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[-Arcadia-]

Credit to the similarly tireless IbizaPocholo for posting this in a preexisting thread, but I thought it was interesting enough to warrant its own thread.

On December 15, a player in Tokyo, Japan calling themselves Sakinyan turned on their Switch and started playing Ring Fit Adventure, Nintendo’s terrific exercise game hybrid from last year. For most people, a session with Ring Fit Adventure lasts somewhere from 15 minutes to an hour, depending on when you collapse into a pool of sweat. Sakinyan was not engaging in some light exercise, however, but attempting to pull off the first world record run for playing through all of Ring Fit Adventure’s surprisingly long story mode.

Ring Fit Adventure asks if you want to stop every few minutes. This staggering feat took Sakinyan a little over 18 hours, nearly a complete day of nonstop exercise. At times, they took a moment to snack. Other times, they sipped water. There was even time for a bathroom break, though so far as I could tell while scrubbing through the speedrun, Sakinyan only headed to the bathroom once during the marathon. And because Ring Fit Adventure can’t take a hint, they’re also forced to tell the game they don’t want to take a break over and over.

At 18 hours and 55 seconds, Sakinyan defeated the game’s final boss, walked over to their timer, and clicked stop. After dabbing their face with no doubt a completely soaked t-shirt, they performed a few stretches as the game’s credits rolled. There was no big celebration, no fist pump. Instead, Sakinyan sat on the ground and started scrolling through their phone.

Though Sakinyan was playing Ring Fit Adventure on its easiest difficulty, in which the exercise intensity is set at one, it’s nonetheless a staggering feat of endurance. You might not be required to put in as many reps, and the game might not ask you to hold a position for nearly as long, but you still need to do the work. Standing in one spot for 18 hours would be a pain in the ass, let alone having to squeeze in squats, leg lifts, and everything in-between.

And while I wasn’t able to contact Sakinyan, the person who submitted the first world record for playing through the entirety of Ring Fit Adventure in one go and the reigning record holder, I was able to speak to others in the community about Nintendo’s exercising curiosity.

“I've always wanted to speedrun a RPG/JRPG of some sort and then I think I joked with somebody about speed running [Ring Fit] and it kinda stuck with me,” said Adam “Ventifer” England, who holds the second fastest world record run. “Then I kinda just gave it a shot.”

The nature of speedrunning is escalation, though, and the holy grail for Ring Fit Adventure speedrunners goes beyond trying to beat the game as fast as possible, it’s trying to beat the game as fast as possible on the game’s hardest difficulty, which sets exercise intensity at 30. Remember, Sakinyan’s 18-hour run happened with the game set with intensity at just one. At 30, you have to do both more reps and better reps; the game judges players more harshly.

“Based on doing some back of the envelope math, the barrier for doing [that run] at maximum difficulty isn't going to be player strength, but player metabolism,” said Gallagher. “If the game is to be trusted, Sakinyan burnt about 4,000 calories during their run, which even at a conservative estimate puts the maximum difficulty run at at least 40,000 calories.”

That is, in Gallagher’s words, “a lot of bananas.” (Bananas are a common snack to eat before and after a workout because the body processes them extremely fast.) As someone who personally plays Ring Fit Adventure with the intensity set at 27, I cannot fathom what it would take to make this happen. I play the game in 30-minute bouts, and I’m exhausted by the end. Granted, I’m playing to maximize what I want out of my body for that day, rather than trying to sprint through the game, but nonetheless it is designed to kick your dang butt.

Yet, someone is already trying to achieve this feat, and to no great surprise, it’s Sakinyan.

On New Year’s Eve, Sakinyan booted up Ring Fit Adventure and set the intensity to 30. Within minutes, it’s already clear how much harder this is going to be. The sweating starts sooner. The water breaks are more frequent. Sakinyan rarely sat down during their previous run, but this time, it’s required. The strain is visible on Sakinyan’s face, impossible to ignore.

The first 30 squats? No big deal. The 300th? Your body is ready to scream into the void.

Sakinyan manages to keep going for an incredible 11 hours and 16 minutes. The fight that eventually does them in is the same fight they'd made it to at seven hours and 18 minutes when the game was set to its easiest difficulty. In that run, Sakinyan would go on to play Ring Fit Adventure for another 10 hours before it was all said and done. At their current pace, finishing the game at its highest difficulty would not only be exponentially more physically demanding, but it would require that effort for well over 24 hours. Sheesh.

As we all know, Speedrunning is the most degenerate act man has ever come up with...




...have the gymbros at Nintendo finally found a way to red pill this lost community?

Joking aside, these are pretty incredible accomplishments given the physicality required, and bring a whole new dimension to a style of play that’s been around a while now. I’m really interested to see future attempts... provided everyone respects the limits of their bodies.

Rest of the article here: https://www.vice.com/en_us/article/...the-limit-speedrunning-nintendos-fitness-game

 

[TwiztidElf]

Looks like a one way ticket to Rhabdomyolysis to me.

 

[Antwix]

I love Goose

 

[kretos]

nvm, delete this post

 

[iconmaster]

I suggest we credit Jason Schreier for the article even if some don't like him very much. Whupz, insert foot in mouth

On New Year’s Eve, Sakinyan booted up Ring Fit Adventure and set the intensity to 30. Within minutes, it’s already clear how much harder this is going to be. The sweating starts sooner. The water breaks are more frequent. Sakinyan rarely sat down during their previous run, but this time, it’s required. The strain is visible on Sakinyan’s face, impossible to ignore.

The first 30 squats? No big deal. The 300th? Your body is ready to scream into the void.

Sakinyan manages to keep going for an incredible 11 hours and 16 minutes. The fight that eventually does them in is the same fight they'd made it to at seven hours and 18 minutes when the game was set to its easiest difficulty.

I don't think this smart behavior, but I'm also really keen to see her pull it off.

Referring to an individual as "they" will never not be wrong. Knock if off, liberals.

 

[DeltaPolarBear]

I suggest we credit Jason Schreier for the article even if some don't like him very much.



I don't think this smart behavior, but I'm also really keen to see her pull it off.

Referring to an individual as "they" will never not be wrong. Knock if off, liberals.

I mean, technically running a full marathon is not smart behaviour for the same reasons. But people do it anyway.

 

[-Arcadia-]

I suggest we credit Jason Schreier for the article even if some don't like him very much.



I don't think this smart behavior, but I'm also really keen to see her pull it off.

Referring to an individual as "they" will never not be wrong. Knock if off, liberals.

You mean Patrick Klepek, and the linked article in the OP? Time to take a break from speedrunning Ring Fit.

 

[iconmaster]

You mean Patrick Klepek, and the linked article in the OP? Time to take a break from speedrunning Ring Fit.

Remember: don't drink and post, kids.

Sorry man

 

[-Arcadia-]

Remember: don't drink and post, kids.

Sorry man

I’m not a... you know what, this thread isn’t going your way. Just enjoy your night. No worries.

 

[iconmaster]