Ring Fit Adventure Fitness Log Week 65: Biceps like Boulders... or Everest?

By LUDWIG VON KOOPA - Fifth-to-last world of this game!

Welcome to another KoopaTV Fitness Friday, where I'm supposed to be giving off positive wellness vibes but I'm kind of mostly complaining about how Ring Fit Adventure's Fitness Master mode is less than barebones. You can see a lot of that in the last world/week's Fitness Log.

Anyway, this week we'll be going to World 65: Fitness Master Lv. 364. It's supposed to be based on World 42: Extra Fitness Lv. 257, which takes place in the Robot Kingdom. It's inhabited by just robots. ...And monsters. By all the NPCs are robots. They used to only speak Binarese (and dealing with their language used to be a plot point with gameplay-story integration), but have since learned English (meaning there's no gameplay-story integration... or story at all). I'm expecting this world of robots to be... devoid of emotion and excitement.

I started Ring Fit Adventure late Sunday night, after doing pretty much nothing throughout Sunday besides... taking a nap after having a long sleep. Saturday night I was in a lengthy Super Smash Bros. Ultimate tournament (stream replay here) that went well past midnight and the hour after. I ended up losing the Grand Finals after resetting the bracket (meaning I came from the loser's bracket and then won 3–0 vs. the winner's bracket winner, meaning it's another best-of-five that I couldn't pull off). Ring said another variation of “try Fit Skills you haven't used before!” and that's all the dialogue I'll get, I guess. Ohohwan River was our first course. It immediately opened up with a river rowing segment... and there's also water coming from the sky, too. (Y'know, rain. As a preview for what's to come in real life this week.) It also ended with a river rowing segment and an unmissable Treasure Chest featuring one Rose Quartz stone. And with the river behind us, we're... 1/15th done with this world.

If I use new Fit Skills (what new Fit Skills?) I can work those newly invented muscles!
How exciting! (Watch this never happen.)

Next course: The Wanoh Hills. ...And other than the name I have nothing to say. Clearing it gives us access to an overworld Treasure Chest with one money-doubling Pumpkin Soup, as well as the Smack Back (Advanced) Game Gym that rewarded me with five Cherries for completion. For the price of three Cherries, one can make a Cherry Smoothie that functions as a revival method if you ever somehow lose all of your health in this game. The next item on the map is General Store Number 59 and the Town it resides in, and with my two Rose Quartz stones, I've... bought out the two remaining Bottoms clothing articles that require Rose Quartz (the Arms Master III and the Legs Master III if you're interested in knowing). Now the only stones I need are Zircon! After the Town is this world's Battle Gym. Featuring five monster waves and no completion reward. I'll say that Yoga (Green) Fit Skills are disproportionately relevant in this particular Battle Gym! The last wave has a Berserk Robot and a Berserk Robocycle. Apparently, Berserk Robot has just slightly less defence than Berserk Robocycle, though it's still durable enough to require two rounds of Fit Skills to KO it. (The slight defence difference manifests as about one repetition extra in durability.) Y'know, unlike the Smack Back minigame where you hit their frisbee back at them once with the fan and they break apart as quickly. I finished the Battle Gym in nine turns.

The slight difference in the defence is almost (but not entirely) meaningless.
So I'm interested why it's there at all.

Alright, next course! Ohwanoh Factory! It's a rehash of Tornado Temple, which I've mentioned as having one of my least favourite level design decisions in this game. I actually got a clip of the counter-intuitive design in action:

I'm getting worn out tonight. There are two things left on this left side of the overworld map: A Fitness Gym (guarded by a Gold Hoplin fight that's good for money—use a money-doubling smoothie like the earlier Pumpkin Soup, plus a smoothie that gives you an extra turn... and then use two five-range Fit Skills consecutively to get 5000 currency, because there are five Gold Hoplins in the fight) that is a diversion, and a miniboss battle that grants access to the right side of the map. Well, I did the Gold Hoplin fight and made money... and to end the night I'm going to use the last of my energy to do the Upper Arms Set in the Fitness Gym. Unlike in World 42's version, I'm not under the negative effects of any CCP Virus vaccine (which directly impacted my left arm), so I shouldn't be complaining.

1. Back Press (x30)—A good start. Breathe in between presses and breathe out while pressing the Ring-Con behind your head. Breathing well is pretty helpful with this, and it's a simple exercise where you'll get 100 points per rep as long as you're pressing the Ring-Con for the duration of while it's telling you to.
2. Tricep Kickback (x40)—Tricep Kickback happens to be the only exercise of the Upper Arms Set where your lower body is doing something other than standing straight, since you gotta put your right or left leg forward (20 reps per side) and have your right or left hand on that leg's knee, while your opposite leg is out and your opposite arm holds the Ring-Con and goes up or down. But this is as complicated a pose as the Upper Arms Set gets. The whole thing takes about three and a half minutes in in-game time, unlike the next Fit Skill...
3. Overhead Arm Twist (x60)—60 reps means it's a quick energetic Fit Skill where the reps fly by. As in, the whole thing takes under half a minute. Only one arm gets to hold the Ring-Con and twist, and you'd think they'd make you switch, but no.
4. Overhead Press (x30)—I think I'll be doing a number of these on the miniboss later. Anyway, it's like Back Press... but above your head, which should work a different muscle group.
5. Bow Pull (x40)—Much of the time, Fitness Sets end with something relaxing. In this case, they saved the hardest for last: Bow Pull. It's one of the only times you pull the Ring-Con in this game (other times notably include Overhead Ring Pulls during courses), but I actually did much better this time than last time when my arms were weakened by the CCP Virus vaccine.

I did well enough to complete the Upper Arms Set with a 99-point average S rank, earning me one Defense Drink. And with 40 minutes on the in-game clock (which translates to nearly two hours in real-time), I'm done for the day 'cause my arms need to recover from that, and it's nearly midnight and I want to find out what the Capcom Countdown is all about. (And click here if you'd like to find out my thoughts about that Capcom Countdown and what it revealed!)

We had a high-tech scan back in World 42 as well.
If you look at the map, this is the ONLY path to the right side of the map.
But, I dunno, we have the ability to fly. Maybe we should use it to find our own path.

On Monday I went through the Heave-Ho Checkpoint, where a robot identified that I'm Koopa#5969 and Dragaux has a special route for me to take. Ring has a bad feeling about it... but we already know it's a Garnet Scuttleknell miniboss, with a Garnet Megaphauna+ and a Dark Megaphauna+ at its sides that require a five-range Fit Skill (like Bow Pull) to take down. Well... used more than once. I Bow Pulled twice and Front Pressed once to remove all of the minions, with the Dark Megaphauna+ requiring that three-range Front Press. Garnet Scuttleknell got to under half health and was mad, so it did a super attack of smashing the ground to make rock slabs fall from the ceiling, which were easily Air Blasted to harmless bits. Then one Overhead Press later into a Rush Lift rush bonus attack, and I defeated the miniboss (and picked up its Rose Quartz) and earned the right to the world's second half.

You can see it dropping the Rose Quartz!

My only option at this point is to clear Ohoh Valley. Of particular interest is the Zircon stone that the first monster group happened to drop. After the valley there's a minor detour in the overworld map to pick up a Dragon Fruit from a Treasure Chest, and behind that is the Thigh Rider (Advanced) Game Gym with a nice 500 currency bonus. I had a... sub-optimal drive, but still good enough for an A rank. And then I ran through Ohwanwan Route, yet another course. I got nothing to say about it. Now I'm left with a decision... Should I play the Battle Gym tonight (YEP, A SECOND ONE) and my later self will thank me, or should I save it for my third day this week? ...Eh might as well go for it now. It's also five waves, like the one earlier this world. There wasn't a reward, but I finished it in 9 turns and went on with my night.

I went back to it on Tuesday, fairly relieved at how light my exercise will be today. First is Wanohwanoh Way. It's the same level design as Aerohead Road from a few worlds ago, except in a more sunset colour tone. ...And I completed it in two minutes because the design encourages you to jump over the two enemy groups at the very end since they line the way with coins where if you do as little as single jump to get the coins, you also jump over and skip the fights. (If you want to maximise your coin gain as well as fitness gain, you'd do the fights instead, but...) Second is the Dreadmill (Novice) Game Gym hiding behind an overworld Treasure Chest with a Strength Drink. Why Novice? Because it's...IN FOG. It's over two minutes of fog where you're supposed to look at incoming tokens and bombs approaching from the background that is obscured. Sometimes I got tokens by accident because I wasn't intentionally in the running lane they're in since I literally didn't see them coming. Somehow I still managed to get an A rank and clear the gym. I also received a Rose Quartz. And... the third and last thing today is Ohohoh Tower. This is... also...foggy... Featuring an Overhead Ring Pull pulley straight into fog and with no pretty background to view. The last enemy fight at least dropped a Zircon stone. I dunno, that's the whole world except the boss fight. Should I just go and finish this in three days and call myself out from my World 64 statement saying that World 64 is the last “quick three day world”? ...Eh fine.

I charged into the world's Dragaux Stadium packed with Red Fit Skills and the Flame Contender III to boost them. Dragaux Stadium itself is one scenic rail path with the cart powered by many Back Presses. The view might be scenic through waterfalls and Dragaux-shaped caves, but the Back Presses are constant and sometimes up slopes. When I got to Dragaux, he asked what, as a kid, he's wanted besides a six-pack and toned glutes. Ring, once again, guessed that Dragaux wanted... Ring. ...But the real answer was quite different.

I would if Ring Fit Adventure would let me.

As for the fight against Dragaux, that was at least very much the same as it's been previously. This time, Dragaux transforms... INTO A COMMUNIST red Dragaux. He's joined by Garnet Matta Ray+, Dark Megaphauna+, Garnet Megaphauna+, and Dark Matta Ray+. Taking out those groupies is important, because they will buff Dragaux's stats and restore his health. Dragaux can also flash his eyes to disable smoothie drinking, which is why drinking a smoothie on turn one is a good idea because it won't remove existing smoothie buffs. Once Dragaux got to under half health, he wanted to show off how unstoppable his arms are. Rather than his standard punching attacks from his corporal arms being a threat, he generated a massive red energy arm to punch me with. I had to Overhead Press for a full 60 seconds to deflect it back at him... for massive damage, fortunately. Two Fit Skills later, and Dragaux is once again defeated. And he dropped a Rose Quartz, which I don't need.

So... Everest is canon?
I know Russia is (from its two references in Russian Twist and Kefir Yogurt),
so I wonder more about Ring Fit Adventure's world.

Dragaux has the six-pack. He has the glutes. He has the biceps like Everest. But he's not at the end. He must... MAINTAIN those things. So he mustered the energy to fly off and do that, I guess. If I remember the next world's theme correctly, that should segue nicely into what happens next.

While I did complete this world in three days, it wasn't quick.
And Tuesday would've been longer if I didn't skip two monster fights.
(The whole rest of this playthrough would be much faster if I purposefully skipped the fights...)

Ludwig has felt behind on sleep for the ENTIRE WEEK. Which certainly will make the next world fitting. Come back to KoopaTV next week to see how that plays out!


World 66 had some sleep commentary, but really the most notable thing is vore.