So I have finally finished my follow up to Bench Press. Onan is the first in a planned series of outlandish characters. It may look like a really simple game but there is actually a lot "under the hood". Graphics & animation also took a lot of effort. There are some hidden jokes - can you find them?

INSTRUCTIONS:

This game is BRUTALLY HARD! Lifting a weight, even a light one, will take a lot of practice. It's much harder than the original Bench Press www.athleticarcade.com/benchpress2

There will be several new Bench Press characters - some soft ones, some hard ones. Onan is hard. All the time.

However, the rules are simple: The faster you press the buttons, the stronger the corresponding arms act.

That said, you can benefit from understanding some additional principles regarding the role of the rib cage and the width of the grip. This is discussed in the instructions to the original Bench Press but it is not mandatory reading.

Onan a special case – his right arm is twice as strong as his left arm and this makes balance a real struggle! You can approach this predicament in two different ways:

1. Don’t exploit the full strength of the right arm. For example, use only one of the right arm buttons, or use both but press them less often. In this way you are limited by your left arm strength so you must find a way to maximize left button pressing frequency. The Bronze Medal can be earned this way and with clever techniques even the Silver Medal is within reach. However, a Gold Medal most certainly demands a different approach:

2. Load the bar off-balance! If you click/touch the left sleeve of the barbell, it will be loaded evenly, but if you click/touch the right sleeve, only weight plates on the right side will be added/removed. You can therefore control the center of mass and its position is indicated by the text bubble.

What is the ideal position? Well, you may have to dust off your physics textbook but consider this: If the center of mass is positioned just above the right hand, there is no load on the left arm and it can’t assist at all. So somewhere between the middle and the right hand should be right. In part it also depends on your pressing technique.

What about collars to stop the plates from sliding? Haven’t you heard, they are really dangerous when you are benching on your own without a spotter! Onan prefers to do it alone. All the time.

Superpower?
Onan is an actual superhero but you will have to find out his superpower on your own. He is a bit like Uri Geller but even more hands-on!

Credits:
Design, programming, graphics: Anders Hansson
Music & sfx: Ola Hansson