Saturday, January 1, 2011

Combine Game Collecting and Exercise in Your New Year's Resolution

16% of people who make New Year's resolutions want to lose weight and exercise more but it can be hard to keep at it the whole year. What if you can combine your love of video game collecting with your exercise resolution?

Below are three vintage games that can help you shed those pounds and collect games too. The list is ranked according to rarity from most common to most rare.

World Class Track Meet NES

World Class Track Meet CoverWorld Class Track Meet PlayerWorld Class Track Meet Screenshot
World Class Track Meet is a Nintendo NES game that almost everyone who grew up in the 80's played at some point. It used the Power Pad to control your character as you competed in track and field events like long jump, 100m dash, and 110m hurdles.

It is possible to play the game with your hands (you people know who you are). If you play the game by standing on the power pad and running in place you can burn quite a few calories. You do lots of jumping, running quickly in place, and falling (if you wear socks or sweat a lot).

Racermate II NES

Racermate Challenge II Modden NESRacermate NES Bike AttachmentRacermate Challenge Screenshot
Racermate Challenge II is a "game" for the Nintendo NES that keeps track of your biking on a stationary bicycle. The cartridge was sold with a modified Nintendo NES and an attachment for your bike. The TV will show a character biking and stats about your speed and miles traveled.

The game will burn as many calories as a regular stationary bike and most stationary bikes display the workout stats now. But the game does display an 8-bit version of you in the mountains which stationary bikes don't do.

Family Fun Fitness Stadium Events

Stadium Events ScreenshotStadium Events GameStadium Events Power Pad
Family Fun Fitness Stadium Events is the same game as World Class Track Meet only it was made by Bandai and costs about $1,800 more. The game was recalled. Exercise wise the game is just as good a workout as Track Meet is since the games are almost identical, but video game collecting wise Stadium Events is much, much better.

When you compare it to a new Bowflex home gym its a real bargain. Plus, it is much cooler to tell your friends you exercise on the most expensive game ever sold instead of a gym membership.

Thank you Steve S. for your screenshots and images for Racermate Challenge II and your inspiration for this article.

5 comments :

Anonymous said...

Maybe if they made an exercising way to play Warioware or watch cartoons, I'd do something like this, but otherwise, no.

JJ Hendricks said...

@anonymous - that would be an awesome game, WarioWare and exercise. I can see WarioWare type games going really well with the balance board and quick weight shifts, balance, etc.

Like WarioWare Twisted but on the Wii and Balance Board.

I would buy that.

Blaine said...

This is a fun way of playing game and exercising. I would like to collect all the games. Glad that you recommend me some games. Thank you.

Elizabeth J. Neal said...

I'm a real person who genuinely enjoys exercise science and physical therapy. I like writing about it and feel good about sharing information that i think is helpful to readers. Proform 215 CSX Exercise Bike

Anna Schafer said...

It’s funny how both options result in me sitting in a dark room by myself, yet one is more socially acceptable than the other is.interactive games for toddlers

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