Brave genius takes on the ultimate gamer challenge: converting an elliptical "from the side of the road" into a controller and working out while playing Elden Ring

We're used to bonkers Elden Ring challenge runs at this point, but even I wasn't prepared for one brave genius to turn a three-year-old elliptical workout machine found on "the side of the road" into a working controller. What follows is, as you can imagine, a leg-shaking playthrough.

YouTuber WoolyBeetle1 created a homebrew Elden Ring controller using an old workout machine, which moves the protagonist forward as you pedal. Essentially, it's work out or prepare to die. But issues quickly arose since the device only has three buttons, so WoolyBeetle1 hijacked them to be able to look forward, dodge, attack, and nothing else. You know, the basics.

The 25-minute-long video down below goes more into the specifics of how it was done, as well as the brutal journey through the Lands Between once everything reached a semi-functional state. The original video might've been posted three months ago, but we thought it was way too cool not to share here.

WoolyBeetle1's attempts at killing anything and trying not to get stuck on random bits of geometry makes for hilarious viewing, especially when the elliptical decides not to play ball.

And she even decides to take on Magma Wyrm Makar with the unruly setup and, urm, things didn't go very smoothly, even if she got impressively close one time with the help of two summons. "I don’t know if we're cheesing it, but I'm on an elliptical, who f**king cares?"

While the content creator/professional gaming athlete eventually had to bow out, she still seemed pretty adamant that Makar was beatable with her build. Here's hoping her calves don't give out next time.

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* This article was originally published here