Basic Run Plus

From Wii Fit Forum Wiki

Object of the game

Your Mii is a jogger, but not just any jogger. Your Mii is an observant jogger, so he looks around while he runs. The object of the game, therefore, is not just to jog, but to look around you as you jog so that you can answer the questions in the quiz at the end of the run.

Equipment required

This game requires use of:

The Wiimote

MET

Basic Run Plus has a MET of 4, meaning that it is a moderate intensity activity.
Basic Run Plus' MET is lower than that of Basic Run (4 instead of 5). Why? Neither the game nor the manual provides a reason, but it is probably because, in order to look around to answer the questions, one has to jog slower than normal.

Time

Basic Run Plus time is variable. The amount of time it takes for a run depends on the runner's speed and how long it takes the runner to answer the questions at the end.

How to play the game

Keeping the Wiimote on your person, run in place, following the guide.
Keep your eye on the virtual world as you run so that you can answer questions about what you have seen.

Levels

There are three levels of Basic Run Plus:

Short run
Long run
Island lap

The short run is the shortest and the island lap is the longest run. How short and how long? That depends on your pace. If you are a fast runner, the runs will take less time than if you run slower.

There are three questions at the end of each run.

Where to run

There are three ways you can run in place this:

Run on the floor/carpet. This method takes no time to set up, save moving the Wii Board to one side. It can, however, be noisy, especially if you live in multi-occupant dwelling, such as a flat (apartment). It can also, depending on how you run or previous injuries, cause pain by transferring shocks to the ankles and knees.
Run on a mat. While this will have some give that will mitigate shock to knees and ankles, most mats are too light for this sort of run and will move around and end up somewhere that is not under your feet. You also have to take the time to get the mat out. Mats also do little, if anything, to cut down noise.
Run on a little trampoline. Little trampolines are also known as rebounders. The disadvantage is that you have to take the trampoline out. The advantage is that it takes all the shock. No matter what your running style, you will feel no shock on your ankles or knees. It is also quiet. You can run at any hour without disturbing anyone, especially if you use wireless headphones to pick up the TV's sound.

Best way to run

Run barefoot and run on the front of your foot. Even if you are running on a trampoline that takes all the shock, it is best to practise running this way because it will help you to learn how to run on other surfaces without injuring yourself. Why should you run this way? Recent research has shown that running on one's heels leads to injury. Indeed, modern running shoes do not prevent injury, because they make running on the heels comfortable.

Looking around

You must look around in this game if you are to answer the questions at the end. Count things that you see. Look at the faces of the Miis you pass, and the colours of clothes they are wearing. Keep track of the Mario characters you see. See Questions below for the types of questions you will be asked.

Guides

There is only one type of guide in Basic Run Plus: cats. Your cat guide will have a yellow arrow over its head.

There are different cats for each level, and each cat follows a different route (see Routes below):

Short Run: 3 cats.
Long Run: 3 cats.
Island Run: 2 cats.

After you have followed at least two of the cats in each run, you will unlock the all the cats for all the runs. You will also unlock them for the Basic Run. This means that from that time on, they will also appear in the runs for the Basic Run, allowing you to follow the new routes without having to take a quiz.

Routes

On the Wii screen at the beginning of the run, you will see a message telling you not to pass your guide. Ignore this advice. What actually happens is that you will not be able to pass your guide except at certain points in the run, where a cat will give a meow from behind you then run ahead. You can then, if you wish, run ahead of your guide, and you will find yourself following the new guide. The yellow 'guide' arrow will be transferred to your new guide. You only have a small window in which to change guides. Once the new guide has run too far ahead or turned off, you are stuck with the your first guide.

The guides always appear in the same order. The initial guide is the one you see at the starting line. If you wish, you can follow him to the end of the jog. If you wish, however, you can follow the next guide that comes along. If you ignore this guide, and if there is another guide, then you can follow the last guide that appears.

Short Run Routes

Brown cat: This is the initial guide. He is at the starting line in the starting circle. He will take you around the dirt road and back to the starting line.
Grey cat: A few seconds after the brown cat has started off, a grey cat will run in front of him. If you follow him, he will take you over the rooftops of the town, then jump from the rooftops back to the town then head to the harbour. He will finish on board the ship.
White cat: If you chose not to follow the grey cat, keep following the brown cat until the white cat turns up. He appears midway between the starting circle and the brick bridge. He will take you over the west mid-cliff green, onto a log bridge in front of the cliff trail tunnel, to a nearby tree, back onto the log bridge and onto the west mid-cliff green again. He will finish on the green between the steel ramp tunnel mouth and the road leading to the castle.

Long Run Routes

Grey and white cat: This is the initial guide. He is at the starting line which is near the brick bridge (town side). He will take you into the back parts of town, past the basketball court, and around the fountain. He will then leave town to finish on the slope just in front of the lighthouse.
Black cat: He appears halfway between the starting line and the steel bridge. If you follow him, he will take you around the edge of town, then over to and into the steel ramp tunnel. He will finish on the ledge above the steel ramp tunnel.
Brown cat: If you chose not to follow the black cat, keep following the grey and white cat until the brown cat turns up. He will appear on the outskirts of town near the ship. He will take you around the back of the town, then past the bowling alley, around the fountain, to the upper town, and over the rooftops. He will finish on the rooftops themselves.

Island Run Routes

Black and white cat: This is the initial guide. He is at the starting line at the edge of town. He will take you along the 'classic' route, that is, around the black road and back to the starting line.
Black, white, and brown cat (tabby cat): You will find this cat in front of the resort on the black road. If you follow him, he will take you up the hill to the road that passes by the sand pit tunnel, over the wooden bridge in front of the waterfall, past the stones standing on the green above the windmills, then he will jump down onto the road among the windmills, then turn onto the black road, taking it to the temple ruins. He will finish in the temple ruins themselves.

Questions

Types of questions

At the end of the run, three questions out of the following will be asked:

Did you fall down during the run?
What is the colour of the sea?
What is the colour of the lighthouse?
What is the colour of the sky?
What is the colour of the ship?
How many dogs did you see running?
How many flags did you see?
How many moles did you see?
Which Mii, out of a choice of three, was wearing the chicken suit?
Which Mario character, out of a choice of three, did you see?
Which Mii, out of a choice of three, did you see jogging?
- If asked which Mii you saw jogging, you might also be asked: What colour was it wearing?
Which Mii, out of a choice of three, was on the roof?
- If asked which Mii was on the roof, you might also be asked: What colour was it wearing?

Difficulty of questions

The easiest questions are theose about whether you fell down and the colours of the sea, lighthouse, sky and ship.
The hardest questions are those about which Miis you saw. Counting the number of dogs running can also be difficult, as they run by you quickly.

Benefits of the questions

The benefits of having to look around and answer questions are:

It is a good test of your mental alertness. Particularly as people age, they find that their mental agility decreases. The level of concentration needed to keep track of things around you during the run can help to keep your mind fit and active.
It keeps the runs from becoming boring. Running can be monotonous. Not everyone can 'zone out' and just run. Not everyone can motivate himself to do such a repetitious exercise, even if it does have a high MET. Basic Run Plus, however, livens up runs by making them into little puzzles.

Scoring

Your score is your Burn Rate plus your Mental Effort.

Burn Rate

The Burn Rate is expressed as a percentage, for example, 190%.
This is simply a measure of how steady your pace is. It is not a measure of your running speed or of your effort. The idea is that the more consistent your pace, the more efficiently your muscles will burn calories. The higher the burn rate, therefore, the steadier your pace.
The burn rate is the average rate of burn over your whole run. This means that if it takes you about a minute to reach your pace, that minute's impact on your burn rate will be different for different run times. A minute has a greater effect, for example, on a run that takes four minutes, where it counts as one-fourth of the burn rate, then it does on a run that takes fifteen minutes, where it counts as one-fifteenth of the burn rate. What this means is that you should expect, given the same steady pace for all runs, that burn rates will be higher the longer the run.
How does the Wii figure out your pace? It measures your steps and the time between them via the Wiimote. Each time the Wiimote goes up and down, the game registers that as a step. You can test this by shaking the Wiimote: your Mii will go very fast - indeed, it might even fall down.

Mental Effort

For every question you answer correctly, you will receive 10%.
The maximum score you can get for Mental Effort is 30%.

Falling down

Yes, your Mii can fall down if you run too fast. By 'fall down', is meant 'flat on its face'. If you look around you while you jog, you will see that the other jogging Miis do this from time to time.
Falling down doesn't hurt you, of course, but it does interfere with your burn rate score at the end. It will definitely bring your burn rate down, and the more times you fall down, the more it will decrease your burn rate.
In the quiz, you might be asked whether you have fallen down during the run (see Questions above).

Hints and tips

Hold the Wiimote vertically while you run. By vertically is meant hold it in your hand so that it is straight up and down (one end pointing at the ceiling, the other at the floor). Keep your arm and hand horizontal while you run. You may find that it is easier to keep your balance by holding something else - a light weight, another Wiimote, a bottle of water - in your other hand. Why should you do this? Because the best position for the Wiimote to pick up your pace without any interference. By interference is meant that the Wiimote falling around in your pocket, the Wiimote hitting your leg if you move your arms, the Wiimote picking up stray shakes, etc. One can use an armband, but it tends to pick up extraneous shakes and it is difficult to navigate the screens when the Wiimote is in the band.
Ignore the message that tells you to move your arms. See 1 above: it will interfere with how the Wii picks up your pace, especially if the Wii accidentally contacts your legs or other part of your body.
Keep your pace as steady as possible. One test of steadiness is that a particular run will take you the same amount of time each time you do it, plus or minus a minute. For example, if, following the grey dog in the island run, the run takes you 10 minutes, then it should take you ten minutes each time. The more each run feels the same, the steadier your pace will be.
Start running before the end of the countdown. This will help you to reach your steady pace quicker during the run.
If you are fast runner, jog slower than normal so that you can look around you.
To help you remember what you have seen, instead of counting while you run to help keep your pace steady, repeat to yourself the things you have seen. Repeating this information will not only help you remember it, but you can use it in place of the count to keep your pace steady. For instance, if you have seen six flags, four dogs, seven moles, a yellow star (Mario character), and a grey-haired woman in the chicken suit, say this over and over while you jog. You won't, of course, see all these things at once, but you can keep adding them to your list. For instance, say you have seen six flags. You say to yourself over and over, 'six flags'. You then see seven moles, so you then say, 'six flags, seven moles' over and over. When you see the grey-haired woman in the chicken suit, you add her to your list.
The dogs will run past you quickly, so keep scanning the distance for them. They will appear towards the end of the run.
Answering the questions about which Mii was doing what can be difficult but, when you observe the Miis around you, assign a simple, but memorable summary, to their characteristics, for example, if you see a man with a beard wearing blue, say to yourself, 'blue beard', if you see a woman with huge eyes and a ponytail wearing white, say 'white wide-eyed ponytail girl'.
If you get a question wrong, the game will tell you the correct answer. Take note of it so that you can learn from your mistake.