Ring Fit Adventure Game Gym Minigame Tier List

By LUDWIG VON KOOPA - Ring Fit Adventure's Game Gym minigames have a wide range of bad to fun!

The Game Gyms are a very key feature to the main Ring Fit Adventure adventure mode experience. They broke up sometimes lengthy running and combat segments with sometimes creative and fun fitness applications in a very videogame-y environment. Game Gyms got the most attention in World 10: Grandminion Gauntlet (and later World 33: Extra Fitness Lv. 211 and then World 56: Fitness Master Lv. 316), but they also played that important diversion role in most of the other worlds, often with a cash or item prize for completing them well enough.

Ring Fit Adventure has twelve of these Game Gym minigames, and they each have two difficulties: Novice and Advanced. The Adventure mode occasionally has another variety where they put fog into the game, but we're going to ignore that for this article because anything with fog universally makes the gameplay experience much worse with no added fitness benefit. For this article specifically, I played through each of the minigames on each difficulty via Custom Mode, and fog isn't available in those. (No one sane person would willingly set that on, anyway.) I also have QUITE a lot of experience with the Game Gyms before today, since I've beaten and 100%ed Ring Fit Adventure (except for getting all of the Titles), documenting this experience on KoopaTV's other Fitness Logs.

Unlike when I made a minigame tier list three months ago for No More Heroes 3, for Ring Fit Adventure I'm going to go from worst to best. I am judging these minigames mostly based on their entertainment value, but a minigame's fitness value might also be taken into account if the workout itself physically felt fun... or if it physically felt awful. But this isn't based off what will get your body the most fit.

Core Crushing

Fitness Benefits:

Abs, Waist, Core

Abdominal Press & Twist

In-game Descriptions:

Smash the advancing robots by twisting your upper body to swing the bats!

Smash all the robots you can! Be careful of the robots with shields!

Format

Do as much as you can by the time limit

Novice versus Advanced differences

Advanced introduces blue-painted robots that will change which side they hold shields on; in Novice, the shield position is static.

Core Crushing (Advanced) remains the only Ring Fit Adventure minigame that I've never gotten an S-rank in. As a result, I hate it. Not only are the ranking requirements unreasonable (there are a limitless number of these robots and you just need to be fast enough), but it's physically painful to do with how you need to shove the Ring-Con into your abs and keep twisting it around. In addition, Core Crushing is incredibly inconsistent with its controls and how it wants you to “release the tension” in-between twists. But it seems to be only some of the twists, or it has different opinions about how much tension you need to release. And if it's not enough, you just get an error message while the timer continues to count down.

The blue shielded robots will alternate which side holds up the shield, which means you must swing to the correct side.
(Think like The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword.)

I've ranted about Core Crushing many times, including how it's made my stomach sore days after and comparing its error messages to police brutality. It's truly dreadful. ...Speaking of dread...

Dreadmill

Fitness Benefits:

Aerobic, Legs, Stamina

Dash, Jogging, Low Ring Press, Low Ring Press Hold (optional)

In-game Descriptions:

Control your running speed to move left and right on the treadmill and gather tokens.

Collect all the tokens you can! Gold tokens are worth more points!

Format

React to everything that happens during the time provided

Novice versus Advanced differences

Advanced actually has less tokens to collect, and is shorter.

The token-bomb patterns are a little more complicated in Advanced.

Dreadmill involves you running in place in real life to run along a treadmill in the game. It's a stupid physical motion, and the actual minigame feels like it takes forever with how intricate the patterns are and how relatively slow the tokens move down towards you. It needs to be that slow because you need to jog in place (or stop jogging) to get to that area, but the optimal thing to do is to cheat and jump (and hover) to remain in place without running. You can double-jump if you've unlocked it in Adventure mode, which is even better for stalling and perhaps for token collecting, too. I believe that makes Dreadmill the only minigame impacted by your Adventure mode abilities. It's really not fun, though.

You need to align your running with where the tokens will be coming, and sometimes jump accordingly.

Gluting Gallery

Fitness Benefits:

Waist, Back, Shoulders

Overhead Side Bend

In-game Descriptions:

Lean left and right to avoid bombs and gather flying tokens.

Collect all the tokens you can! Gold tokens are worth more points!

Format

React to everything that happens during the time provided

Novice versus Advanced differences

Advanced lasts longer and there are more tokens and bombs during that time.

Gluting Gallery is really simple and boring, but sometimes, Overhead Side Bend doesn't register properly if you're not holding the Ring-Con above your head and you're not orienting it correctly. But if you've managed to conquer the controls, you really shouldn't ever fail Gluting Gallery. The bombs and tokens approach you well in advance (unless you're playing in fog in Adventure mode) and you can just react to it. It never changes things up or gets more interesting. Gluting Gallery is just meh all the way. You're either standing straight (and the fitness timer won't count the time you're standing still, by the way—this is really bad) or you're bending left or right.

The bombs and tokens move slow enough that you can easily react to them. And...that's the whole experience.

Squat Goals

Fitness Benefits:

Legs, Glutes, Aerobic

Squat

In-game Descriptions:

Jump to collect the tokens as they pass. The lower you squat, the higher you jump!

Collect all the tokens you can! Touch a bomb and you'll lose points!

Format

React to everything that happens during the time provided

Novice versus Advanced differences

Advanced has far more complicated token patterns that require you to carefully moderate your squat arc.

The only thing really neat about Squat Goals is that the Squat Goals (Advanced) expects you to buffer your squat input (while you're in the air, do the squat motion and by the time you land back, you'll instantly be ready on the next frame to jump at that height) in order to get the S-rank, which is a very videogame thing to do. I like the idea of having to squat at different levels to deal with the tokens and bombs coming in at different heights, but... it's hard for me to rate a squat-based Game Gym too high, 'cause I don't find squats fun, and you're doing a bunch of these very quickly and it hurts.

Static imagery doesn't demonstrate how the tokens are moving in curves.
You need to anticipate where they'll be when they float in the centre where you are (and avoid bombs).

Squattery Wheel

Fitness Benefits:

Legs, Glute, Chest

Horizontal Ring Press, Squat Hold

In-game Descriptions:

Become a master potter and also a master squatter!

Try to match the example! Don't run out of time before you finish!

Format

Achieve the shape within the time provided... you can also end it early before the time is up.

Novice versus Advanced differences

Advanced's shape is more complicated and takes more effort to achieve.

Squattery Wheel requires a lot of...controlled squatting alongside pressing in with the ring, which actually makes it something of a work out for many muscle groups at once. I actually really hated this minigame until I realised that the designs at the base of your live pottery project correspond with the circles at the base of the left example, and you really should be using that to judge if you should keep pressing into the shape or if you've done enough. If you press into one area, some of that clay will disappear, but some of it will also spread into its surrounding areas, so you'll need to go back and press that. I've come to appreciate the intricacies of Squattery Wheel and I got in the low-90s score for my time playing it on the day of publishing this article, so I've placed it better on this tier list than I would have otherwise.

This isn't an exact match... but it's good enough for an A-rank.

Bank Balance

Fitness Benefits:

Waist, Back, Abs

Abdominal Press Side Bend, Abdominal Press Hold, Jogging

In-game Descriptions:

Walk forward while extending and tilting the balance bar to collect the tokens on both sides.

Collect all the tokens you can! Gold tokens are worth more points!

Format

Get to the end by the time limit (no time limit for the minigame overall, but each section implicitly has a time limit before its tokens disappear).

Novice versus Advanced differences

Advanced are more tokens to collect, and the tokens move more aggressively.

Advanced has far more bomb obstacles to avoid.

You should never fail Bank Balance. It also is really the same thing every time and doesn't get more intense, but at least the controls are simple and aren't fighting against you. You just keep walking and tilting the Ring-Con appropriately to get tokens, and the balance bar is very responsive to your tilting that you should not have any trouble with it. Bank Balance is pretty mediocre and easy.

The segments are split up by those green tape lines.

Crate Crasher

Fitness Benefits:

Chest, Upper Arms

Ring Press

In-game Descriptions:

Fire air blasts to break as many crates as you can before time runs out!

Break as many boxes as you can! The balloon-filled ones explode nearby crates!

Format

Do as much as you can by the time limit.

Novice versus Advanced differences

Novice's crates fall in a 4v4 formation, while Advanced's crates fall in a 6x4 formation.

Crate Crasher is also basic, and its difficulty adjustment seem basic at first glance... but it actually affects gameplay a lot to have six columns of crates to crash rather than four. You need to be making a lot faster and wider angle adjustments on your air blasts, and the mechanic of the balloon crates means that there is an optimal order to shooting the crates that you might not actually do because you want to move fast and your brain isn't processing that quickly. That means that Crate Crasher is basically a puzzle game that works your brain in addition to your arms pressing in the Ring-Con. As the minigame is ending, it spams segments of golden balloons, which clear everything on the screen at once, and then it becomes a matter of aiming for that specific crate as fast as you can. It's a good change-up.

Can you figure out the optimal (fastest) way to clear this? And execute on that?
...And then keep doing that for 45 seconds?

Aerochute

Fitness Benefits:

Posture, Shoulders, Core

Overhead Side Bend Pull

In-game Descriptions:

Pass through as many rings as you can while opening and closing the parachute.

Try to fall through the rings! The center of each ring is worth more points!

Format

Get to the end (no time limit, though you're always moving).

Novice versus Advanced differences

Advanced has more rings.

The gold rings in Advanced move while they're stationary in Novice.

I've gotten lots of comments over the years that Aerochute is really complicated and people don't know how to do it. I'm really not sure why. Aerochute has an interesting risk-reward mechanic of how you could theoretically pull on the parachute the entire time, but it'd probably take ages. You'd be sure to be in full control, though. Hence, you'll want to stop pulling the parachute so you can fast-fall and actually get through the course, but that introduces risk in not reacting fast enough to what's up ahead (more tokens) or if you misjudged your positioning. Advanced making the gold tokens move makes it even more interesting, because you need to choose whether you'll fast-fall to get in position or if you'll try to stall yourself until the token comes to you. The fitness part of the game WANTS you to pull the parachute because that's the actual exercise input, but you can choose in your gameplay style how much of that you actually have to do. That's interesting!

You can see the band of space the gold token is moving from side-to-side on.
Your choice on how you'll pass into it to get the points.

Robo-Wrecker

Fitness Benefits:

Chest, Core, Trapezius

Ring Pull, Ring Press

In-game Descriptions:

Rotate, press, and pull the Ring-Con to hit the robots as they pop out!

Smash all the robots you can! Gold robots are worth more points!

Format

React to everything that happens during the time provided.

Novice versus Advanced differences

More robots appear and in quicker succession in Advanced.

Some robots in Advanced will appear with a protective barrier that you must break before being able to hit the robot, meaning you must push/pull the Ring-Con twice. These barriers don't exist in Novice.

Robo-Wrecker is the very first Game Gym you're introduced to in Adventure mode (in World 2), and fortunately, it's a good minigame! It has a very exciting phase two part of it where the background visuals and the music change, and things go much faster. A lot of the other minigames should've taken after Robo-Wrecker's example so they could be more interesting as well. You really need to be paying attention and can actually enter a flow state during Robo-Wrecker, especially if you're trying to go for the high score. It's great, and because the controls are basic and responsive, you don't feel physically terrible after playing, either. The higher difficulty level only adds to the challenge, and the barrier robots are also a nice change-up.

Robo-Wrecker's second phase. (Happens in both Novice and Advanced.)
You can see the robot in the shield at the bottom left, and a stunned robot that just had its barrier broken on the right side.

Smack Back

Fitness Benefits:

Waist, Core, Back

Upper Body Twist

In-game Descriptions:

Knock back the discs flying at you with an oversized fan.

Smack all the discs you can! Hitting discs back to the robots is worth more points!

Format

React to everything that happens during the time provided

Novice versus Advanced differences

While Novice only has white robots who throw red discs and blue robots that throw blue discs, Advanced adds the gold robot that also throws blue discs, but throws multiple discs (thirteen, by my count) at a time you'll need to smack back instead of one disc per robot like the others.

Smack Back is a pseudo-rhythm minigame, in that the robots sort of (or maybe totally—my sense of rhythm isn't the greatest, which is why Rhythm Heaven minigames that lack visual cues like Lockstep give me trouble) throw the discs to the music. (Ring Fit Adventure also has a dedicated Rhythm Game mode.) The blue robots throw at an off-beat compared to the robots who throw red discs, which adds to the rhythm game feel. The gold robot in Advanced difficulty appears twice and really creates a brief but dedicated shift in your mind, which is really cool and I enjoyed it.

Your one-on-one showdown with the gold robot.

Bootstrap Tower

Fitness Benefits:

Chest, Trapezius, Upper Arms

Swing Climber

In-game Descriptions:

Use the Ring-Con to climb the tower and collect as many points as you can!

Collect all the tokens you can! Gold tokens are worth more points!

Format

Get to the end by the time limit.

Novice versus Advanced differences

Longer course and more time to complete it, with more tokens as well.

Advanced has bombs that will subtract points; the design purpose of these is to ensure proper patience and timing, as well as moderate climb strength.

It's not immediately clear what “Swing Climber” means, but basically you push the Ring-Con in front of you and swing it down to launch your character up.

My very high opinion of Bootstrap Tower mostly comes from me figuring out that this minigame also buffers your inputs, and that's also necessary for S-ranking it. S-ranking Bootstrap Tower felt like a whole adventure where I'm conquering this place and looting everything involved, and that's a really cool vibe.

I got the three gold tokens that were sitting just under these three bombs... without hitting the bombs.

Thigh Rider

Fitness Benefits:

Legs, Lower Body, Posture

Thigh Squeeze Hold

In-game Descriptions:

Make the vehicle jump for tokens by squeezing your thighs.

Collect all the tokens you can! Gold tokens are worth more points!

Format

Get to the end (no time limit, though you're always moving).

Novice versus Advanced differences

Advanced actually has less tokens to collect, and is shorter.

The platforming is a little more complicated in Advanced.

Advanced has easily avoidable bottomless pits that give you -300 points if you fall into.

Thigh Rider is my favourite minigame in Ring Fit Adventure because the actual sensual feeling of squeezing the Ring-Cons in-between your thighs (while SITTING DOWN—very rare for this game!) is fantastic. And unlike some other thigh-related things in Ring Fit Adventure, you also have your hands holding onto the Ring-Con so it won't fly out from your thighs and break something. Which makes sense, because that's how you'd ride a bike.

The actual minigame design has some particularly interesting jumps that you'd need gamer sense to figure out the platforming for, especially in Advanced. Things like jumping in advance based on something that you see farther ahead but isn't the immediate thing in front of you. Thigh Rider always ends with a big jump off a ramp where you need to squeeze the Ring-Con for as long as you can to hover afloat and fly to the end for the best point value. That also (physically) feels great.

Here's the opening of Thigh Rider (Advanced).
You'll need to jump to that first platform and jump again to get the tokens floating above the bombs.

This article is Ludwig's birthday gift to himself. Ludwig talked himself into and out of various adjustments to the positions on the list as he was constructing it, and your feedback in the comments section would also probably be able to get him to adjust which minigame he likes more. He's fairly flexible (mentally) on things, particularly in the middle of the list, because Core Crusher has to be in the worst position. You can figure out the order Ludwig did the minigames in based on the timer in the bottom left corner of the screenshots.


Ludwig hadn't played Ring Fit Adventure since clearing World 69 on March 25, 2022. He feels bad (and out-of-shape) about that.
Ludwig next plays Ring Fit Adventure a month later, making and exercising through a Custom Fitness List based off a Nintendo of Europe article.
Ludwig's next and final minigame tier list is for Pokémon Stadium.