Fitness Boxing is the successor to the Shape Boxing trilogy released on the Wii, with the first two installments rebranded as licensed Gold's Gym fitness games in at least North America.[5]
Two sequels, Fitness Boxing 2: Rhythm and Exercise and Fitness Boxing: Fist of the North Star, were released for the Nintendo Switch on December 4, 2020 and March 3, 2023, respectively.[6][7] A third sequel, Fitness Boxing feat. Hatsune Miku: Isshoni Exercise, was released on March 7, 2024 in Japan,[8] followed by an English release on July 12 in Asia[9] (simply as Fitness Boxing feat. Hatsune Miku) and an international release on September 5, 2024.[10] A fourth sequel, Fitness Boxing 3: Your Personal Trainer, released worldwide on December 5, 2024.[11]
As announced on August 30, 2023, Fitness Boxing was delisted from digital retailers on November 30 in all regions, likely due to expired music licenses.[12]
Gameplay
The gameplay involves using the Joy-Con motion controllers to perform punches and dodging maneuvers. The workouts recommend a full body stretching exercise both at the start and end of the workouts. The difficulty and complexity of the workouts increase gradually over time. Free exercises are always available, regardless of if daily workout has been completed or not. The score for each exercise (excluding the stretches) is determined by how precise the player is in performing their punches and maneuvers.
Fitness Boxing comes with charts that determines estimated fitness age and calorie burn based on the height and weight of the player. The game will periodically request the player to update their height and weight. The routine, length and intensity of daily workouts can be adjusted by the player at any time.
The default coach is Lin, and there is a total of 5 other coaches (3 female and 2 male), each with customizable appearances.[13] New costumes can be unlocked by performing achievements. The coaches demonstrate every maneuver involved in each exercise, making them a visual guide for maintaining rhythm. They also provide the players tips both during and outside of the exercises.
Playlist
Fitness Boxing contains a playlist of instrumental versions of popular pop songs that is played with each workout exercise.[14]
The songs featured in the original Fitness Boxing are;
Fitness Boxing was first announced by Imagineer on June 14, 2018.[15] It was developed by former Rocket Company members working for Imagineer.
In late-September 2018, Imagineer revealed the release date of Fitness Boxing for Japan[4] and in early-October 2018, Nintendo revealed the release date of Fitness Boxing for North America and Europe as well as screenshots of game play.[2]
In late-October 2018, Imagineer revealed the track listing for Fitness Boxing and uploaded the first game play video of Fitness Boxing to their YouTube Channel.[14]
Release and promotion
On November 29, 2018, a Fitness Boxing demo was released on the European Nintendo eShop for the Switch[16] and a demo was released on the North American eShop on December 13, 2018.[17]
Fitness Boxing was released both digitally and physically on December 20, 2018, in Japan, December 21, 2018, in Europe and Australia and January 4, 2019, in North America.[2][4]
On August 26, 2021, an anime television series adaptation produced by Imagineer and Story Effect was announced.[20] This anime series is directed and written by Junpei Morita, with motion capture by SOLID CUBE and music composed by Yūsuke Shirato.[21] It premiered on October 1, 2021, on Tokyo MX.[22]
Fitness Boxing received "mixed or average" reviews from critics according to Metacritic with a score of 66 out of 100, based on reviews from 14 critics.[27]
Nintendo Life gave Fitness Boxing a 8/10; calling it "no substitute for hard hours at the gym", but still recommended the game as a workout regimen for being energetic, entertaining, and cheaper than a gym membership.[28] Nintendo World Report gave Fitness Boxing a 7.5/10; praising it for having multiple exercises for various skill levels, but criticized the limited number of musical tracks.[29] Nintendo Wire gave Fitness Boxing a 7.0/10, praising it for having a "decent selection of punches to throw" and for allowing the user to track their progress day-to-day, but criticized the game for its "lack of variety" and for having "repetitive music and trainer dialog".[30]
DualShockers gave Fitness Boxing a 6.5 out of 10, saying that the game "just suffers from feeling inaccurate, even more so when punches and dodges aren't correctly registered by the Joy-Cons [sic]", but praised the game for being "perfect for those who want to lead a healthy and active lifestyle".[31]Destructoid gave Fitness Boxing a 7/10, saying that "There could be some hard-to-ignore faults, but the experience is fun."[32]
The Reno Gazette-Journal gave Fitness Boxing a 6 out of 10, saying that "Fitness Boxing works great as a fitness app but not so much as a game."[33]
Sales
From January 7, 2019, to January 13, Fitness Boxing placed 20th on Japanese sales charts, selling 3,024 physical copies during that period.[34]
In February 2019, Fitness Boxing started experiencing shortages in Japan.[35]
In September 2020, Imagineer announced that the game had sold over 1 million copies worldwide.[36]
References
^Yanmoto, Shinichi; Sasaki, Shuji (March 16, 2019). "「Fit Boxing」プレイヤー必見！ "中の人"に聞く，開発秘話と正しい運動法。プロによるレクチャー動画もあり" ["Fit Boxing" player must-see! Asking "people inside", development secrets and correct exercise method. There is also a lecture video by a professional]. 4Gamer.net (in Japanese). Archived from the original on September 2, 2023. Retrieved September 9, 2022.
^Rai, Nagaoka (2018-10-30). "Nintendo Switch用「Fit Boxing」、プレイムービーと声優陣のサンプルボイスを公開" ["Fit Boxing" for Nintendo Switch, released play movie and sample voice of voice actors]. GAME Watch (in Japanese). Archived from the original on 2023-09-02. Retrieved 2019-03-03.
^Kawase, Ayuo (August 26, 2021). "フィットネスゲーム『Fit Boxing』まさかのTVアニメ化。「キミとフィットボクシング」として、10月よりTOKYO MXにて放送へ" [The fitness game "Fit Boxing" has been made into a TV animation. Broadcast on TOKYO MX from October as "Kimi to Fit Boxing"]. AUTOMATON (in Japanese). Archived from the original on September 2, 2023. Retrieved August 26, 2021.
^"キャラクター" (in Japanese). Archived from the original on September 2, 2023. Retrieved August 26, 2021.
^"Nintendo Switch ソフト「Fit Boxing」・「Fitness Boxing」（海外版）全世界累計出荷販売本数100万本突破のお知らせ" [Nintendo Switch Software "Fit Boxing" / "Fitness Boxing" (Overseas Version) Announcement of Worldwide Cumulative Shipment and Sales Exceeding 1 Million Units]. Imagineer (in Japanese). September 8, 2020. Archived from the original on 29 October 2020. Retrieved 8 September 2020.
