Nintendo Wii Fanboy

Namco Bandai's Family Jockey is starting to look like the Mario Kart of horse racing -- a wacky party game with a bunch of crazy items. And much like the cars in Mario Kart vary from go-karts to miniature hot-rods to baby carriages and such, the steeds in Family Jockey range from horses to ... non-horse animals.

In addition to horses of various shapes and sizes (including a red-eyed monster horse), you'll be able to ride a donkey, a giraffe, a lion, and a zebra, making the track look pretty much like a carousel. In addition to the animal wackiness, there are items like a milk bottle that can turn your horse temporarily into a cow who just wanders around and a carrot that slows your horse down.

The most delightfully non-sport-of-kings-esque: the new "Pac-Man Battle," in which jockeys must race to keep ahead of a giant Pac-Man who threatens to devour them.

Namco Bandai has a big series of Family (activity) games coming to Wii in Japan soon, including the wacky Athletic World (which comes with the Family Trainer mat) and Family Ski. There are new details on both of these games as well as screens of both Family Jockey and the latest in the long-running Family Stadium baseball series.

GAME Watch introduces a couple of Family Ski's minigames, including a game in which you rescue skiers in trouble by stopping near them and performing a series of motions with the Wiimote and Nunchuk, and a "Find Mr. X!" game in which you hit the slopes in search of a specific skier in a crowd. Good luck distinguishing between people in cold weather gear!

The Athletic World page includes the first real screenshots of the game we've seen, and shows off a bunch of adorable games to be played by stomping. Canoe Kawa Kudari (Downstream Canoeing) involves using the Wiimote and Nunchuk as oars and balancing with the mat to keep your boat afloat. Mountain Slider is a sort of snowboard thing in which you ride down a mountain and do tricks under, over, and around wooden structures. Mogura Panic is a Whack-a-Mole game played with your feet, which sounds really fun for some reason. Torokko Adventure (Train Car Adventure) is the mine-cart game seen in the previous video. Taki Nobori (Waterfall Climbing) involves one player hopping up and down on the mat, and another directing movement with the Wiimote. In Maruta Kawashi, two players jump to avoid rolling logs.

The strangest thing about this series to us is that Namco Bandai uses two peripherals to do the same thing in different series: Athletic World has snowboarding, and leaning-based games, but doesn't support the Balance Board. Family Ski doesn't support the Family Trainer. The two teams should really talk.

Read -- Family Jockey
Read -- Family Ski
Read -- Family Stadium
Read -- Athletic World