Breathe in through your nose.... breathe out through your nose... as it’s time to revisit the Wii’s second coming – Wii Fit!

After a dizzying first year on sale, propelled by Wii Sports, a media frenzy, constant stock issues and an entire new market for Nintendo to discover, the Wii was set to have an even bigger year in 2008 with Hiroshi Matsunaga’s wacky weight-loss machine.

My story starts off at the Bullring shopping centre in Birmingham with a few friends in the Summer of 2008 – In a pre-Justin Bieber world and when JLS hoodies were as popular and hated as onesies. Upon arriving we took a walk around the bottom floor and my Nintendo senses immediately started tingling, that’s when I saw it – ‘Wii Fit’ emblazoned upon a big white demo stage in those familiar grey and green letters. Our plans for shopping were over, we had to go and check this out.

The demo stage was in the middle of the shopping centre with about 10 Wii’s hooked up to HD TV’s along with a bunch of Nintendo representatives no doubt losing the will to live after having to constantly tell folks to not jump on the fit boards. I felt no hesitation being the huge Nintendo fanboy I was and galloped to the stage with glee to have a go myself. Sadly for me I didn’t get to choose the mini-game upon arrival, as I was hoping to play the skiing one, but with the Nintendo rep in charge of choosing games I got lumbered with playing Super Hoop... part of me thinks that was intentional so all the staff could get a good laugh at my frumpy nerd hips gyrating in a busy shopping centre but I’ll never know for sure.

Each Wii Fit board on the stage was in a cubical facing the TV, so the action could be seen from behind the fit board and player but the participant didn’t have the embarrassment of looking around to see people staring. It’s just you, your Mii and white walls... or so I thought. 

The game of Super Hoop begun and I started gyrating whilst my on-screen Mii mirrored me. Slowly getting more and more into it as I lost my inhibitions and got engrossed in the hooping action, the Nintendo rep told me to stretch my arms out when leaning for more hoops so I did, thinking he was just trying to spice up my game from an on-lookers perspective, but to my shock the on-screen Mii lifted his arms too – It was at this moment that I realised the Wii Fit board was more than just an improved dance mat and was in fact so precise that the change in weight resulted in my actions being perfectly matched on screen, to the point where it knew exactly where my arms were based on weight distribution.

With my newfound fit board knowledge, not only was I moving my hips like a drunk dance instructor, I was throwing my arms out in the air to catch hoops and was fully immersed, unaware of my surroundings. Legs starting to burn and hoop count climbing ever higher, my two minutes came to an end. I got the description of ‘Simmering fire’ from the Wii, not too shabby I thought, considering it was my first go.

I hopped off the stage and back to my friends, now enlightened by Matsunaga’s creation, and they said something along the lines of, “Wow, it looks like you had fun! I think I’d have been too embarrassed to really go for it like that with everyone watching.” Slightly confused I asked, “Why, it’s in the cubical, only you guys and a few behind me could see”... And that’s when it hit me. I look up in the air and suddenly remember that this is not the one storey shopping centre I’m used to – looking down on me were two floors of grinning on-lookers.

Two entire floors of people saw every gleeful gyration, every arm flail, every gasp for air that my then chubby self could get. I was mortified but simply told myself they were looks of admiration and jealousy. Red faced and having horrifc visions of being a modern-day Star Wars Kid, I tried to supress that moment and move on with my life. But that’s the overall message of Wii Fit, exercise doesn’t have to be a boring chore, it can be fun, silly and even memorable if you just loosen up a little, and my first experience with it proved that very well.

On this week in 2007, Japanese gamers got their first taste of next-gen exercise in Wii Fit. The rest of the world would have to wait a few months longer until the new year had passed. Wii Fit was released in Europe in the April of 2008. 

Offering a variety of yoga and muscle exercises with a male or female instructor giving you advice and encouragement, or playing in a variety of fun Mii based games, Wii Fit offered great variety and catered to those who really wanted to lose weight and to those who just wanted to have a bit of fun.

There was no escaping Wii Fit fever. I was only ever used to seeking out Nintendo information myself but with Wii Fit I didn’t need to, it was thrown in my face everywhere I went. The demo station was just one example as whenever I turned on my TV there was an advert for Wii Fit or a spot on the news and even the shop I worked in at the time had cardboard cutouts all over with a woman in a yoga pose stating that Wii Fit was in the entertainment section, and this was no hip store, that section usually only went as far as offering magazines and the odd Titanic DVD (featuring our dearly beloved).

After being badgered by every media outlet there was, and even having non-gaming friends ask me if I’d got it yet, I finally caved a few months after its release and the exercise started before I’d even taken it out of the box. Yes, out of sheer stupidity, it was the first thing I purchased at the very start of a 4 hour shopping trip and believe me, that balance board is a damn heavy thing to lug around. 4 hours between clothes shops, food, HMV and finally the sweet release of the taxi home, that balance board gave my arms the kind of work-out I hadn’t experienced since the waggle-fest QTE’s of Resident Evil 4.

The exercise didn’t end on my exhausting shopping trip as whilst Wii Fit was a fad for some, I actually played for a solid year and lost some serious weight. Granted, most of it was down to my sheer will at the time to be a hot young DiCaprio snatcher, but tracking my weight and keeping the fit board happy was great inspiration for my weight loss.

The Wii Fit train continued for a few years, when Nintendo finally sorted stock issues and millions of balance board owners were tucking in their bottoms, Nintendo released the expansion of Wii Fit Plus which saw similar success with its expanded roster of exercises and mini-games.

Wii Fit is sadly a relic of the later noughties, a high flying sales success then but with the advent of smart phones and smart watches that can track fitness and exercise, much like Kawashima lost to the world of apps, Wii Fit saw a similar fate and never reached those loft heights again with the Wii U release.

Still, Wii Fit was not just a great selling game but a cultural phenomenon and one of Nintendo’s biggest successes since Super Mario Bros. – Its impact can still be seen todaywith the inclusion of Wii Fit Trainer in Smash Bros., solidifying the importance of the franchise.

The Wii Fit days are over now but they were fun to experience back in its heyday - You can pick up a second hand Wii Fit and board for about the same price as a nice Chinese Takeaway these days if you’re feeling especially nostalgic and/or chubby. So if your stomach is protruding and you’re feeling snuffed by all the hotties, you could do worse than to take a run through Wuhu Island this Winter with all your JLS Mii’s and work out like it's 2008.