Excitebike (1984)

Do you have that one fast food meal that you know you shouldn't eat, but every once in a while, you eat it? For me, it's KFC original recipe. About 2-3 times a year, I get it. It scratches an itch. That's what Excitebike is for me. It's a game that, about 4-5 times a year, I want to play for about 20 minutes, and then I'm ok. But the fact that it's 2022 and I STILL feel that way for this game is impressive.

Released as one of the original Nintendo "Black Box" titles (think of them as Nintendo's version of Baskin Robbins 31 flavors. Ok, I'm done with the food analogies), Excitebike is a very easy plug and play kind of a game. You take control of a biker who must place 3rd or greater on five different tracks. You can do this alone, which is a little easier, or you can do it against computer controlled opponents, making it more difficult. You have to balance using your turbo accelerator without overheating. If you overheat, you are penalized time. You also have to land properly after hitting ramps and other obstacles. If you finish the race 3rd or better, you move onto the next track. If not, game over. If you complete all five tracks, the game loops and becomes more difficult.

There is also a track builder option, which is very cool for such an early NES game, but the big problem is you cannot save your tracks. There is no battery backup, no password system, nothing. So while it's fun designing tracks, the fact you can't keep them after you turn the game off is a huge problem.

Excitebike's influence is all over Nintendo. When I see Mario Kart, I see Excitebike. When I see Mario Maker, I see Excitebike. It has almost legendary stature with the brand.

I think that's why, while the game itself is a solid 3 out of 5, I bump it up to 4. It's got longevity that is hard to find in video games overall. For me, like KFC original recipe, it satisfies my hunger briefly, before I'm craving something more.

In the Original Launch of the NES, Super Mario Bros. was the "Game" to play. Fun, Colorful, Challenging, and got a new Adventure type game. it was the "Game" to get.

Excitebike felt like it was in the shadow of Super Mario Bros. despite being a great fun game on it's Own.

The Replay Value this game has is outstanding, You can pretty much replay it any time Today and would still Enjoy it and still go back to play it again.

The game has Skills, Learning curve, Challenge, Imagination, and a lot of other stuff to keep the player going and never get board. If I was to go back and pick Mario or Excitebike, I'd pick Excitebike and be happy with it.

We all remember our first driving game I feel like. Especially if you were gaming during the early years of video games - as an easy but fun idea often would result in either a shooter or some form of racer. I was born in 1988, so my first racing game was Excitebike. Talk about being spoiled right off the bat, and no wonder I was hooked - this is what driving and jumping should feel like! The tracks are short and simple and there's not that many of them, but replay value is definitely there, as well as a fun multiplayer mode that lasts!

As one of the most iconic Black Box NES games and probably one of the most iconic video games of all time; Excitebike is hall of fame, still holds up, and was rightly included on the NES mini that launched a few years ago. I have it on my GameBoy Advance and it's still fun to play every now and then. I miss two player couch races elbowing my brother though...

Excitebike is a pretty simple little set of tracks with some design modes to keep things interesting, while keeping a fair bit of challenge underneath its surface.

The premise is fairly simple - the player is a motocross racer who must race a couple of laps across five tracks of mounting difficulty. The player may accelerate forward or activate turbo at the cost of possibly overheating. Turbo is a little tricky and unintuitive in this game, as the player can only use turbo to their advantage for quick starts or right before jumps. There are a variety of obstacles, mostly ramps of varying size that the player can jump over. While in the air, the player must aim their bike using the control pad if they want to hit the ground correctly and not tumble. The player can also use a limited aiming on the ground to avoid small bumps via wheelies.

With this in mind, the tracks soon become very treacherous and a little frustrating, but that's understandable given that there's only five tracks. CPU players to race against are available in another mode, where the player must avoid crashing into them while using their rear wheel to crash them as well. The design mode also gives a little more variety for those looking to show off challenging tracks or just get a little more bang for the buck.

The theme is a little cheesy but recognizable, and the graphics are simple shades of color with the real graphical prowess going to the wide range of animation that the bikers themselves have. Given these aspects, the game won't be too deep or taxing (unless you really have trouble figuring out those jumps and turbos which then it'll be a real challenge) and provide a little excursion that other Excitebike games would later improve upon.

History:
It actually wasn't until I played Excitebike 64 that I went back for the original. I loved Excitebike 64 actually, and after unlocking the NES game I ended up loving the original just the same.

Expectations:
Well, it's not the most complicated game. I expect I'll have a few minutes of fun before getting bored and moving on to Bomberman?

Night 1:

Just like I remembered... The game's still fun and I played through all the courses in the Selection B mode where you race with CPU assholes opponents in addition to trying to beat the clock.

Liked:
It's just good old fashioned arcade fun! It's exactly the kind of game you pick up for a few minutes to have some fun with then put away until the itch resurfaces. The game is simple to learn and rewarding to master.

Disliked:
No battery, so the course editor is useless. Maybe Nintendo will port the Famicom Disk System over to the US soon...

Personal Score: