Active Life: Outdoor Challenge is a fitness game controlled by a mat on the floor that responds to hand or feet movement on specific areas on the mat. The game has multiple control styles, which vary depending on the game. The mat used to control the game has a total of 10 buttons, each with different purposes. In the middle of the mat, there are 2 square buttons, one orange and one blue. These buttons are used in most games for basic movement such as jumping or running. There are 6 arrows surrounding every side of the mat, 3 orange and 3 blue. These buttons are mostly used for directional movement in single player, and for running in the two player games. The mat also features a plus and minus button on either side of the mat. The buttons essentially act as a way to help navigate menus without having to pick up the controller, as well as to pause the game. As the Mat Controller connects to the console directly through GameCube controller ports, the controller and game are incompatible with subsequent Wii models that do not have them. The Nintendo Switch port replaces the Mat Controller with leg straps that the player wears, each containing a separated unique Joy-Con to control movement, and its reliance on separated Joy-Cons renders the game incompatible with the one-piece Nintendo Switch Lite.[3]
The game features many minigames and three main modes, and can be played alone or head-to-head with a second player.