➤ Fitness Boxing: Fist of the North Star, the review of the boxing game with Kenshiro 🕹

The new exponent of the Fitness Boxing series: Fist of the North Star takes us to the post-apocalyptic world where the law of the strongest dominates.

"You're already dead": the iconic phrase uttered by Ken the Warrior before the violent disappearance of his enemies has become material for an endless series of parodies and memes. What if we could experience firsthand the thrill of exterminating endless hordes of club-wielding brutes in the deserts of the dystopian future imagined by Buronson and designed by Tetsuo Hara? Imaginator has the answer, and with this new chapter of the Fitness Boxing series he puts us in the shoes of an apprentice of Kenshiro himself, the latter in the role of instructor for us, budding boxers.

The premises are excellent: Ken the Warrior is certainly an excellent choice for a boxing-based fitness game, but, in practice, the Fitness Boxing Review: Fist of the North Star tells us that the game cannot free itself from numerous historical defects of the series, first of all the lack of effective control of the player's movements. It's still a sweat-inducing experience, of course, but the title suffers from competition from other, more effective fitness video games.

The man with the seven scars

Fitness Boxing: Fist of the North Star, the review of the boxing game with Kenshiro — Performing Kenshiro's most iconic moves in Fitness Boxing Fist of the North Star is anything but a trivial task

Fitness Boxing: Fist of the North Star is naturally designed for fans of Ken the Warrior, and in this sense having Kenshiro as an instructor is certainly pleasant: the tutorial teaches us the rudiments of the noble art, starting from the guard position, from the footwork (very difficult to maintain with timing and consistency, we tell you) and from the fundamental shots, jab and direct. Depending on the front foot in the guard position, with the right and left arm we will perform the jab, that is, the blow given with the front arm, and the direct blow, which is instead performed with the rear limb.

We continue with hooks, uppercuts and dodges, in the best tradition of Fitness Boxing. What changes here are the instructors, the scenarios and the presence of Battles, a mode that allows us to challenge gangs of thugs and then bosses taken from Kenshiro's story: come on da Shin fino a Raoh, and all offer the most stimulating and challenging combat, even from a physical point of view, present within the game. By accumulating power during boss battles you will be able to use Kenshiro's most iconic moves, and we assure you that performing the Hokuto's Hundred Strikes Move It is not a simple question. In short, in Fitness Boxing: Fist of the North Star you sweat, and you sweat a lot; Compared to the previous chapters of the series, the presence of the characters of Ken the warrior is undoubtedly an advantage for fans: it is a shame that the plot is presented with fragments of the original manga, shown on the screen with rather monotonous backgrounds, but decidedly backward in technical terms, like the entire production as a whole.

Timing and precision...sort of

As is tradition in Fitness Boxing, you must follow the instructions on the screen and perform the required blows at the right time. A discreet metal soundtrack helps keep the enthusiasm high, which undoubtedly inspires ultraviolence towards the poor thugs we will face in battles, and which helps to cover up the very boring dubbing of the instructors and the various characters (including Toki) who will cheer you on. us on our journey to become boxing masters. One positive note: the entire game has been translated, both in text and voice. en español, with good overall quality. It's a shame for the interface, which was left behind in the Wii era: it really needs a good update, as does the entire graphics sector as a whole.

As we mentioned at the beginning, perhaps the most important problem of the Fitness Boxing series remains unresolved: the lack of good tracking of players' movements. To throw punches it is necessary to press the two Joy-Cons, one in the right hand and one in the left, and a good amount of acceleration is required in the movement for the movement to be considered valid by the system. Furthermore, jabs, direct shots, hooks and uppercuts are often confused with an “all against all” effect that does not help to achieve a correct approach to training. In this sense, more specific peripherals are missing, as is the case for example in Ring Fit Adventure, in which the ring and the thigh band managed to make the experience more precise and less chaotic. However, the presence of "action support", an option that allows you to exclude stocks that you are having difficulty with. The advice that the instructors give in the main menu to improve technique is also valid, although in the long run they tend to be repeated.

Instructors and game modes.

Speaking of instructors, we start with the iconic Kenshiro, but we are expanding Aptitude Points By completing training or fights you will be able to unlock new ones (including Mamiya and the same bosses faced in Battles mode) through the store. Instructors' clothing can be customized with various outfits, but these are cosmetic aspects that have no real impact on gameplay. New songs can also be unlocked in the store.

In addition to the Battle mode already mentioned, you can set up a daily routine, light, normal or high intensity, depending on how much we want to challenge ourselves. It is also possible to configure a daily alert at a specific time, in which the Nintendo Switch (even if it is in sleep mode) will tell us that it is time to train with Kenshiro and company. The insertion of data on height, weight, training goals and age allows us to estimate the calories burned, which are presented on the screen after each session, as well as obtain a preparation of the routine, which depending on our wishes can be concentrated only. in some muscle groups or in the entire body.

As instructors also recommend, it is advisable to perform the extends both before and after the training itself, also because, as we said above, the lack of precise control of movements increases the risk of injury, and having "warm" muscles is a good idea before embarking on the difficult path of the noble art . .

Conclusions

digital delivery Nintendo eShop Price 49.99 € Holygamerz.com 6.5 Readers (13) 8.5 your vote

Fitness Boxing: Fist of the North Star had all the potential to renew Imagineer's boxing series but, although it was born under the auspices of Big Dipper, it turned out to be a lazy operation based on the saga's past. Boxing with Kenshiro and his companions is fun, as long as you know how to control the movements independently and safely: the absence of specific peripherals is felt, and not a little, given the complexity inherent to this noble art. The rather high price does not help (Fitness Boxing: Fist of the North Star is offered at the price of €49.99) compared to the almost total absence of innovations compared to the previous Fitness Boxing 2. There remains the undoubted charm of having hands - we continue with Kenshiro and defeating myths from our childhood like Raoh; In our opinion, however, the sixty-fourth successor of the Hokuto Sacred School would have deserved very different treatment than Imagineer.