Nickelodeon Fit (Wii)

Like a large chunk of the country (including our local pub!) we bought a Wii Fit when it came out, and soon everybody agreed that Daddy looked silly doing the hula. With the advent of the Wii Fit plus, we had more control over our workouts. However, over time, it fell into disuse. Mummy and Daddy (thats me, in case you were wondering) got enough benefit from it to inspire us to join the local gym. Our young daughter just got bored with it. She liked some of the special events like the eye-spy jogging and the tight rope, but found most of the exercises and especially the yoga just a bit boring. Plus she was hopeless at the sitting still one.

But this is different. This is aimed squarely at kids. And it has Dora. Short of an expansion pack featuring Hello Kitty, I don't think our daughter could be any happier now.

One important thing to say right at the start. This game supports the Wii Balance Board. However it is NOT essential. Indeed, not every game uses it. If you haven't got a balance board you can just use your Wii remote. If you are using the remote, all gameplay is performed through motions. You only use a button to pause the action.

Another important thing to note; all ingame instructions are spoken. A child will never suffer as a result of a limited reading ability. For younger children especially this is great, and one of the failings of the Wii Fit software.

Anyway, on with the game itself:

The first thing you need to do when you start, is set up a profile. This is a simple affair where you enter your child's name, age, height etc. You have to input the weight yourself. Don't expect the Balance Board to do it for you. This again shows that the balance board is indeed only optional.

Once your child has a profile, they have to choose a friend. This can be either:

The Backyardigans
Go Diego Go
Dora The Explorer
Ni Hao Lai Lan!
Everyone together.

Depending on who they pick as a friend, they get a different subset of games. For instance, choose Dora and you get Hula, Pogo Stick and Cycling. Once you have got a reasonable score on these, you can play more advanced versions. At the start they are locked though. To be honest, it only took one play to unlock the advanced level in each case. But then again, our daughter has just turned 6 now. Perhaps a younger child will find the basic levels more of a challenge?

I have no idea how manufacturers of these products expect you to find out whats in these things before buying, but they never seem to present a full description. Our daughter is mad on Dora so this purchase was a no brainer for us. If you need more convincing, here is a full list of all the events:

The Backyardigans
-----------------
Skip Roap
Double-skip
Big Bowling
Golden Pin
Color Bounce
Shape Bounce
Great Stretch

Go Diego Go
-----------
Rescue Boarding
Skateboarding
Beach Blast
Double Blast
Rescue Rafting
Extreme Rafting
Flying Condor

Dora The Explorer
-----------------
Pogo Adventure
Extreme Pogo
Hip Hoop
Double Hip Hoop
Bike Explorer
Explorer Bounce

Ni Hao Kai-Lan!
---------------
Race, Race, Race!
Hurdle Race
VBalloon Bounce
Super Bounce
Footbal Throw
Catch This
Fireworks Burst

Everyone Together
-----------------
The Great Relay
Round Robin

Now, the package says it comes with 30 games. Looking at the above list, you might be a bit miffed because lots of the games are duplicated. EG there is pogo adventure and extreme pogo. However I didn't feel cheated, because the package as a whole is so ideally suited for children. The Wii Fit was quite unforgiving if you made mistakes. This game focuses more on encouragement though.

Also, the Nickelodean characters add a certain charm to proceedings. Everybody must already have tin pin bowling in some shape or form on their Wii. No other version has you controlling little characters (the Backyardigans) to push the ball up a hill to launch it down at the skittles though.

You can change your friend at any time you want. I would guess the only difference it makes is the voice shouting encouragement when you play the game.

With the software it is possible to micromanage your child's fun levels to the nth degree. Our daughter is already very active though, so we bought this primarily because it would give her another option on a rainy saturday afternoon. Consequently, we aren't bothered about concentrating on dexterity or endurance. If you are interested though, you can set up custom routines for your child, should you so wish. Once you have created a routine, the child can select it from the menu.

With half term here yet again, this game is an absolute steal. Our girl loves it, and I love it as I am no longer expected to Hula.

===================== Added 25th Feb in response to comment. ============================

Multiplayer mode:

There is a multiplayer mode, but its fairly limited. It is fun though, (for adults too!)

I tried it this morning with our girl. You only need one remote, and you take turns. There are distinct games for multiplayer (two of them). One is a bog standard relay, the other is like a series of warm up exercises. For instance, Dora might appear, and one of you does star jumps with her. Then you pass the remote over, press the 2 button, and somebody else does lurches with Diego.

You get a score at the end, and it is a group total. There is no individual breakdown, which is nice, to be honest, as our girl looked at the score at the end and said "Look Daddy, teamwork!".

So, multiplayer is not a major aspect of this game, but it is there, and it is fun without being competitive. I haven't got anything against competitive games, but when an adult is playing with a child, its important that the child gets to have fun without being trounced by the adult or knowing that the adult is letting them win.

I bought this for my 4 and 6 year olds, my oldest isnt really into it, the tasks are a bit repetitive for her, but my 4 year old enjoys it a lot, maybe because he is a boy and very competitive! He spends typically 30mins and is generally hot an sweaty after so it does expel some energy on a rainy day.
The negatives for me is the navigation, you have to hold the remote horizontally and kind of flick it like turning a wheel to move it up and down to select a character or game. Its very sensitive and even the slightest movement sends to the bottom of the page, which means I have to come and select games for him which frustrates him that he cant do it himself. Apart from that its a nice little game but i would say ages 4/5 are best more than that and its too simple.

I bought this for my 4 year old as she had trouble playing most of her older sister's Wii games. I wanted something she could do without help that didn't involve plonking her in front of a cartoon/movie.

The idea behind Nickelodeon Fit is good as it is aimed at young ones and there are lots of different activities that they can easily master however my daughter won't play it on her own which defeats the object. My older daughter finds it boring so won't do it with her. Sadly no matter how often I bring this out of the cupboard my little one will not show an interest in it. When I bring out the Wii Dance Juniors however she'd play that for hours. She also loves Mario Kart although she isn't great at steering - I'd love if they brought out a junior/slower version of Mario Kart to let little ones get the hang of steering!

I would still recommend this game for younger children and I am hanging on to Nickelodeon Fit in case perhaps she's too young now and in a year or so she may be happier to play it.