Forum > Gaming Discussion > Are you missing out by not owning a Balance Board??
Are you missing out by not owning a Balance Board??
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Sat, 27 Feb 2010 03:46:32
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Well probably not.  Despite being around for over 18 months most developers haven't had much interest in incorporating the balance board outside of the fitness genre.  After playing a little Super Monkey Ball Step & Roll this evening, I spent some time trying to figure out what other games I've used it for.  Here's a quick list of what I've played and whether or not the games have been good.

Wii Fit & Wii Fit Plus - These are the first games that come to anyone's mind when you bring up the balance board.  It's okay for excerise games if you really care about that stuff.  And there are some very fun mini games that use it once you get into Wii Fit Plus too. The Snowball Fighting on it is actually a perfect way of how a FPS could utilize it.

Wii Ski & Snowboard - This is pretty much the best game you'll find that uses the balance board. It's a great big sandbox game that takes place on a mountain top.  Lots to do, though there aren't any real goals so to speak.  It's fun though and great to pick up on the cheap if you can find it.  The balance board is just for leaning side to side while you ski or snowboard, but it's done very well and feels quite natural.

Punch-Out - In this game the Balance Board is just used to dodge back and forth if you choose to use the waggle controls for your punches.  It's not bad, but not quite good enough for the later fights.  I will say that using the board and waggle controls in this game gave me a pretty good work out though and made it fun enough that I don't mind doing it again.

Raving Rabbids TV Party - "The first game you can play with your butt!" or so it was marketed. Balance Board controls for this game sucked.  It was clearly added to take advantage of Balance Board hype, and not done well at all.

Super Monkey Ball Step and Roll - Okay controls, but not as good as they could have been. Ultimately are just too sensitive and leaning too far in one direction can result in losing your balance which becomes almost impossible to get back.  Good looking game, but they really needed to find a way to tone down the sensitivity.

There's a handful of other games that use it like Shawn White and Skate It, but other than that there's not too much out there in realm of serious games (unless you like those cheerleading games). So it's probably safe to say that so far that you're not missing out on too much.

Edited: Sat, 27 Feb 2010 03:48:52
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Sat, 27 Feb 2010 03:52:53
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My sister bought herself Wii Fit last Christmas. Within 20 minutes, I was done with the balance board forever. It's a unique idea, but it's definitely not for me.
Edited: Sat, 27 Feb 2010 03:53:35

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Sat, 27 Feb 2010 06:51:55
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Like Robio said, a number of minigames on WiiFit Plus are rather entertaining. I'm partial to the skateboarding one.
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Sat, 27 Feb 2010 07:45:05
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It has no appeal to me.  I was most impressed by it when Iga said he was using it to increase his balance abilities for his martial arts, but for my life, adn my way of gaming, I have no interest in the board.

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Sat, 27 Feb 2010 08:31:28
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It's not a must buy but it works well for some stuff. That's not a bad number of games for a peripheral. EA sports active uses it also I think, plus there's a couple of wii ware games.

I was always a sucker for that stuff - got that old coleco roller controller, steering wheel and sports controllers and I think those things had each maybe 4 games tops. It's been worth it to me for the wiifit stuff and those ski games(found the second one for $15) Shaun white is ok too. It still needs a really good game to make a purchase worth it though.

Does anyone here have this thing?

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Sat, 27 Feb 2010 10:22:58
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I want we ski and snowboard, but I wont get it without the balance board. And that's too expensive Sad

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Sat, 27 Feb 2010 15:32:54
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angrymonkey said:

Does anyone here have this thing?

Yeah, I used to own Steel Battalion back when I had my original Xbox. It's a very cool game, but that controller was a damned monster!

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Sat, 27 Feb 2010 16:24:06
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gamingeek said:
I want we ski and snowboard, but I wont get it without the balance board. And that's too expensive Sad

Yeah I don't blame you. It's a fun game, but without the balance board it doesn't make much sense. It's like playing Guitar Hero on a regular controller.   Outside of the fitness games, there's only one other decent game that utilizes its, Tetris Party.  The Balance Board still needs about 5 more decent games to make it worth owning as a periphreal unless you really want Wii Fit (which I do personally enjoy and have used as an excerise tool).

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Sat, 27 Feb 2010 18:05:39
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robio said:

gamingeek said:
I want we ski and snowboard, but I wont get it without the balance board. And that's too expensive Sad

Yeah I don't blame you. It's a fun game, but without the balance board it doesn't make much sense. It's like playing Guitar Hero on a regular controller.   Outside of the fitness games, there's only one other decent game that utilizes its, Tetris Party.  The Balance Board still needs about 5 more decent games to make it worth owning as a periphreal unless you really want Wii Fit (which I do personally enjoy and have used as an excerise tool).

I'm not sure what games can sell it to me. I suppose an SSX is a no brainer. Perhaps a Mario Kart balance board exclusive, but not Mario kart, like mario water racing where you go down rapids in a barrel you have to lean about in.

Edited: Sat, 27 Feb 2010 18:07:56

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Sat, 27 Feb 2010 20:11:27

robio said:

The Balance Board still needs about 5 more decent games to make it worth owning as a periphreal unless you really want Wii Fit (which I do personally enjoy and have used as an excerise tool).

See, that's what I don't quite understand. When peripherals used to come out years ago they'd never have more than a few games for them anyway and yet they sold and no one would talk about needing a library of 15 games before it was worth it. You want to play centipede like in the arcade then you need the rollerball controller thing.  The old samba game was like "it's fun get it" and not - "is there going to be a library of games for it?".

I think it just needs one solid hardcore game to make a lot of you guys snap it up.

Myself, I want an ssx tricky sequel very badly.

Edited: Sat, 27 Feb 2010 20:12:11
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Sat, 27 Feb 2010 20:34:29

angrymonkey said:
It's not a must buy but it works well for some stuff. That's not a bad number of games for a peripheral. EA sports active uses it also I think, plus there's a couple of wii ware games.

I was always a sucker for that stuff - got that old coleco roller controller, steering wheel and sports controllers and I think those things had each maybe 4 games tops. It's been worth it to me for the wiifit stuff and those ski games(found the second one for $15) Shaun white is ok too. It still needs a really good game to make a purchase worth it though.

Does anyone here have this thing?

 I wish.  That is one I would buy.  I have the Steel Battalion games but not the controller.

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Sat, 27 Feb 2010 21:28:42
Yeah, see I think there's people that would snap up the steel batallion controller for $200 and one game  but say the balance board is too expensive or doesn't have enough games.
I think that it just doesn't excite some people's imaginations at all. It  needs an imaginative, exciting game that appeals to this market so that any of  the other reason's don't matter .
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Sat, 27 Feb 2010 22:01:32

angrymonkey said:
Yeah, see I think there's people that would snap up the steel batallion controller for $200 and one game  but say the balance board is too expensive or doesn't have enough games.
I think that it just doesn't excite some people's imaginations at all. It  needs an imaginative, exciting game that appeals to this market so that any of  the other reason's don't matter .

Yeah, that's me.  I want the Steel B. controller because it is rare and singular -- nothing has been done like it before.  To me the Balance board has no collecting value whatsoever.  It's like a dance pad except there are millions more of them.  

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