Everyone rush to screen one

We have enough self awareness here at Nintendo Life Towers to know that, while some members of our team are athletic and healthy examples to us all, a few of us share an unfortunate body-shape resemblance to Mario. When your main hobby revolves around exercising thumbs more than legs and arms, carrying a few extra pounds is a hazard.

Of course there's Wii Fit, which is great for improving balance, strength and telling us we're technically obese, but may not provide as heavy a cardio workout as we'd like. Thankfully a trip to Tokyo could help us lose weight while playing as one of gaming's most iconic heroes, Sonic the Hedgehog — Sonic Athletics is coming to a three-story amusement arcade in Japan's capital, the rather aptly named Joypolis.

Sonic Athletics has eight treadmills lined up alongside each other, and players compete over three events — the 100 meter dash, long jump, and 110 meter hurdles. All of those have running-as-fast-as-possible in common, but there'll apparently be a button to push to make your hero jump when required. It looks like each treadmill and screen will have its own character, so we imagine there'll be queues for Sonic, while others such as Amy may not enjoy quite the same level of demand.

If our experiences of arcades and similar environments — like expos — are anything to go by, what they don't need are more people crammed in while profusely sweating. Still, we have little doubt that this will be a popular attraction at Joypolis.

[source siliconera.com]