[Review] Fitness Boxing 3: Your Personal Trainer | Nintendo Switch

It’s a shame to see so many being cut, especially when Fitness Boxing 2 added five new Instructors, but that shouldn’t devalue newcomers Stella and Monica. In fact, because Fitness Boxing 3 features fewer Instructors, it is a lot easier to swap between the six that are available, purchase their clothing items sooner, and complete any and all Achievements linked to them. Something else that Fitness Boxing 3 does that previous titles didn’t is that by spending time with each Instructor, and completing certain requirements will allow you to unlock special Box and Bond sessions.

These are exercise sessions where players will get to learn more about your preferred Instructors before and after a workout, and get to hear them say more than just instructions and repeated lines of dialogue. Additionally, when choosing your Instructor, you can even choose for them to speak to you kindly or as they normally would. So if you don’t like criticism but seek encouragement, this is the dialogue mode for you. Also, it is worth noting that when Fitness Boxing 2 was released, it didn’t have 11 Instructors from the outset, as the likes of Guy were added over time, so we could see something similar happen with more Instructors being added to Fitness Boxing 3 in the future.

Additionally, when changing your Instructor’s appearance, there is more to this feature than just giving them new clothing to wear, as Fitness Boxing 3 has a Hats & Hairstyles option and as long as you’ve booted up the game from December 10, 2024 onwards, you can obtain a Christmas-themed hat for each Instructor and with one seasonal look available in-game now, perhaps more is to come? Easter? Summer? Halloween? The possibilities are endless.

But what of the other content that appears in Fitness Boxing 3: Your Personal Trainer? Via the Free Training tab, there are five options available: Exercise, Sit Fit Boxing, Mitt Drills, Stretch, and My Programs. With My Programs, players can play any program they have created, which makes use of their preferred exercises for their preferred amount of time, targeting the parts of their body they wish to target. Then with Stretch, for those who feel flexible or want a nice cooldown, there are three types of stretching you can do: Light, Thorough, and Dynamic. Each one has a different duration of time they take to complete so it’s always good to select the one that is more beneficial to you and your personal needs.

Now we come to Mitt Drills. Easily the best new feature Fitness Boxing 3 has to offer, Mitt Drills offers a nice revised take on the gameplay we know already, but delivers something fresh by taking your Instructor, giving them a pair of mitts, and then tasking players through a series of commands and combos to deliver you a fresh new way of exercising. There are three different levels, with the first being Beginner, the second being Intermediate, and the third offering an Advanced Mitt Drill.

The harder the drill, the longer it is, but unlike Beginner Mitt Drill, when doing Advanced Mitt Drill, you can be expected to throw jabs, straights, hooks, and uppercuts and having to duck as well. How Mitt Drills have been handled is a welcome change that shakes up the formula and they are a joy to do, especially when you feel the regular exercise combo sessions have started to get a little stale.

Next, we come to Sit Fit Boxing. As we have seen in the past, Imagineer and Fitness Boxing are all about accessibility options and Sit Fit Boxing is the game’s most accessible feature yet. For those who are unable to stand, but can still throw a hook, this mode allows you to do timed exercises from the comfort of a seated position. But, for those who might continue to struggle with other movements or timings, players are free to head over to the game’s settings to adjust the action assist.

Can’t duck or weave? That’s okay, activate auto-score and you can land a perfect for every time that action is asked for you. Too tired to step back or sway? Auto score. Worked out too hard that you can’t lift your arms to block or punch? Auto score can assist with that also and you can even adjust the timings so as to account for any scoring lag or graphics lag that could occur. Mind you, the age-old issue of motion controls is still present as players do not actually need to complete the required actions to get a perfect score, as you have always been able to sit down when playing any Fitness Boxing game and give the Joy-Con a shake to “complete the desired action. Still, just because you can cheat, it doesn’t mean you should.

Then, there is the Exercise option. With Excersie, players can tackle combos based on specific exercises. For instance, Straight Combo #1 is all about throwing jabs and straights. Whereas the Weaving Combo #1 asks players to jab, straight, hook, and uppercut and the All-Around Shape Combo will ask you to perform many other actions. Most combos will need to be unlocked as they aren’t all available from the outset, but by completing others, more will become available and just like in the previous games, players are free to change the intensity and exercise speed. Also, based on how well you perform, will determine the amount of stars you will earn.

So in this aspect, Fitness Boxing 3 is very much like its predecessors but in truth, it does almost everything better. There’s even a nifty Basic Training section for players to try out should they forget how the game’s different modes work, but it is time to address the elephant in the room and no, it’s not the music selection. If you have played the first Fitness Boxing game and have already decided it wasn’t for you as you felt like the graphics let it down at the time, no such issue exists with Fitness Boxing 3. From menu design to improved character models and backgrounds that are more vibrant than ever before, Fitness Boxing has never looked this good.

While Fitness Boxing has only ever been playable on the Nintendo Switch, Fitness Boxing 3 has an overwhelming visual upgrade that makes the difference between it and previous titles, appear as if night and day. Fitness Boxing 3 is gorgeous to look at and better designed throughout. So it is a shame that once again, Fitness Boxing 3 is undone by its music selection. There are ten original tracks, which when selected, will allow you to record instances from your workout, but when listening to licensed songs, screen recording is not permitted. Of the twenty licensed songs added, we have:

• The fox (What does the fox say?) / Ylvis
• Ghostbusters / Ray Parker Jr.
• I was made for lovin’ you / KISS
• I’m still standing / Elton John
• Sugar, we’re going down / Fall Out Boy
• Bad Guy / Billie Eilish
• Danger Zone / Kenny Loggins
• I’m a believer / The Monkees
• Material Girl / Madonna
• Miss You / Oliver Tree & Robin Schulz
• Take on me / a-ha
• Don’t sweat the technique / Eric B. & Rakim
• …Baby one more time / Britney Spears
• Stay / The Kid LAROI & Justin Bieber
• Super freak / Rick James
• Vida la vida / Coldplay
• The Spectre / Alan Walker
• I should be so lucky / Kylie Minogue
• Counting Stars / OneRepublic
• She’s all I wanna be / Tate McRae

Unlike the original tracks which are unlocked from the start, each of the licensed tracks must be purchased for 4,000 coins each (80,000 in total required to unlock them all.) Still, it is a much better selection this time around, can’t knock a bit of Kenny Loggins, but it is a shame we didn’t get the Yungblud version of I was made for lovin’ you.

It has taken a few years but, Fitness Boxing has finally found its feet. It’s remained true to its humble beginnings but has finally included some new features that easily make Fitness Boxing 3: Your Personal Trainer, the best instalment the series has seen so far. It’s a shame plenty of Instructors from previous titles failed to make the cut, but with more accessibility options and Mitt Drills, Fitness Boxing has finally landed a solid right hook.

It’s still no Ring Fit Adventure and it’s insane how there have been five Fitness Boxing games in the span of six years but Imagineer has improved the formula and will have a hard time topping this one. Nevertheless, while Fitness Boxing 3 can’t offer you the same results an active gym membership and a proper program can, at the end of the day, if you’re looking for a game that will get you moving and fight against the extra pounds we all put on during the Christmas period, Fitness Boxing 3: Your Personal Trainer is one of the better choices out there.