Bandai Namco recently revealed plans at the Tokyo Games Show to resurrect the NES’s ‘Power Pad’ and ‘Family Trainer’ series on Nintendo’s Wii in 2008 with ‘Family Trainer Athletic World (or Active Life: Athletic World in the US) and Gamasutra recently got the chance to chat with Localisation Producer Naotaka Higashiyama and Producer Sayaki Mori about the game.

Both Higashiyama-san and Mori-san are hard at work on the minigame-based athletics title that makes use of a special foot pad, as well as the Wii controller, just like with the original NES Power Pad. According to Higashiyama it is the perfect fit for the system since it is all about “using your body to play the video game.” As for why they think the game would appeal to the current Wii audience, especially considering there is already Wii Fit and Hudson’s Deca Sports on the way, Higashiyama continued with “That’s a difficult question to answer! It’s not a serious game, but at the same time it’s harder than it looks. It’s fun by yourself, or with your family — as with Wii Fit, which you can probably play solo or with two players.” Mori-san added that whilst Wii Fit predominatly uses your feet and Deca Sports is mainly the Wii controller, “with this one, you use both. It’s a combination between the mat and the Wii remote. So that’s the differentiation factor. And I’m pretty sure that this will be the only game out that uses a mat and a Wiimote at the same time.”

The game, which is reported to support two players on the one mat, will be “easy access” as the team feels that to appeal to the market it has to be “Something that anyone can play, and not for a long time. Like, just push it and play it. Not something that you have to sit and train your skills to get better at. Also, something that you won’t get bored watching other people playing. It’s fun even to watch a grown up, mature adult getting serious on the mat, and laughing.” As for pricing, whilst the final price cannot be revealed just yet, it has been confirmed as being cheaper than the GunCon and a price that “anyone can afford”. And Bandai Namco is definitely keen for other developers to make use of the new Power Pad, yet nothing has been discussed so far since this first game has not been released yet. Those wondering about the company’s own support of the Pad will also be pleased to hear that “there are more [titles] coming next year.”

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