FamilyTrainer
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Atari takes on Wii Fit with floor mat-based Family Trainer game
It looks like Atari is taking a few cues from Nintendo's past in order to take on the hot-selling Wii Fit, with the company's new Family Trainer game employing a Power Pad-style (or DDR-style for you young 'uns) mat controller to give you a workout. That'll apparently let you run and jump your way through more than a dozen mini-games designed to get your heart rate going, including log jumping, rope skipping and water rafting, each of which also make use of the Wiimote for some upper-body action. No word on a price just yet, but it'll apparently be landing in Europe first this September before it (presumably) makes its way over here.[Via TG Daily]
Virtually Overlooked: The Power Pad games
Welcome to our weekly feature, Virtually Overlooked, wherein we talk about games that aren't on the Virtual Console yet, but should be. Call it a retro-speculative.When the exciting (to us, and ironically so) news of a Wii version of the Family Trainer and Athletic World appeared, our thoughts turned toward the past. That's sort of our thing, you know? New games make us think about old games, old games make us think about old games-- sometimes snack foods make us think of old games.But we have plenty of reason to look back here: the new Family Trainer is a functional duplicate of the original Family Trainer/Power Pad, and Athletic World is a sequel of sorts to one of the few Power Pad games. We doubt it will work out this tidily, but it's possible that the new Family Trainer will be able to work as a Power Pad for NES games on the Virtual Console. So, let's look at the lineup and see if there's anything worth laying a mat out for! (Hint: kind of?)
Bandai Namco brings back the Power Pad and Athletic World
Before the Power Pad was the Power Pad, it was the Family Trainer, released in Japan by Bandai. They actually marketed it briefly in the U.S. as the Family Fun Fitness pad, but Nintendo bought the rights, rebranded it as the Power Pad and started packing the peripheral in with NES systems along with a retitled Stadium Events (now called World Class Track Meet).One of the few Power Pad/Family Trainer games was Athletic World: an Olympics-style collection of games including hurdles, rafting, and "Hop a Log." And now, in one of the worst-timed moves ever, Bandai Namco is releasing a new version of the Family Trainer along with a new version of Athletic World. Regardless of the quality of the single screenshot included, is this really the time to introduce a new exercise peripheral for the Wii? We're actually not going to leave that as a rhetorical question. No, it isn't. The Family Trainer has somewhat of a nostalgia factor, but even that's disrupted by the fact that Athletic World wasn't that great on the NES. And its main competition, Wii Fit, has the invincible Wii Sports factor.The best we can hope for is another super-limited release in the U.S., as a moneymaking opportunity. Click on the image to see a larger version (with plenty of family air-paddling!) and click the link for the Japanese press release.[Via NeoGAF]
