From games such as Wii Tennis on accessories such as the Wii Balance Board, Nintendo made it possible turn his consoles into exercise machines to help gamers get active. But hardware hacker Mike Choi maybe just come up with the ultimate way to stay fit with the Switch by spinning Mario Kart 8 Deluxe to a fullphysical training.
Among Nintendo fans, Mike Choi is best known for helping create the FlipGrip: a $ 12 accessory that the Switch’s Joy-Con controllers attached to both sides of the console while in portrait mode to improve the gamegaming experience with vertical mode games such as pinball. Choi is also known for creative console hacks, but the Labo Fit Adventure Kart is undoubtedly his most ambitious creation to date.
The hack links the Switch console and Mario Kart 8 Deluxe with the Ring Fit Adventure training accessory, parts of the Nintendo Labo cardboard kits, a completeon exercise bike, and a customdesigned and developed component called the TAPBO. An optical sensor on the exercise bike keeps track of how often the pedals turn, and that data is used to control acceleration in the game. If the speed of pedaling falls below a certain RPM, the player character will stop accelerating in the game.
More complicated is how the Ring Fit Adventure accessory is used as a handlebar and a way to use in-game items such as shells and banana peels. The custom TAPBO accessory that Choi created includes a series of tiny servo-controlled robotic arms that actually press physical buttons on a connected Joy-Con controller. The spoon TAPBO and Joy-Con are then attached to the Ring Fit Adventure accessory, which converts in-game movements into steering, while pinching movements are used to fire items or keep them behind your cart for protection.
Choi spent about six months designing and perfecting the Labo Fit Adventure Kart, which was realized without actually modifying or hacking Nintendo hardware. It’s all made possible by the TAPBO accessory he made, so hopefully Nintendo will make no attempt to get this video removed like that recently done with other hackers share their work on YouTube. And as perfect as the set-up seems, as we kick off another year of staying home as responsibly as possible, Choi currently has no plans to put this prototype hardware into production or sell it to other gamers.