Athletic World can be regarded as the precursor to popular titles such as Nintendo Fit and Dance Dance Revolution, which utilize pad sensors to track the player's movement. Athletic World was developed by Bandai in 1986, and released for the Nintendo System using the Family Fun Fitness pad. It was marketed as a fun way to engage in exercise and physical fitness. The game was originally released in a box that featured the Family Fun Fitness logo. When Nintendo later purchased the rights to the FFF pad, the game was re-released with a different label-featuring the Athletic World name. This has made the original release a collector's item, and fairly rare.

Athletic World simulated five different Olympic-style challenges: Hurdles, Hop-A-Log, Animal Trail, Rafting, and Dark Tunnel. The game was marketed as "an athletic training camp - in your own home! Fitness is just a hop, skip, and a jump away with ATHLETIC WORLD - the video game that's controlled by the movements of YOUR body! Test your athletic ability on Bandai's five challenging events as you move up the difficulty scale from Training to Beginner to Expert! Staying in shape never felt so good - or was quite so much fun!"