Man, who isn't a local to Quizton, is frustrated that everyone here makes you go through a quiz just to ask where the bathroom is. He just wants to run, and challenges me to reach the end of Condensation Corridor within 100 seconds. With the Pink Flamingo clothing set (increasing your running speed), I did it in 66. The reward for both of these requests is 2 Sapphires each, for a total of 4. Next, an Old Woman says a brutal storm broke the Lower Road and filled it with rocks. Unfortunately, the locals are too busy quizzing each other to repair the infrastructure, so I gotta go through, destroy at least 20 rocks or more, and reach the goal. My reward is a very generous 1000 coins!

I guess Quizton has lore in that it's a highly dysfunctional society.

Why is it so generous? Because it's physically exhausting. If you recall above, Lower Road is mostly a series of Wing Ability segments, which you control with abdominal presses. You also break rocks on the road with abdominal presses. Because there isn't much road to speak of, the rocks are placed closely together, and then you're off flying. It's very tiring to spend nearly 10 minutes doing abdominal presses.

There's a rock here... and then four rocks and a boulder right after. Really bad storm, huh?

The next available request is to go to the Battle Gym, and for a tantalising 600 coins, defeat all five rounds using only Arm Fit Skills, which aren't the most common and certainly not the most varied. I bought the Tricep Kickback Lv.3 Fit Skill from the skill tree for this to have a powerful multi-range move going into this, but the recommended level (123) is higher than the boss of this world (120), though me being level 141 is much higher either way.

Top left: Tricep Kickback.
Top right: Tricep Kickback Lv.2.
Bottom: Tricep Kickback Lv.3.

To make it clear, the problem isn't that I'm in any danger of a game over. It just takes a very long time to get through the fights with ineffective Fit Skills, which is physically tiring. It took nearly 18 minutes of exercise time just for all 5 rounds, which is crazy long. At least the level 3 arm Fit Skill animation is really a visual upgrade from levels 1 and 2, like they're meteor-hands or something.

To end this week and the world, we're storming Stumper Tower on Friday. It's not called Dragaux Stadium, despite Dragaux's presence. Abdonis warns us for some reason that Dragaux's really been focusing power into his stomach lately.

After a brief tower-climbing exercise, Dragaux gives up a pop quiz and asks what he's doing. Ring suggests he's doing a bunch of knee lifts. Despite this obviously being what Dragaux is doing, he says we're wrong, and says we gotta fight him in a penalty game. And then... he changed colour to a giant yellow dragon, with a Dark Megaphauna+ and an Ochre Megaphauna+ by his side. Dragaux's colour change means he's weak to yellow Fit Skills, but he also now has TWO whole health bars to make up for his boss fights having no weakness to having a weakness. (That's the first time in Ring Fit Adventure there is a health bar over a health bar.) Unfortunately for us, the Megaphauna+s give Dragaux massive offence and defence buffs, which make him more challenging.

Dragaux's finger nails and horns are glowing yellow, and his abs are much more shiny and defined than before...

But upon getting Dragaux's whole first health bar down, he throws his abs at us, and we gotta Leg Raise as a defence. After doing that for 50 seconds, Dragaux loses a substantial chunk of his second health bar, and he's still yellow with the weakness. Wonderful. After defeating Dragaux, he said he can't win with just abs, and flies off to work on his legs. I bet we'll see Allegra next.

Before that, we gotta 100% Quizton. Hubby wants an intern to make him a Yellow Mix Smoothie and a Ginger Herb Smoothie. I already got these, and handed them over and received two Sapphire. Next, an Old Woman said I should search for Rare Hoplin in Sedentary Swamp in exchange for a Skill Drink. The last request of the world involves Honey from the store wanting me to wear the entire Abs Master clothing set for inspiration (and in return I get a Dragon Drink). Despite me swearing I'd never wear that stupid outfit again, I... did. And thus, Quizton is 100% complete. ...I immediately removed those clothes after.

The next world is World 16: The Steeliest Buns, and as I predicted, Allegra is around. She has a Magic Robot, which claims that someone named Titanium White has steelier buns than she does. The Magic Robot always tells the truth, and Allegra complains that it's either defective or her afternoon is ruined. She corners Titanium White—who has the same portrait as World 6's blue-haired Lady—at Wingflap Falls. Titanium White is faster than Allegra and much faster than I am, and she gets away. Using her Magic Robot, Allegra finds out where Titanium White heads off to and pursues. It's very unclear what she plans to do with her if she ever does catch up.

The next level, which exists to be filler separating the last level with the next story-advancing one, is Flyover Pass. Much like “flyover country” I'll refrain from describing it (it's a retread of a previous level) but there's a treasure chest in the overworld off of this that has Overhead Hip Shake Lv.2, which is one of my favourite Fit Skills besides Thigh Press and I've been looking forward to the next-level version for a very long time. There's also Bank Balance (Advanced), which isn't anything new from World 11. Passing it did give me four purple ingredient recipes, however:

1. Prune Drink—For 1 Soy Milk and 2 Prunes, increase Blue Fit Skill power by ↑ and restore 3.5 hearts
2. Radicchio Smoothie—For 1 Blueberry and 2 Radicchio, switch your Fit Skill colours to Blue
3. Cranberry Cinnamon Smoothie—For 2 Cranberries and 1 Cinnamon, increase Blue Fit Skill power by ↑ and Defense power by ↑
4. Lavender Tea—For 2 Black Tea Leaves and 2 Lavender, increase Blue Fit Skill power by ↑↑ and Recharge skill.

Alright... I'll make them for completion sake, but I doubt I'll rely on any of them. Meanwhile, we caught up to a panting Titanium White and Allegra at Scramble Wasteland. After climbing a massive tower, Allegra has caught Titanium White...

That...doesn't actually answer my question of what you're planning to do with her.

I think that's a good cliffhanger to end the week on.

Besides, these sessions are long and intense as-is.

 

Ludwig used to be an amazing trivia contestant back in ShadowMario41's trivia contest on the Nintendo NSider Forums, dominating the threads with his Internet speed. Later, he brought that over to IRC, until he was ostracised from the community for being a jerk. He knows far more about trivial facts about his own world than about human anatomy and muscles, though he only got 1 of 4 questions wrong in Quizton.


If you would like to answer quiz questions about KoopaTV, we have a bunch of quizzes here updated bimonthly. (Every two months.)
Week 16's fitness log is over this way, and Ludwig finishes World 16.
Week 17 is here, and Dragaux turns blue in this one.
Dragaux turns red in Week 19.
Out of every Fitness Log in 2020, Week 15 won the Best KoopaTV Fitness Log award!
How does Extra Fitness handle Quizton? Really poorly. Here's World 38.