Like many students in the weeks leading up to Thanksgiving break, studying and part-time jobs have taken over much of my free time. Life and school leaves me very little room to find time to work out, thus creating what can only be labeled as my “dad bod.”

However, what I do find time for every now and then are video games, and when Nintendo announced a new fitness-based video game, I was immediately drawn to play it. Now, after more than a week of immersing myself in the game, I’m left with a high-level athlete avatar, sore muscles, and minor noise complaints from my roommates.

Nintendo’s Ring Fit Adventure is a challenging, yet enjoyable way to meld the simple joys of gaming and finding time to work out.

The story of the game is really what sets it apart from Nintendo’s past fitness games. With having an actual story that has the ability to last months, Ring Fit Adventure encourages players to return to it months after buying to continue their fitness goals.

Ring Fit Adventure’s story begins with your custom avatar coming across a chained up ring. The ring, simply named Ring, begs you to free it, and you do. Soon after, however, you learn that you have freed the dreaded bodybuilding dragon, Dragaux.

After Dragaux leaves to cause havoc, the ring starts to speak to you again, this time as a friend. The ring explains how it needs your help in the mission to beat the bodybuilding dragon. You and Ring then proceed through the Ring Fit Adventure world. To do this, the player must either run in place or do quick squats that propel their avatar forward.

Each stage of the game includes a boss with a certain amount of health, and with each workout set, the more damage is done to the mini-boss. Workout attacks include squats, abdominal crunches, or slow, controlled yoga moves.

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The fitness game uses the Nintendo Switch’s Joy-Cons as workout equipment. The game itself comes with a fitness ring and leg strap that tracks both the player’s movements and heart rate.

The fitness equipment has surprised me greatly — not only did it seem to track every little movement from my legs or arms, but the heart rate sensor was also extremely accurate, recording almost the exact same heart rate as my smartwatch every time the game asked to check it.

As a side note, the Joy-Cons will not count incorrect form for these attacks, so you will learn proper execution by the end of your playtime.

Nintendo’s newest fitness game is not only fun,  but it’ll also make you really sweaty, and you’ll hate it just like everyone when returning to working out. It’s a great entry to the fitness-themed games that Nintendo has made, such as Wii Fit.

The game also features adaptable difficulty settings so you’ll be able to change it for the right amount for players of all skill and fitness levels.

The story is a bit cheesy and predictable, but it’s fun enough to be an enjoyable background motivation for a gamer to use as an excuse to play games while also burning their seasonal calorie intakes.