Review: Fitness Boxing 3 – Your Personal Trainer

Fitness Boxing 3 proves that Nintendo’s growing catalogue of fitness games isn’t just a novelty and delivers a surprisingly focused workout that’s easy to fit into everyday life.

I sauntered into Fitness Boxing 3: Your Personal Trainer with a bit of scepticism. I’ve never played any of the previous Fitness Boxing games, so my only point of reference was Ring Fit Adventure, which I sadly had to sell when I upgraded to the Switch 2 as the ring was incompatible with the new Joy-Cons.

Fitness Boxing 3 weaves in a different direction. Instead of disguising exercise as a game, it embraces being your personal trainer from the moment you start.

After answering a few questions about your fitness goals and available time, the game builds personalised daily routines that focus on boxing-inspired cardio. I soon appreciated the no-nonsense approach but this may just be recency bias and me compensating for not getting as much exercise as I used to.

Every workout revolves around learning boxing fundamentals. Jabs, hooks, uppercuts, ducks, sidesteps and combinations are introduced gradually before being mixed into increasingly demanding routines.

The rhythm-based timing means you’re not simply flailing your arms around like literal jazz hands in an agency pitch but instead punching to the beat while trying to maintain proper timing and technique.

Coming from Ring Fit Adventure, I initially missed the variety. There are no RPG mechanics, exploration or dozens of different exercise types to keep things fresh.

Instead, Fitness Boxing 3 doubles down on repetition, but in a good way. Like any real fitness programme, improvement comes through consistency rather than constant reinvention.

The workouts are surprisingly scalable too and you can adjust gameplay according to time allowing me to get a short session in when I have some time and not doomscrolling.

The new CameraPlay functionality is an interesting addition. Rather than tracking your movements like a motion capture fitness app, it lets you see yourself alongside your instructor to help compare your posture. It’s a nice quality of life feature and I appreciate being able to use the camera. I wish more Switch 2 games used it.

The motion controls generally perform well, although they’re still limited by what the Joy-Con can realistically detect. Like Ring Fit Adventure, it expects you to be honest and if you cheat, you’re just cheating yourself. If you commit to each punch and engage your core instead of simply flicking your wrists, you’ll get far more out of every session.

The presentation is clean, colourful and functional. The virtual instructors are expressive enough to remain engaging across repeated workouts, with customisable outfits and hairstyles adding a small sense of progression.

Menus are straightforward, animations are smooth and while I did not play it on the original Switch I’ve seen videos complaining about resolution and framerate issues on the Switch and I didn’t experience any of those issues.

That said, environments remain fairly static and visually simple. If you’ve experienced Nintendo’s bigger first-party releases on Switch 2, this won’t impress from a technical standpoint. It doesn’t need to. Its job is to keep distractions to a minimum while you focus on your workout.

Part of me does wish there was a mode with more visual flair like the Kinect dance games on the Xbox 360 but that would probably take away from the purity and no nonsense approach the game is built on.

The soundtrack does its job but rarely stands out. The instrumental tracks provide enough rhythm to keep you moving but I wish there was more variety. It’s like being in a bakery with just white, brown and wholewheat bread. I need some musical milk tarts in my life.

Fitness Boxing 3’s biggest strength is convenience.

You don’t need to drive to a gym, sign up for a class or buy discounted equipment on Facebook Marketplace. Just Grab a pair of Joy-Cons, clear a small space in your TV area and you’re ready to go. For people who struggle with motivation or simply want to add more movement into their daily routine, it’s a compelling proposition.

At R1200 it’s much more expensive than I would have liked, especially as it doesn’t come with any physical accessories to justify the price. I would have more readily recommended this game if it was R700.

FINAL VERDICT

Fitness Boxing 3: Your Personal Trainer won’t replace a gym membership or proper boxing coaching, but that’s never been its goal. Instead, it offers structured, accessible cardio workouts that fit comfortably into everyday life. As someone new to the series, I came away pleasantly surprised by how effective and enjoyable the routines became after only a few sessions.

It may not have Ring Fit Adventure’s personality, but it arguably has something even more important: consistency. And when it comes to building healthier habits, that’s exactly what matters most.