Since its introduction in 2008, Nintendo’s Wii Fit has sold more than 21 million copies and changed the way many of us think about gaming. It taught us that we can do video gaming while getting fit — and having fun.
Now with the introduction of Wii Fit Plus, an enhanced version of the original title, families get everything that was in the original Wii Fit plus new features and more content.
The original Wii Fit introduced the Wii Balance Board controller, a rectangular wireless device that looks like an outsized bathroom scale. When you stand on it, this device tracks your weight and shifts in your balance. This information forms the basis around which Nintendo built the fitness games and exercises that make up both Wii Fit and Wii Fit Plus. The content includes yoga, strength training exercises, aerobics and balance games.
The features new to Wii Fit Plus include the ability to track the calories burned during your workout, create a personalized workout from a series of exercises without stopping in between, play in multiplayer mode, and select from pre-set workouts to target specific areas of your body. Also new to this version is the ability to keep track of your pet or baby’s weight.
Wii fit plus
Since its launch in Japan on December 1st 2007, Wii Fit has sold millions of units worldwide, and Wii Fit 2: Full Body Workout builds on that successful formula! Wii Fit 2: Full Body Workout aims to get families across America up on their feet and moving their bodies as they experience daily exercises like never before.
Wii Fit 2: Full Body Workout will expand on the 4 training categories included in Wii Fit – Aerobic Exercises, Muscle Workouts, Yoga and Balance Games – that will help you and your family to develop bodily balance control ability, burn fat in the body, help tone and condition muscles, as well as help increase aerobic stamina. Discover over 80 different activities within these training categories such Tire Run, Hill Climb, Rock Climbing and Rowing, all of which support the new MotionPlus Wii Remote accessory for increased interactivity. Those looking for an even tougher challenge can do so by adding the new Wii Weights accessory, which attach to the Wii Remote.
As for new content, Wii Fit Plus adds 15 more balance games, three new yoga poses and three new strength training exercises. This new content, when combined with the original 40 activities, brings the total activities to more than 60.
In the new balance games, you’ll find “Rhythm Parade” where you march to the beat on the balance board while matching arm movements (holding the Wii remote and the nunchuk) that scroll down screen. Also good is “Obstacle Course,” where you have to run through a course that features giant swinging balls. If your timing is off, the ball whacks you into the water. For a wacky game, try “Bird’s-Eye Bull’s Eye,” where you lean forward on the Wii Balance Board while flapping your arms to control your bird avatar on the TV screen. The goal is to fly to and then land on giant targets set in the ocean.
Each “Wii Fit Plus Routine” is made up of three activities, which are grouped together to target something specific, like areas of the body or the kind of workout you want. If you choose “Relax,” the three activities will be stretching, whereas if you select “Leaner Mii,” you’ll be doing movement activities like hula-hooping and power walking. Depending on how many of 12 routines you string together, you can create a short or a long workout. But you cannot simply drag and drop from all of the 60-plus activities to make your workout.
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Couch potatoes beware: your slothful excuses are wearing mighty thin with the imminent release of Nintendo’s new and improved Wii Fit — the Wii Fit Plus. The hardware hasn’t changed, but the exercises it comes with have been overhauled to challenge players with far more varied workouts. The new version isn’t out in Europe until October 30, but InGear has already taken it on an exhaustive training run.
For the uninitiated (where have you been hiding?) Wii Fit is a step-shaped balance board with sensors that gauge exactly how and when you stand on it. This enables you to perform all manner of floor-based exercises prompted by onscreen commands. Several also utilise the Wii’s handheld controller.
While the original Wii Fit games confined themselves mainly to simple stretching exercises, the new titles up the physical ante, featuring kung fu sessions, skateboarding and snowball fights. Players can combine several different games into longer workouts of up to an hour as Nintendo has helpfully packaged them into segments of just a few minutes, targeted at specific physical goals. Many activities have scores, as per a traditional game, but you can also set goals in terms of calories burnt — for instance, working off a slice of cake.
Some games are more challenging than others. The snowball fights would be better if you had to move your hands rather than merely press a button while leaning to avoid incoming missiles. Another, where you must make a chicken fly by flapping your arms (and without holding anything in your hands) is tremendous. There is even a gimmicky option to create an avatar for your pet; you then use the board to weigh the animal and can input basic information about its activities, such as how many steps it has walked that day.
Nintendo says it has sold 2.7m Wii Fits in Britain — it was the bestselling title of 2008 (and 2009 so far) — and this update looks as if it will do every bit as well. It might not be as good for you as taking up jogging, but exercising with the Wii has never been so entertaining.