If your biggest fear for the Nintendo NX was the buttonless controller that surfaced in a December patent, get a load of this. According to a patent posted yesterday to the World Intellectual Property Organization (discovered and excerpted by Rosti of NeoGAF), Nintendo's latest concept may be a horseshoe-shaped exercise controller. So think something like this:

The patent was filed September 18, 2015 by Nintendo with the title "Training Implement, Training System, and Input Device." According to the listing, the controller "comprises a hollow body... formed from an alluminum alloy" with a "load sensor... disposed in the connecting section inside the body." Due to the load sensor, "when a user applies force so as to bring the two grips towards each other or applies force so as to separate the two grips, the load thereof is detected by the load sensor."

How may this be used in practice? That is more difficult to tell, however these phots may be illustrative to the point:

On the bright side, many of these patents never go to fruition. For some of the more ridiculous patents, many people can recall the inflatable horse-bag riding patent that surfaced years back. The better question may be "How long until someone makes a 3D printed mock-up of this?"