Ever wonder why the Excite series hasn't had a new game since 2009? Well what the media won't tell you is that in 2014, the Excitebike racers went on strike because of Nintendo's unfair exploitation of their status as contract workers and in response, Nintendo illegally fired each and every character from the games. Every member of the Mario Kart 8 roster who consciously decided to race on the Excitebike track is a filthy fucking scab.
Excitebike is considered one of the most classic NES games, being one of the first racing games on the system, and being remembered by its small, but nice soundtrack, its tight controls and, overall, its fun gameplay.
It's a very simple racing game, and if you select "Selection A", you don't even race against other racers.
Regardless of what mode you select, you are racing against time and trying to, at least, get 3rd Place, so you can move on to the next track.
One thing that I appreciate about this game is that there's a course editor, which is something you rarely saw in racers back then!
It's very primative, but it's still a nice addition.
There's nothing else to the game besides this though, you just race and that's pretty much it. It's fun regardless.
It's a very simple racing game, and if you select "Selection A", you don't even race against other racers.
Regardless of what mode you select, you are racing against time and trying to, at least, get 3rd Place, so you can move on to the next track.
One thing that I appreciate about this game is that there's a course editor, which is something you rarely saw in racers back then!
It's very primative, but it's still a nice addition.
There's nothing else to the game besides this though, you just race and that's pretty much it. It's fun regardless.
The games kinda fun UNTIL you get to track 5. That shit is impossible. This game did spawn the best Mario kart track tho so i'll give it an extra half star
Classic game. It's pretty basic for today's standards, but it's one of the most fun multiplayer games you could play in NES.
The game that inspired the best Mario Kart 8 course.
i really like this game actually
A motorcross racing game that works pretty well for the time period it was made in. You may be going in a straight line, but there is a lot of stuff you have to juggle with.
Boost overheating, ground obstacles, and not tripping on ramps is difficult to manage while also attempting to beat the track record. Attempting to do all that with AI racers that can crash into you compounds the difficulty.
A pity you can't race another player and that the SAVE and LOAD options for designing your own courses don't work.
Was fun playing it for 1 hour to see what the game was like. Couldn't beat the record for track 5 at all.
Boost overheating, ground obstacles, and not tripping on ramps is difficult to manage while also attempting to beat the track record. Attempting to do all that with AI racers that can crash into you compounds the difficulty.
A pity you can't race another player and that the SAVE and LOAD options for designing your own courses don't work.
Was fun playing it for 1 hour to see what the game was like. Couldn't beat the record for track 5 at all.
Excitebike is decently fun, but kind of monotonous. The gameplay works reasonably well, there's a few different play modes, and the level editor is a cool inclusion for the versions that actually support saving. I just find myself getting a bit tired of it after only a few races, especially with the constant droning sound of the engine.
I can forgive it for being bad on its own but it also spawned the most boring mario kart track known to man
I don’t know what it is about this game, but I like it. It’s simple in that you just race, but there are a few things such as track obstacles, motorcycle overheating etc that just make it a fun experience. An hour or so gives you everything you need to know what the game is.
yet another animal crossing child experience -em-up
Average dirtbike dudebro
I find this game quite boring! However, for a NES title, it is quite decent! I would say the 3D Classics version is slightly better due to having more personality at least.
1984 in Gaming #2
Another simple Nintendo game based off a sport. This time its Motorcross! Honestly this one wasn't too bad. I enjoyed running through the tracks solo and against the ai. I was also impressed by the map editor, even though I only played with it for all of ten seconds. I also found it amusing that this game has about 40 reviews on Gamefaqs (I'm not sure there is really THAT much to talk about in regards to the game). 3/5
Another simple Nintendo game based off a sport. This time its Motorcross! Honestly this one wasn't too bad. I enjoyed running through the tracks solo and against the ai. I was also impressed by the map editor, even though I only played with it for all of ten seconds. I also found it amusing that this game has about 40 reviews on Gamefaqs (I'm not sure there is really THAT much to talk about in regards to the game). 3/5
Good for an NES Launch Title... Unexciting for everything else.
Look, this game came out in 1984 so the chances of it being a deep and realistic racing simulation are exactly nil. But it still manages to deliver a cool experience!
There's a deceptive amount of skill to be put to the test here, from leaning backwards to avoid tumbling over speedbumps, to tilting your bike in the air to maintain speed when you land, and multitasking to make sure your engine doesn't overheat. And while the game's rudimentary physics aren't the most satisfying, it still manages to be a very compelling "chaos simulator" thanks to the sheer amount of stuff happening onscreen at once, with the wack collision physics meaning that at least one racer is taking a spill at any given time. The difference between winning and losing spectacularly is often mercurial and seemingly down to blind luck, yet losing is... still kinda fun actually!
The game's structure embraces this emphasis on fun - you can select any track to race on at any time, with no content walled behind any arbitrary skill checks! And you can design your own tracks, as seriously or as terribly as you want!
If you play this game trying to win it you'll probably end up frustrated (I could never finish the 5th level myself). But if you treat it as a fun little playground, it's pretty good!
There's a deceptive amount of skill to be put to the test here, from leaning backwards to avoid tumbling over speedbumps, to tilting your bike in the air to maintain speed when you land, and multitasking to make sure your engine doesn't overheat. And while the game's rudimentary physics aren't the most satisfying, it still manages to be a very compelling "chaos simulator" thanks to the sheer amount of stuff happening onscreen at once, with the wack collision physics meaning that at least one racer is taking a spill at any given time. The difference between winning and losing spectacularly is often mercurial and seemingly down to blind luck, yet losing is... still kinda fun actually!
The game's structure embraces this emphasis on fun - you can select any track to race on at any time, with no content walled behind any arbitrary skill checks! And you can design your own tracks, as seriously or as terribly as you want!
If you play this game trying to win it you'll probably end up frustrated (I could never finish the 5th level myself). But if you treat it as a fun little playground, it's pretty good!
This game must have been more impressive when it was released because i have never been able to have fun with it. the controls are awkward and unresponsive, and it really just overall has not aged very well.
A pretty good game for the release of the NES in the United States. If you got the NES day one of release, this is probably going to be your go-to home racing game for the next couple of years, and the fact there wasn't anything to really equally compare to from the time (don't tell anyone most the good home racing games were on Master System in the 1980s!!) definitely helps make it stick out.
It's also unique in that it's a racing game that's entirely from a side camera angle when almost all racing games, either on home console or arcade, were from a back perspective, or sometimes on the rare occasion, had a bird's eye view like Bump n' Jump does. The side camera angle is really nice for seeing your distance from competitors, especially for a 3rd-gen console where depth perception can get a bit difficult in comparison to arcades. It's cute too, because it allowed the creators to put additional detail like a roaring crowd, and TV cameras into the background, which definitely adds to the immersion.
The thing that bothered me the most with it all though, was how easy it was to run into someone in another lane, especially when trying to dodge an obstacle like a wall or dirt path or something. I get that it becomes a strategy to try and block people catching up to you by blocking their path and making them spin-out, but it infinitely felt more annoying than strategic in my experience.
After spending around an hour playing Excitebike, I felt I got my fill. I beat the racers in all 5 tracks, and got 1st place in all the time trials. All that's left is the "Make your own Course" section, which unfortunately my dumbass of a brain has no creativity to think of anything cool to make, a similar problem I personally had with Mario Maker, but I think it's cool they had that as an option nonetheless! It probably kept some kids way more entertained than me. I probably would have rented and returned it pretty satisfied after one day of play as a kid, I imagine.
Excitebike sets out to make an early motor-racing game for the Famicom/NES, and I think it succeeded in doing so fairly well, with not much for me to really critique or praise.
3/5
It's also unique in that it's a racing game that's entirely from a side camera angle when almost all racing games, either on home console or arcade, were from a back perspective, or sometimes on the rare occasion, had a bird's eye view like Bump n' Jump does. The side camera angle is really nice for seeing your distance from competitors, especially for a 3rd-gen console where depth perception can get a bit difficult in comparison to arcades. It's cute too, because it allowed the creators to put additional detail like a roaring crowd, and TV cameras into the background, which definitely adds to the immersion.
The thing that bothered me the most with it all though, was how easy it was to run into someone in another lane, especially when trying to dodge an obstacle like a wall or dirt path or something. I get that it becomes a strategy to try and block people catching up to you by blocking their path and making them spin-out, but it infinitely felt more annoying than strategic in my experience.
After spending around an hour playing Excitebike, I felt I got my fill. I beat the racers in all 5 tracks, and got 1st place in all the time trials. All that's left is the "Make your own Course" section, which unfortunately my dumbass of a brain has no creativity to think of anything cool to make, a similar problem I personally had with Mario Maker, but I think it's cool they had that as an option nonetheless! It probably kept some kids way more entertained than me. I probably would have rented and returned it pretty satisfied after one day of play as a kid, I imagine.
Excitebike sets out to make an early motor-racing game for the Famicom/NES, and I think it succeeded in doing so fairly well, with not much for me to really critique or praise.
3/5
Okay, it's legit so cool that this game has a level editor. It's fun, simple and still really funny to fall over. Sadly, you won't get much out of this game after the first 10 minutes. Still worth looking back on though!
Obviously pretty blah by modern standards, but I'm surprised by how complete this game is. Time trials, racing against CPUs, and even a track creator??? Colour me impressed
It's a neat Mario Kart track!
The first level editor I ever experienced
This game is so fun and has so much replayability.
Highkey NOT interesting.
I've never been a big fan of racing games, and I'm not sure Excitebike could be classified as one. It's still very much enjoyable. As a kid, the track editor was my favorite part, I could spend days creating masterpieces to challenge my friends.
Pretty alright game. That theme song tho
Eh, it's alright. I'm sure it was much more exciting in its time, which is not when I played it.
Didn't really get the hang of it but it's a pretty neat idea. Really cool that it has a level editor.
GooeyScale: 55/100
Originally played this on Animal Crossing alongside Clu Clu Land, Donkey Kong 1 and Jr. Math.
Always thought it was a pretty nice game for what it last. It gets stale just like your average Atari 2600 game but the speed did felt pretty nice at first impact.
Always thought it was a pretty nice game for what it last. It gets stale just like your average Atari 2600 game but the speed did felt pretty nice at first impact.