Family Trainer No.5 - Meiro Dai Sakusen

Family Trainer Meikyū Daisakusen, Family Trainer Maze Operation, is a fitness puzzle title published by Bandai for the Famicom, built exclusively for the Family Trainer pressure-sensitive floor mat peripheral. Players navigate large grid mazes by stepping on directional mat zones, while evading roaming monster pursuers that chase the player’s position in real time. This entry blends physical stepping movement with maze chase puzzle mechanics, expanding Bandai’s mat software beyond pure athletics competition into puzzle-adventure territory.

Each maze forms a large enclosed grid filled with walls and winding corridors. Stepping on directional mat inputs moves the explorer through the labyrinth. The primary objective is to locate the exit gate while avoiding pursuing monsters. Collectible power orbs grant temporary invulnerability or slow enemy movement to create escape windows when cornered.

Successive mazes grow larger, feature tighter corridors and deploy additional monster pursuers to increase difficulty. Alternating two-player mode lets participants take turns attempting maze escapes to compare completion speed. Standard controller input enables basic play, though the intended physical stepping experience requires the authentic Family Trainer mat accessory.

Bandai’s visual design uses bright fantasy dungeon maze tile graphics and clearly distinguishable player and monster sprites. Adventurous looping background music sustains light tension during labyrinth escape attempts.

Strategically, successful maze escape requires anticipating monster patrol routes. Charging blindly down narrow corridors frequently leads to being trapped between multiple converging pursuers with no available escape path.

For hardware collectors with original Family Trainer peripherals, Meikyū Daisakusen completes the breadth of Bandai’s pioneering mat-based game lineup, showcasing how developers merged physical active control with puzzle and maze gameplay on early 8-bit consoles.