Ring Fit Adventure's Successful Debut Shows Everybody Likes Fitness Games and Hot Dragons

Once again, Nintendo's using its games to trick people into getting fit again, and once again, people are buying into it. Its new exercise game, Ring Fit Adventure, enjoyed a strong start in Japan and the U.K. How dare Nintendo encourage people get off the couch!

The latest game sales charts from Famitsu indicate Ring Fit Adventure debuted at #1 in Japan with 68,497 copies sold between October 14 and October 20. (Translation via Japanese Nintendo.) The Story of Seasons: Friends of Mineral Town remake sits on the #2 spot with 66,193 copies sold, and Dragon Quest 11 S is at #3 with 15,744 copies. In fact, the only non-Switch game on the Japanese Top 10 is Monster Hunter World: Iceborne for the PlayStation 4.

In the U.K., Ring Fit Adventure took the #3 spot for the week ending October 19. FIFA 20 held its #1 spot, and the nigh-unstoppable Mario Kart 8 Deluxe sits high up at the #2 spot.

Ring Fit Adventure is a natural fit for people who enjoyed Wii Fit back in the heyday of the Wii. Ring Fit isn't packed with a balance board, however. Instead, you're equipped with a plastic ring that houses the Joy-Con and registers your motions. Your real-world gyrations are translated to RPG-style actions that help you deal with a buff, gains-obsessed dragon. It's pretty good! Mat calls it "Wii Fit with a story mode," and says it's engineered to keep people exercising for the long haul. That's good to hear, since boredom is probably the #1 reason people fall off exercise routines. Unless you're one of those people who gets a high out of being sweaty and out of breath. I'm not. I'm exactly the kind of person who needs a dragon to threaten her into exercising.