Power Pad

Reviewed by CL on unknown

Once again, this is a good idea in theory but not in practice. I think the main thing that killed the power pad was the lack of games for it, in fact, I think there was only one game that used the power pad. That one game was Track and Field. This was one of the first attempts to make the player more involved with the game beyond pushing buttons on a controller. The idea of the power pad was to run on the little circles on the pad, which the Nintendo could interpret and guess at how fast you were running. In Track and Field, you would have foot races and jumping contests with computer or other human players. I was actually a really fun game and one where you could actually get your heart going a good rate from the exertion. Of course, it didn't take long before everybody figured out how to cheat with the power pad. Instead of running on it, if you beat on the spots with your fists, you could trick the game into thinking that you were running. You could then jump like 500 feet because all you had to do was to stop beating on it and the Nintendo would think that you were jumping and still in the air.

Even though this didn't work so well since there was only one game, it was a great game and if you can find one of these still lying around, you should pick it up, it makes a great addition to any classic collection.