Remembering the Nintendo Power Pad: The System, Games, and its Influence on Gaming Today

[@williamm.1608]

I love that every kid, across the country, independently figured out that they should squat down and hammer that thing with their fists

[@AlmostSomething]

Only way to beat some of those guys!

[@mattmcconnell4814]

My only memory of this is that several of my friends had it but no one ever used it.

[@Kylefassbinderful]

I still have mine. My brother and I always used our feet. I remember it being legitimately harder to use your hands lol.

[@shaggyfrankdizzl]

We always got down on the floor and used our hands to run at lightning speed. Don't act like you didn't too 😂 It worked great that way. Fun game.

[@autoneurotic]

My sister and I got the Power Set for Christmas in 1991. It had gone on sale for $100. We were poor and it was already outdated, but for us it was our first real taste of a premium video game product. I remember having a lot of pride that we had a Power Pad, as no other kids I knew at the time did. We did play World Class Track Meet a lot and we had varying degrees of success and enjoyment with it. I'm not sure what the last time I played it was, but it's probably been a good 30 years now. I would love to track down another someday and give it a go.

[@PhilipMurphy8]

Probably the closest thing back then to Wii Sports

[@Wallyworld30]

My neighbor got the Power Pad for Christmas and I'm glad he did. I learned it's fun for a while but gets boring way to quickly. We already had an NES and after he got it I knew i didn't need one.

[@svarthamarr]

Damn, I’m surprised I’ve never heard of this thing before. An interesting time for something like this to come out

[@Metal_Maxine]

There was an aerobics game for this. A lady on YT made a video of herself trying it out.

[@Kylefassbinderful]

I had *World* *Class* *Track* *Meet.* It came on a "3 in 1" cart with _(in_ _order)_ *Super* *Mario,* *Duck Hunt,* and *World* *Class* *Track* *Meet.*

[@WDCallahan]

@@svarthamarr I'm really surprised you've never heard of it either. I figured if you knew what a zapper or an NES advantage was, you must have known this one too. Kind of weird to realize some people are saying it for the first time on this video.

[@capoman1]

1:05 Oh god. My parents divorced when I was young, we lived with mom. Dad was SO PROUD of himself when he bought us kids a Power Pad as we and the neighbors bashed the shit outta the floor making a nasty racket, annoyed the shit outta my mom.

[@AllViewsGaming]

I’ve always wanted a power pad growing up for my NES. Never got one. But actually the other week I found one at a comic book store, still in the original box and had the manual as well. Only paid $35

[@jdrakeh]

My friend got one of these for his birthday. I remember having a lot of fun with it, but I think he only had, like, one game specifically designed to be used with the thing.

[@Riz2336]

If you actually used your feet on the pad and not your hands you could work up a sweat playing a game on that thing

[@hoodman420]

We sat on my mom's cedar chest 😂

[@jescis]

Bandai wasn't the first third-party licencee, Hudson was… before the "Power Pad" was out the Family Keyboard and Family BASIC was out… released in 1984, as well as the Family Data Recorder(Nintendo Family Computer themed tape deck that you plugged in to the Keyboard)…

[@faub3282]

I have two power pads currently. I’m putting together an eBay lot with one of them

[@WDCallahan]

FYI, world class track meet didn't register both feet. KZbin two steps every time you came down on just that one side. I forget which side it was but you can sit down there on the floor and beat just one button with your fists and it would go faster than if you tried to do it with two.

[@tecpaocelotl]

Nostalgia

[@arseniotucker5960]

Man I remember Christmas of 1989 when my grandmother bought my brother and I the Nintendo with the power pad set in it yo we was the S*** in the neighborhood

[@BrianTrester]

I have this set never took the power pad out of the box. I still use it. I also have the delux set with R.O.B he is worthless but its a cool set to have esp duck hunt MIB...ok since I never took the padf out of the box I didnt know about the A side only seen pics and box showing B side. also you never saw the roller rocker "controller it was like the Atari Balance board but much worse. also atari had the first wireless controllers. LOL big boxy and the atena sticking out was too funny but cool in its day.

[@WDCallahan]

Remember it? I've got mine right here.

[@Bob_Smith19]

We didn’t use our hands. It was considered cheating. What we did do was turn a chair around and lean over it so it held your weight. You could work up to some insane speed this way.

[@greenmachine5487]

Using your hands was cheating but sitting on a chair wasn't?

[@landor7610]

decades ahead of it's time. Then DDR hit and i saw fat forks losing weight like crazy in the arcades, because techno music.

[@CrazyHomelessWeirdo]

Excuse me the Power Pad was not a console it was an add-on to the Nintendo.

[@JohnSmith-zw8vp]

Did any games actually use the Side A?

[@EliteEleven11]

I had Street Cop. It was terrible

[@h-leath6339]

I bought the Zelda set. Which means the bonus item was a second controller. No, really. The basic package was one paddle and Mario Bros. 20 years later my lady (at the beginning) informed me she had her original dance pad package. Which I promptly used to pop the cherry on my new dlp projector. Because I find digital anachronism hilarious. I'm pretty sure in our decade or so together I got the most use of that system. That input device is proof that Nintendo (and not just the Wheeeiiii) !has always supported exercise whilst gaming. Stephenson and Cline are the next people I've ever seen supporting the concept that you don't have to be unhealthy to be a gamer. Just 'cause it's old don't mean you shouldn't keep it. Time makes all of us antiques in the end.

[@h-leath6339]

Ghaaaaah! And then there's the other side of the Nin. Weird burningmancatravergirls. Nooooo. Too much meme in one package. Not all of us want sailor moon with a furry fetish.