Ring Fit Adventure Fitness Log Week 20: The Ultimate Balance... And More!?

By LUDWIG VON KOOPA - An unexpected game update put ME off-balance!

Why do KoopaTV Fitness Fridays exist? Why is so much effort on KoopaTV being put into Ring Fit Adventure? Well, it's not as much about Ring Fit Adventure as it is about... me, and my efforts to be physically prepared for the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games. ...Though they got postponed, and the implications of that are currently still a mystery to me.

(But to the extent that this is about Ring Fit Adventure, note that these fitness logs, especially this one, have massive amounts of story spoilers.)

This whole coronavirus thing is a major concern for me, so I actually skipped playing Ring Fit Adventure on Sunday night in favour of watching multiple late-night Fox News specials on it. This was a big mistake, and those specials were useless. They're never going to advance past “social distancing” and “wash your hands”, and they're really just hoping decision-makers watch the show and end the economic shutdown so everyone can go get sick but keep the economy moving.

Whatever, I got to keep my progress in Ring Fit Adventure moving. We last left off by starting World 20: The City of Open Eyes on difficulty level 30 (maximum), named as such because Dragaux is making a loud ruckus as HE'S training. ...I don't think he's going for an Olympic title, though. We defeated the master of balance, Guru Andma, and completed the grueling Trapezius Set in the Fitness Gym. Twice. Now we have an overworld map looking like this:

There sure are a lot of levels and features here...

The first level you see there with the red exclamation point—Howling Hollow—features a girl named Snoozie (cute name) who is too afraid to fall asleep, so she wants to run towards Dragaux Stadium, which is too loud to be able to fall asleep. Ring sees a problem with this and wants me to run after her. The actual level isn't important (another palette swap of the flying/snow level we saw a while ago), but Ring lied to Snoozie and told her a better way of staying awake is deep-breathing and light stretches. That's actually a way to fall asleep easier, but Ring is a scoundrel and spreading FAKE NEWS.

As you can see from the map above, there is a Rare Hoplin fight before my choice of the next level. It's optional, but I might as well deal with them and level up, obtaining the Russian Twist Lv.3 Fit Skill from the skill tree. It's very good, as an all-range 455 base power Abs Fit Skill. That's a lot of power for that range—Tricep Kickback Lv.3 is a three-range 430 base power Arms Fit Skill. The Russian Twist is also easier and faster to complete. 

The level that is to the left of the Rare Hoplin is called Hang-Tough Temple. It's yet another palette-swap tower-based level with Bootstrap Tower and squat trampolines. Not to forget about it, the level that's south of the Rare Hoplin fight is Glowskin Ridge. 

Glowskin Ridge may LOOK like a dystopian and generic filler level,
but it's actually a paradise with several milk bottles in unattended crates, plus a 400-coin-containing treasure chest.
(...It's still a generic filler level, but whatever.)

Rather than pass through the Battle Gym and progress through towards Dragaux, I'm heading up north on the overworld map towards Bolthole Tunnel (which I read as something else entirely) so I can nab the overworld treasure chest. Bolthole Tunnel (seriously looks like another word) involves an overhead side bend cart (the worst) which then leads to an Overhead Ring Pull zip-line that basically zips you over the cart track you just passed through and brings you to below it at the end. ...Would've been faster to just turn around and jump at the start, but that's not possible in an on-rails game. At the end, the overworld treasure chest contained... the Shoulder Press Lv.3 Fit Skill! It recovers up to 14 hearts. I won't need it. Lame.

After a long period of deep thought and reflection, I decided to conclude Monday night by completing the Battle Gym. It's better than leaving it as the first thing I must do on Tuesday, right? Responsibility. Well, it's a five-round Battle Gym. Do-able in ten turns if you're as cool as I am. It gave a Lime Smoothie recipe as a reward, which is as simple as stir up 3 Limes and get a Lime Smoothie that raises Green Fit Skill attack power by ↑↑.

Bring in the Matta Ray squad! What happens when 4/5 of your party are squishy healers? ...Well they all get one-rounded by a Russian Twist.
(The one nice thing about Battle Gyms, besides the concentration of experience points, is that sometimes there are funny enemy formations.)

Tuesday time! We begin not with a long session at the Battle Gym, thanks to how wise I was last night, but a leisurely run (flight, tower-climb, zip-line ride) through the filler Marathon Field. But the level after that, the one sandwiched between the two Gold Hoplin encounters in the overworld? There's a storyline there. Snoozie is asking me for a Banana Smoothie and a Papaya Smoothie. Story-gameplay integration-wise, the Papaya Smoothie makes sense, since its effect is a guaranteed rush attack, and Snoozie wants to stay awake. ...But the Banana Smoothie just increases Abs Fit Skill attack power. Maybe she just likes bananas.

Snoozie has a cute name, nice hair, and I like how demanding she is.
That said, this is entirely arbitrary, and she disappears after this. We don't know what happens to her.

Ring figured out that Snoozie was just drinking a lot so she'd have trouble falling asleep (it's more difficult to sleep on a full stomach). In any case, we're told to go through the Swift Spire level. Curiously enough, this is the first time in the whole Ring Fit Adventure that we've encountered celery. Ring reveals to me that Dragaux's favourite part of training is the sleeping, which I'm on-board with.

Now, with all of the mandatory levels cleared, I can take the left-most warp point that leads right to Dragaux Stadium! But of course I'm going to do all of the optional requests and stuff first. For one, an overworld chest appeared, which contains a Light-Green Ingredient Recipe I. This contains recipes for...

1. Lettuce Milk Smoothie—2 Milk and 1 Lettuce produces a 4-heart restoring, Green Fit Skill attack power↑↑ drink. ...Is Lettuce Milk a real thing? As a milk lover and a vegetable dodger, I'm curious...
2. Avocado Smoothie—2 Avocado and 1 Celery means my Fit Skill colour changes to green. It also restores 4 hearts.
3. Lime Cinnamon Smoothie—If you throw 2 Lime and 1 Cinnamon (what “1 Cinnamon” actually represents is unknown) you get a “unique drink” that increases Green Fit Skill attack power by ↑↑ and raises defense power by ↑.
4. Kiwi Smoothie—Throw in 1 Apple and 2 Kiwi and it results in a powerful smoothie that increases Green Fit Skill power by ↑↑ and recharges your Fit Skills.

Hm. I made a bunch of those Lettuce Milk Smoothies. In the game. Not in real life. Anyway, a Man in town wants me to go through the wonderful Glowskin Ridge and clear it without battling any monsters, in exchange for 800 coins. Gladly. The Man called it a jump master for being able to jump through the monsters. Personally, I was just jumping to get the milk from the trees.

The next request is from an Old Woman who broke her necklace. It apparently broke into 50 pieces in Bolthole Tunnel, so I need to collect the Parts and reassemble it for her for 800 coins. ...I wonder what happened that it broke into so many pieces? Bizarrely, I collected a total of 62 Parts, which makes me wonder what the extra pieces were. Someone else's broken necklace? I'll note this request was fairly unique in that 37 of the Parts were on the Overhead Side Bend cart portion of the course, which made collecting them at least a different kind of experience than usual.

With regards to the Gold Hoplin—each overworld fight has three, for a total of six. At the top is the Game Gym for Gluting Gallery (Advanced) with a reward of a Diamond, while the bottom is a Game Gym for Crate Crasher (Advanced) with a reward of the Light-Green Ingredient Recipe II. I...actually got a perfect S-rank score on Gluting Gallery (Advanced), which is 17,400 points. Pretty impressive. Anyway, you want smoothie recipes (you DO want smoothie recipes, don't you?) so here:

1. Green Mix Smoothie—2 Avocado, 2 Celery, and 2 Arugula = Green Fit Skill attack power↑, change all Fit Skill colours to green, and recover 4 hearts.
2. Avocado Herb Smoothie—2 Avocado + 2 Cinnamon + 1 Lemongrass = 6 hearts recovered and Green Fit Skill attack power↑↑.
3. Pear Juice—It's literally just 3 Pears. But it does so much: Green Fit Skill attack power↑↑ AND changes Fit Skill colours to green.

For your information, I've STILL never encountered a Raspberry in this game, and there are two smoothie recipes tied to that. After I broke those crates and made the smoothies, a request opened in town from the Game Gym Counter robot to “Break 80 or more crates using just air blasts!” in Crate Crasher (Advanced), a slightly more advanced form of the break-70 challenge from World 11. It's still easy. You don't get credit for hitting the bomb-crates, but you're still allowed to hit them, of course.

Two more requests open up after you select Dragaux Stadium in the overworld but cancel out of it. (They'd also open up if you did it and beat it.) One is to go back to Gluting Gallery (Advanced) and “Clear with 13000 points or more without getting any gold tokens!” In exchange, I get 2 Strength Drinks, which are useful to get my stats up before the boss fight. Unfortunately, this is idiotically difficult due to inconsistent hit detection. Sometimes I'll be leaning in a direction, be properly avoiding the bombs, and still collect a gold token. Instant failure.

The second request has to do with the Battle Gym, but since contending with that awful Gluting Gallery request pushed me past midnight, I'm gonna stop playing for now. This world IS about sleep, after all. And I support sleeping!

It's Wednesday night, and I have to do that Battle Gym request. The gimmick? I have to only use Yoga Fit Skills. Yoga Fit Skills are awesome, but there aren't many of them in the game, so this is a bit challenging because my load-out has some very weak things in it. To that end, I'll be equipping the Guru Gear (increasing their power by 5%) for the maximum attack I can get. Still, it was much easier than, say, only Arms or only Legs. In fact, I completed all five rounds in only nine turns. And right after that, I reached Level 176 and unlocked the Warrior II Pose Lv.3, which would've been pretty useful for this challenge! It's a huge improvement versus Warrior II Pose Lv.2. (430 base power vs. 210 base power, duh!) 

Well, I have it equipped for taking on Dragaux Stadium—which estimates that this level will take 21 minutes? Uh...yikes. The level gimmick is running up conveyor belts while simultaneously pushing Dragaux-sized push-pull blocks with air blasts. Multitasking?

As for Dragaux himself, he's way ahead of me on the Warrior II Pose.
(Those two Matta Ray he's posing on top of aren't part of the boss fight.)

This is a 1 vs. 1 fight against Dragaux, and he has apparently perfected his abs, arms, AND legs. He also hasn't changed colour, meaning he has no weaknesses... instead has THREE health bars.

Or so I thought. His first attack was shifting to Red (Arms) Dragaux and making me do an Overhead Press for a solid minute to defend against his huge energy arm. Fortunately, deflecting it basically did a whole 1/3 of a health bar against him. He stayed red (with a weakness to my own Arms Fit Skills) for my attacking turn as well.

I didn't have to worry about the fact that my Arms Fit Skills are weak because on his next turn he transformed into Yellow (Abs) Dragaux and bragged about his planking ability, as I had to Leg Raise for another minute. At least he's down to two health bars. Leg Raise is easy. I'm just dreading the inevitable one-minute Overhead Squat next...

...And it came when Dragaux fell down to one health bar. I immediately ended up sitting down on my butt because I fell trying the Overhead Squat, which the game WAS registering as a perfect squat. That is, until the very last moment when it would end and the game asked me to re-calibrate my Left Joy-Con and put it back in the Leg Strap. Upon doing so, it restarted the entire one-minute sequence from the beginning. Did the game know that I was cheating...?!?! The second time, I purposefully cheated by having a couch assist my Overhead Squat, and that was successful. Mwahaha!

Anyway, Dragaux stopped doing ridiculous things after that was taken care of, which gave me a good opportunity to beat him. Quite frankly, we already fought Guru Andma earlier in World 20, and Dragaux pretty much just took her act but with more hit points. (I never got to use my own Warrior II Pose, though.)

Dragaux vowed to start doing dirty tricks, and then summoned the Four Masters. Referring to a “master smoothie”, he apparently... ate them all. Except they're still in his stomach and undigested. For now. Uh... I didn't expect Ring Fit Adventure to play to vore fetishists. Yikes. Dragaux says to meet him in Finalia (probably the last world of the game), and I stop playing because I'm tired, even if the boss fight only took 15 minutes instead of 21. But I definitely want to pick up the story again as soon as I can. 

Hey, Tipp, maybe you could help us out instead of just spectating?

There was big, unexpected news on Thursday. Ring Fit Adventure got a game update, which adds a whole new rhythm mode of 17 songs, a jogging mode, an option to continue doing an exercise after enemies have already been defeated in Adventure Mode for additional experience points (not setting that on), and most importantly, being able to change Ring's voice! You can now make Ring sound feminine, and if you really want, you can change Ring's language as well. ...I'll stick with English, but Ring will now sound female. Ring sort of sounds like Lysithea from Fire Emblem: Three Houses now, except like she recently is a post-operation transperson.

I feel really uncomfortable playing with Feminine Ring. Her voice keeps cracking too.

Also, they've apparently changed the text colour of important things from orange to blue. Huh.

On Thursday night, before we can get to the next world, there's one last request in World 20: Clear Squat Goals (Advanced) with 10,000 points or more without collecting a gold token. This isn't the glitchy hassle that trying to avoid gold tokens in Gluting Gallery is like. I got two Defense Drinks, so hooray. Gulped them down and got acknowledged for 100%-ing World 20!

World 21: Between Land is next. It's shorter than World 20, and the name screams “filler world.” Our first (filler) level here is Jog-On Bog. It also happens to have fog. Ring claims that she's never seen this place before and it doesn't seem real, but that makes no sense since this is a foggy palette swap of earlier levels. The level right after is the town, but nothing's in the the town except for Dashley who is requesting that I clear Jog-On Bog within 240 steps (for two Diamonds), and General Store 19. At General Store 19, Honey and Hubby mention that we're at the border of the Land of Hades, which is apparently where dead folks are. Uh... How did we end up in this place? (They also sell the Green Aurora and Blue Aurora outfits. The Blue Aurora has no set bonus, while the Green Aurora prevents us from dropping our money, which is hardly a concern. They require several Diamonds to acquire.)

Yeah, it's definitely a filler world.

A mysterious ghosts wants us to follow it, but there's a warp zone detour to a couple of Game Gyms. I'm sure the ghost can wait. One of these is Squattery Wheel (Advanced), giving out 400 coins for completion. The other is Robo-Wrecker (Advanced), giving out a Diamond for completion. Beating one of the Game Gyms gives you access to an overworld chest with a Peach Shake smoothie, which won't be necessary for me.

Back to the main path, traversing through Ribcage Peak. I think this is a palette swap of the first level in the game that had stairs, which might be... the second one in the first world? In any case, it's quite short. It also opened up several paths as well as requests, including to go back to Squattery Wheel (Advanced) for a request to score at least 50 points in 30 seconds for 800 coins. Right after that, they wanted me to go back to Robo-Wrecker (Advanced) and “Land 15 simultaneous hits!” for another 800 coins. I'm making great money here.

There's now a second of two diversionary warp zones, but these lead to a Battle Gym and a Fitness Gym, the two gyms that take a lot of time, energy, and mindshare. The five-round Battle Gym offers a mere 400 coins for completion. Good chance to finally use the Warrior Pose II Lv.3. However, my experience in the third round demonstrates why you should defeat healers (Matta Rays) first: It kept healing itself for multiple (three) turns in a row, and it was healing about as much damage as I can deal to it without wasting a smoothie. It finally didn't heal itself for a turn (due to getting an anxiety attack).

I'm not doing the Fitness Gym or anything else for the rest of this week. If I keep playing World 21 this week, I might finish the whole thing. I'm already almost halfway done with it after one day! I gotta save it for Week 21!

It's a rare week where I don't actually play on Friday. (But why was this still published late at night on Friday?)

It's quite possible that World 22 will be super long and Ludwig will regret not getting a head start on it by getting a head start on World 21. Well, perhaps Ludwig has to stretch this whole thing out until 2021 anyway. He's going to try the rhythm game mode and dedicate a whole article to that next week, likely Monday or Tuesday. Stay tuned. He's also going to switch Ring's voice back to masculine once he's done with World 21.


Ludwig dedicated an article on the new Rhythm Game mode over here.
Week 22: Between Land concludes here, Ring's voice is changed back... and HADES is entered.
The vore thing is even more weird in the Extra Fitness version of World 20... World 43!