Remember that exercise bike you bought? The one coated in dust in your “exercise room”?
Well, dig it out, because it’s time to win the Mushroom Cup. Brent Smith, hero to lazy people everywhere, has rigged his old exercise bike to work like a Super Nintendo controller, which he demonstrated by playing Super Mario Kart.
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Sensors in the sprocket judge how fast the bike is being pedaled, which translates to the kart’s acceleration button in the game. Steering is handled by buttons on both handlebars.
Unfortunately, you don’t use items by physically hurling real turtle shells and banana peels at the TV screen. Instead, Smith installed a big red button in the center of the handlebars to handle special items.
If you’re looking to rig up something similar, Smith goes pretty in-depth about how he did it on his blog. For those who don’t want to do the work, you can always go really old-school with the original Super Nintendo Life Fitness Exertainment System, which I didn’t know existed until my editor Doug Aamoth told me about it.
Apparently it was an exercise bike you hooked up to your Super Nintendo and rode around wooded, 16-bit mountains in the game Mountain Bike Rally. If someone out there has one, please challenge Smith to a stationary bike race and send the footage to us.
[via Kotaku]