Does this game bring back memories or what? Many of you have played this classic game I am sure; it is a real classic in every sense of the word. This is a motocross racing game released for the NES in 1985 in North America for the Nintendo Entertainment System. Shigeru Miyamoto is listed as the designer for this game and it really shows, the creator of the Mario franchise sure can make any game great. Let’s get our racing gear on, it’s time to kick it!
This was an early effort from Nintendo to release a successful game that would be fun and easy to play by the masses, and they succeeded. The game play is rather simple; you are competing against the clock, not other drivers. There is an A & B mode upon starting the game and also the op
tion to edit tracks. The A mode is you versus the clock and the B mode is you versus the clock with other drivers on the screen. The other drivers are just there for the look; it does not affect you in any way, but if you’re trying to get the fastest time play A mode so they won’t be in your way.
There are five courses in the game each with two stages and their own challenges. The fun in the game is finding the best way to get over objects and ramps as well as seeing how high you can jump. You have your regular gas and a turbo button, but the turbo button will over heat your engine if you use it too much shown by a meter in the bottom center of the screen.
Sometimes it seems there is just a little bit left on the meter and you try to push your bike to its limit. If you do overheat, your bike gets pushed by magical winds to the other side of the track where you must wait forever for it to cool down. What is interesting is that using the regular gas button does not add heat to your engine, I don’t know much about bikes but it still would create heat right?
Looking back at the game you have to wonder what parents thought about this game. Your character is clearly cheating. None of the other racers have a turbo. There are no officcals checking your bike at the end of the race, no inspection. Somebody should call Jimmy Johnson about this!
The graphics for the game are pretty well done; the ramps have some perspective to them rather than just being 2D in nature. The crowd is just like a 6 year old’s art project; it almost looks like something is there but really there is nothing. I do like seeing the photographers on the side of the field as you crash inches from their feet. They just stand there taking your picture offering no help of any kind, what jerks! The speed arrows are really fun and in the editor I would put many of them in a row to go as fast as I could.
Yes, the rest of the course is all jumps.
Crashing in this game is not recommended. Once you crash you are dealt with a long animation of the crash, it feels like Michael Bay was heading up the animation department making you watch the same angle over and over again until it gets drilled into your head. If you crash on top of a mountain you comically fall down the mountain spinning and flipping until you crash into a big pile of dung known as your racing ability.
I have some fond memories playing this game at my next door friend’s house growing up. It seems like we would always be playing this game or Rampage, also on the NES. I am not sure if it was the best game out of the lot we had or just that it was easy for us at the time. I see the game a little differently today as I did when I was a kid playing the game. For instance when I was a kid I was just trying to get to the end of the race and see how much air I could get off jumps. Now I play the game differently, I try to get the fastest time, experimenting with new ways of jumping and when to boost or not to boost. Old games like these are deep in that you can try a few different ways to get past your objectives. Shooters of today have only a few ways to get past a level and often there is only one approach to it. What gives modern game developers?
Just starting up the game and hearing that music brings me back. You can almost hear the sounds of real bikes and dirt flying through the air can’t you? Well in real life they don’t have many tracks that look this way, most are in circles or under crowded arenas with lots of cold light beer. I would often just make jump after jump in the editor, which was a really cool feature and which is still not seen in many games to this day. PC games will always have the advantage in that respect. You can edit maps and settings that console gamers will only dream about.
I often see this game for sale, and I own two copies. You can purchase this game on the Wii virtual console and if it’s your only option I suggest you get it. Check out Wikipedia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Excitebike for more information on the game.
This is one of my favorite games on the NES, I would rate it an A for the system. It’s simple, quick and easy to pick up and a great break from drinking all day.
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