Fist of the North Star is the 3rd version of Fitness Boxing for the Nintendo Switch. Fitness Boxing is an exercise game that utilizes the Joy-Cons to let you throw different punches in the same way you would in a rhythm game. Your instructors are characters from Fist of the North Star.
Fist of the North Star is an extremely popular manga series dating back to 1983 that eventually expanded into anime, novels, a live action film, a stage musical, and video games.
Fitness Boxing 1 was released in 2018. Fitness Boxing 2 was released in 2020. And now Fitness Boxing Fist of the North Star has been released at the end of 2023.
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What is Fitness Boxing?
In Fitness Boxing, you use your Joy-Con controllers as boxing gloves to match the rhythm of the music. It is kind of like the boxing version of Guitar Hero or Dance Dance Revolution. The first two versions of Fitness Boxing featured songs by artists like: Lady Gaga, Justin Bieber, Nicki Manaj, Coldplay, etc., etc.
You jab, uppercut, dodge, and more to the music. Dodges, ducks and step moves turn fitness boxing into a full-body workout. You can input your personal profile (age, height, weight, etc.,) to set fitness goals. And then you try to return each day for a daily workout. Workouts earn you points. Points allow you to purchase additional instructors, and different clothing for your instructors. You can change your instructors to whomever motivates you the best.
What’s new with this version of Fitness Boxing – “Fist of the North Star”?
This new installment adds characters and settings from Fist of the North Star. You throw punches while receiving directions from in-game instructors voiced by popular voice actors from the series.
In Fitness Boxing Fist of the North Star, Kenshiro, the protagonist of Fist of the North Star, and his rivals guide the player as instructors.
A new “Battle” mode has been added that lets you defeat enemies in the same way as in a rhythm game. The two battle modes let you experience workouts with a greater emphasis on action: Outlaw Battle, in which you take down scores of outlaws with your punches, and Boss Battle, in which you fight Kenshiro’s rivals such as Raoh.
The game features music from Fist of the North Star like AIO TORIMODOSE!!, TOUGH BOY, YURIA EIENNI, and SILENT SURVIVOR. There are also original songs tailored to each character for a total of 20 songs.
The daily workouts and in-game shop is here as well, but with a Fist of the North Star theme. Workouts and Daily Quests earn you points. Points allow you to purchase additional instructors, songs, and different outfits for your instructors from the shop.
There is also a DLC Expansion Pack that enhances the Fitness Boxing experience with a Heart Mode and a Raoh Mode. The DLC also add more music and outfits to earn in the shop.
My experience with Fitness Boxing Fist of the North Star
My normal fitness regime was essentially long walks, bowling, disc golf, and real golf. Throwing punches in this game had me working muscles I was not using very much. And my shoulders, triceps and biceps definitely got more of a workout than I was expecting. There was definitely soreness after the first few days! My arms felt like they had received flu shots!
Likes, Dislikes and Final Thoughts
Likes
The graphics are pretty good. Pretty much what you expect from the Nintendo Switch.
You can set your daily workout toughness and duration time. There are easy, normal and hard workout modes. Workout times can be adjusted easily as well. A shorter workout time would be like 20 minutes, while a longer time would about 40 minutes. If you want to add in extra time after your workout, you can do battles and/or expansion DLC tests to punch a little more.
You can add stretching to your workouts. I rarely think about stretching personally, so adding the stretching regime to the beginning and end of your workouts was a nice feature.
Daily Quests are motivating. I finished some workouts without throwing enough punches to complete the daily quests. So I went into Battle Mode to throw some additional punches. This nets you more points for shop purchases.
Two players can work out side-by-side using 2 to 4 joy-cons. My wife is an avid gym rat, and she enjoyed grabbing some joy-cons and working out next to me. And she is not into anime whatsoever. She says: “Why are their heads so small compared to their bodies?”
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The shop is motivating as well. If you want to unlock more instructors, or songs, or sexier outfits, you are going to have to punch your way to more coins in the shop.
Dislikes
There is not too much to dislike here. A campaign would have been a nice addition though. Like if you gradually had to defeat thugs daily in order to battle villains like Roah at the end of the month?
The DLC Expansion Pack was kid of a mixed bag for me. I wasn’t a fan of the workouts in the DLC, but the DLC shop adds more songs and outfits.
Final Thoughts on Fitness Boxing Fist of the North Star
This game is what it is. It is fitness boxing. You will definitely get a workout while doing this.
If parents are looking to buy their kids a video game to get them up and moving, then this game might just do that. Parents can buy this game guilt free. There is no blood. There is no swearing. There is just some fun anime boxing going on, with some motivating instructors.
As with all exercise programs and exercise games – you will get out of it what you put in to it. If you put in time daily to this game, you will give your arms a great workout, and get your heart pumping.
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