The most notable exercise-fighting game crossover controller, however, was exclusive to home consoles. I refer, of course, to the Sega Activator, a peripheral directly marketed to kids who probably liked The Karate Kid series a little bit too much. The Activator was an octagonal ring that sent infrared light beams up to the ceiling. Once properly configured and calibrated, the player was to use his arms and legs to disrupt the beams, which would then register as moves in the videogame. I pity the kid who picked this up thinking that flailing his arms and legs would give him a competitive edge over his poor game-pad-wielding opponent. I can't imagine anyone could get precise enough to land those one-frame-reversal Dragon Punches needed to hang in Street Fighter II: Championship Edition.
The closest precursor to Nintendo's exergaming entries on the Wii appeared a good seven years ago, and originated not on a Nintendo console, but on their ancient rival's, the Sega Dreamcast. The Dreamcast had its fair share of wacky peripherals - the maracas for Samba de Amigo come to mind, as does the Japan-only Dreamcast Karaoke add-on. But the best clue to the future of exercise games came from a rather sedentary source: the Sega Fishing Controller.
The Sega Fishing Controller was, naturally, meant for use with the various fishing games available on the 'Cast, most notably Sega Bass Fishing, Sega Bass Fishing 2 and Sega Marine Fishing. In order to enhance the fishing experience, the controller was equipped with a basic motion sensor that could detect vertical and horizontal movements. Presumably these movements were mapped to somewhat standard controller inputs, because non-fishing games can use Fishing Controller, too, to hilarious - and surprisingly accurate - results. In fact, upon watching this particular Dreamcast dork play Virtua Tennis with the controller, I'm inclined to think that this version is actually significantly more physically taxing than tennis in Wii Sports, if only because the fishing rod looks pretty heavy - perfect for building grip and forearm strength. And for those of you who have been hankering for a sword-fighting game that properly used the Wii's motion controls, look no further than Soul Calibur with the Fishing Controller, complete with controls that would make a kendo practitioner proud.
That was seven years ago, with a fishing rod.
Maybe Wii Fit will singlehandedly revolutionize the exergaming genre. Maybe it'll sell to each person who bought a Wii just because he thought Wii Sports looked kind of neat. Maybe the world is ready to get in shape with a videogame, 20 years after it first became possible. All of that could be true - and Wii Fit could outsell the Power Pad and the Activator combined, if it hasn't already - but if our gaming history is any indication, we'll still be looking at the Balance Board 10 years from now and wondering what on Earth we were thinking.
Pat Miller has been doing this for way too long. Stop by his blog, Token Minorities, for more on race and videogames.
