After a long, difficult day in the office, I tend to promptly plant myself on the couch, bed, or PC to play a shooter or action game to vent my frustrations. Of course, the gym is my other go-to for venting my frustrations, but sometimes, the motivation to go is fleeting. Fitness Boxing 3: My Personal Trainer, by Imagineer, has entered the ring with their next boxing experience exclusively on Nintendo Switch to combat the struggles we lazy gamers face.

Fitness Boxing 3: My Personal Trainer is the newest addition to the long-standing series and its spin-offs. While it doesn’t change the routine much, there’s a punchy amount of content on display, with visual and gameplay updates and various quality-of-life improvements. Nintendo Switch continues to prompt gamers to get up and move. Let me tell you, Fitness Boxing 3: My Personal Trainer got me moving.

My virtual trainer, Lin, a super cute, almost anime-esque character, took me through boxing basics. The initial session with my instructor gave me plenty of guidance to get started, including stance and technique. After my training, I quickly got into the swing of things. I thought her voice would get grating, but I ended up appreciating the reminders from the instructor to suck in my abs, control breathing and utilise some lower body movement for some extra power, which did help when I started losing form. As someone terrified of having a brutal trainer yelling at me, I appreciated that these trainers take a more gentle yet effective approach.

As a super gratification-starved gamer, it was nice to be told I did well. Add in the super easy-to-read UI and flashy disco, training studio, and virtual-reality-like scenes fitted to the chosen song, and it’s a good set-up for a solid workout.

The primary mode plays like a rhythm game. Your trainer will guide you through a stage while you, the boxer, hit a left or right jab in time with the beat of a song. So, as my instructor requested,  I grabbed a bottle of water, a towel, and my little boxing ‘fit and got ready to punch on. Movements start simple, with straight punches and focusing on keeping the proper stance. Hitting the beat is pretty easy if you maintain focus, so gameplay is quite repetitive, but in the best of ways, as it’s the key to success. While the gameplay basics aren’t challenging, the actual movement can be; I felt it in my muscles and worked up a sweat in the sessions, which tended to fall around the 16-minute mark. At the end of my sessions, I was prompted to cool down. By the end, stretching it all out felt as rewarding as the achievements for a good score, which can be based on time, accuracy, and calories burned, leading to in-game money.  

The daily workouts were enough for a short session, but I spent a lot of time running through the modes and unlocking new content. The personal program option lets me customise my workout based on my personal preferences and goals, including target body areas to focus on and time frames. It accounts for height, weight, and age, but whether the results are accurate is up to interpretation, as calories burned in tech tend to register as data rather than a completely accurate reading. I feel a similar burn to a mid-range weight and cardio session at the gym. 

With a few modes to choose from, including Daily, Drills and Freeplay, there’s a limited variety of gameplay but enough of a shake-up to change up your session. Mitt Drills were intense and required speed. I anticipated your instructor’s punches as they were thrown from straights to uppercuts, and dodges put more pep in my step. The Sit Fit Boxing mode kept me relatively active when I had enough standing. I can’t see myself playing long-term since it gets repetitive, and there’s no campaign mode, but there’s enough for a quick and easy fit when needed. Good news for some social gamers: Fitness Boxing 3: My Personal Trainer offers a local co-op with options to use either 1 Joy-Con or 2 sets of Joy-Cons. There are accessibility options that can be individually tailored to each boxer’s needs, including low-intensity and seated programs.

With a few original songs and 20 unlockable mid-versions of licensed songs such as Bad Guy by Billie Eilish, Dangerzone by Kenny Loggins, and my favourite, the Ghostbusters theme, there’s a reasonable amount of tunes to unlock. The non-vocal midi tracks could be of better quality but serve their purpose. I didn’t notice a massive difference in the song’s BPM and was surprised there weren’t more songs to pump up the jam. Unlocking them is reasonably fast, with workout scores acting in part as in-game currency to purchase them and the unlockable gear for trainers.

Your trainer stays with you throughout sessions, so finding someone you vibe with may be a factor in your motivation. There are 6 instructors, each with different personalities and some relatively limited customisation in appearance and outfits. To unlock some features, you can unlock “Box and Bond” with trainers. These special sessions allowed me to connect with my trainer, which unlocks after completing simple tasks. While overall, it doesn’t have a huge impact, having a trainer who is attentive and relatable is always a big plus; if you want a little bit more of a push, the ability to toggle kindness may result in a slightly more pushy trainer which may up the ante for some.

Fitness Boxing 3: My Personal Trainer improves upon its predecessors with refined motion controls and better responsiveness. My jabs registered incredibly accurately, and menus had little input delay. It could also accurately differentiate between straight jabs, uppercuts, and dodges. I was pleased it made me work for it, rather than letting just any motion from the Joy-Con count, which is the case with motion-based games. It can only be played on the dock but looks great on a big screen. It plays super smooth, with near-flawless performance and crisp, vibrant visuals. 

Fitness Boxing 3: My Personal Trainer is a great at-home exercise alternative. While it’s not necessarily a long-term sustainable solution, it’s an entertaining, sweat-inducing way to mix up your routine.

Written by: Yasmin Noble