Exertainment System

The following info was submitted by Gregory Bishop ( gregorybishop@hotmail.com)

The Life Fitness Exertainment system was a collaboration between Nintendo and Life Fitness, a maker of exercise equipment. I've seen two different designs of this thing, and I'm not even sure that the original design was ever released. It was first scheduled to be released in the fall of 1995. The heart of the system in the original design was a special adaptor that allows Life Fitness Lifecycle to be connected to a Super Nintendo. With this setup, pedaling on the cycle is transmitted as digital information to the SNES. For the games released for the system, the faster you pedal, the faster your video game counterpart goes, which makes sense. Games had to be specifically designed for the system, so you couldn't just pop in F-Zero and start pedaling, though you probably could play the game using just the controls on either side of the U-shaped handlebar. Having not actually played the thing, I can't say for sure. The design that appears now has a kiosk attached to the front of the bike, with its own monitor for TV and the video games. It also features picture-in-picture viewing.

There are two games that were released for the Exertainment system, and, surprise, they are both racing games: Mountain Bike Rally and Speed Racer. In both games, players have the choice of either flat or hilly terrain, with hilly terrain offering more pedaling resistance. In Mountain Bike Rally, produced by Radical Entertainment, you have a choice of eight riders, bike type, steering ability, resistance, and courses. Races last several miles, making the game an endurance test. You can punch other riders in the game, which makes for some action other than pedaling. The game also features stuff like ramps, different riding surfaces, and guys throwing stuff at you while you're trying to bike. Speed Racer is essentially the same game that Accolade released in 1994, though I doubt they kept the platform action parts. Radical Entertainment kept the Boosters, gripping tires, and, naturally, the MACH 5, and they added some hills.

Built into each game is as Program Manager, which players use to keep track of their progress. Users would enter pertinent information such as name, age, weight, gender, and fitness goals. It would monitor the player's performance and calculate the distance cycled, time elapsed, calories burned, etc. In other words, it provides information that a normal exercise bike provides.

When the Exertainment system was announced in the summer of 1995, there were two other games in the works for it that apparently never made it. One of them was a Pac-Man game that never received a final name. This game, which was being produced by Software Creations, featured 3-D graphics courtesy of a Silicon Graphics workstation. Pac-Man received a new look, getting arms, legs, and a nose. No, he doesn't look like the cartoon character at all. The way the Lifecycle was to be used in this game was the same as in the racing games; the faster you pedaled, the faster Pac-Man would run. Pac-Man was also going to get some new weapons to battle the ghosts, including a hammer, ray gun, and pop gun. What actually happens in the game is anybody's guess. It was probably more dot-munching, just in a 3-D environment.

The other game that didn't materialize was Nintendo's Tetris and Dr. Mario. The Exertainment version of this classic SNES cartridge played just like the original. Pedaling didn't cause the blocks and pills to move any faster or slower, though. Instead, pedaling would give the player "time credits" that would help after the score reached 100,000 points. I'm not sure exactly what that means. Nintendo acknowledged that playing the game, where control is very important, with the controllers on the handlebar might be difficult since the player's hands would be sweaty, and that's probably why the game didn't happen.

Surely, the Life Fitness Exertainment system is a niche product. The lack of specially designed games limits its appeal, and the price doesn't help matters. I have no idea how well this thing has sold. Perhaps it would appeal to everyone who couldn't get enough of the Power Pad. At least you can watch TV up close while you're sweating away.