Nintendo Wii Fanboy

We know you're all on the edge of your seats waiting for more details about the Family Trainer and the new version of Athletic World. We understand-- we know how long you've been waiting for a sequel to this NES classic, and we know that everyone is desperately awaiting some kind of Wii exercise game.

Famitsu sought to feed our frothing demand for Athletic World with a new, close-up picture of the Family Trainer, which reveals it to have exactly the same button layout as the Famicom/NES pad, with a picture in the corner indicating that it can be turned over for the other familiar Power Pad button layout.

Except for the colors and the icon designs, this is exactly the same as the original Power Pad. It's even got the grid pattern on the back. There are also a few more photos of actors pretending to enjoy Athletic World, with tiny inset screenshots of the games. The official website is open, as well, but features nothing but the same photos at the moment.

We admit that we're kind of leaning (get it) toward this game now instead of Wii Fit, both as an act of retrogamer defiance and because we'd be amused by a new version of Dance Aerobics.

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]

Wii Fit may seem shiny and new, but not only is it a concept that console-makers and game developers have tried before, but it's part of a philosophy Nintendo has long tried to pursue. Over at Water Cooler Games, Ian Bogost recently spent some time remembering the Joyboard, a peripheral for the Amiga -- which boasted a single retail game -- that is similar to the balance board that is set to release with Wii Fit. Of course, it's not the only example; many of us still have dance pads for Dance Dance Revolution lying around, and some of the old-schoolers may even have old NES Power Pads tucked away in a closet, collecting dust, while gamers fondly recall Dance Aerobics and Track & Field.

What Bogost doesn't address -- which we think is a fascinating issue -- is Wii Fit's potential to succeed in the current market environment. Quite rightly, he calls upon gamers and critics to look back over the history of the industry in order to gain a better understanding of how we reached this point, and we agree with him that people should be less shocked by Wii Fit than they have seemed to be. Nintendo is no stranger to "non-games" and unusual peripherals. Particularly now, when the Wii has the potential to move even beyond the ubiquitous past presence of the NES and get into every home in America (and perhaps the world, huzzah!), it's no surprise that Nintendo is again angling to break the market wide open and offer something for everyone.

Does Wii Fit surprise you? Obviously, we knew a health pack of some sort was coming, but this is rather expanded upon what we expected. We know some of you don't like the concept -- while others, like this blogger, think it's the bee's knees -- but does it surprise you? What other market-expanding ideas do you think we'll see from Nintendo?

Not even one whole day of Power Pad ownership had passed before we were on the floor, drumming on the pad with our fists, flagrantly breaking the implicit rules of World Class Track Meet. Our other favorite move? Extending our long jump by simply stepping off of the pad. Yes, we are overweight now.

There's a new Power Pad in town, although it has fewer buttons and a more solid-looking construction. And it's meant more as an exercise tool than a game controller, really. But we're gamers, and we can't help the way we are. Some of us are going to cheat.

Do you think you have what it takes to play it straight, or will you take the hands-on approach to Balance Boarding?