A WII BIT BETTER EXPERIENCE

One day a few months ago, during the height of the pandemic perhaps, I decided to better explore the Wii program Wii Fit and its companion Wii Board.  The product was bought years ago to help my young son lose weight.  The Nintendo Wii is great in that it requires physical interaction with its programs, but the Wii Fit program takes it a step further.  Instead of games disguised as exercise, Wii Fit offers training sessions in yoga, strength training, aerobic exercises, and yes, plain simple games that also requires some simple forms of physical movement.  You start out interacting via the standard Wii Remote, but then you would need to power on the Wii Board and get your weight measured, your center of balance, etc.  Excellent tool to have during a pandemic lockdown!

PSA!  If you are still sheltering in place and have a lot of free time, then search for electronic devices that use AA, AAA batteries etc.  Open up the battery compartment and see what state of decomposition the batteries are.  In my case, the Wii Board and both Wii Remotes had busted batteries.  I had to clean the contacts with rubbing alcohol, via a cotton swab, and all is well now.  I even re-visited an Apple Bluetooth keyboard (model A1314) and managed to remove a busted battery to regain use of the device.  The only battery-operated item that I couldn't save was a freebie flashlight.  No need to waste energy trying to save that.

I never like the point and click interface of the Wii.  It takes a little getting used and I guess old me never got around it.  Luckily, for Wii Fit, I discovered that after the first few initial screens, once the yoga lessons get rolling, I can do most of the interactions via the directional buttons and the A button.  Just move up, down, left, or right as needed, note which item gets highlighted, then press A.  To go from Yoga to Strength Training, use the minus or plus ( - or + ) button. The B button on the underside of the Wii Remote is for going back to the previous layer.  See what I mean, with the knowledge which button does what you shouldn't need to point at the Wii Receiver any more to interact with Wii Fit.