The year is 1985 on October 18th is when this game released. Do you remember your first time popping in that cartridge of Excitebike for the NES? Seeing that blue title screen with that catchy tune? Just hearing it brings me back to the two houses that I lived in between ages 4-6. I played it a few years after it released. My older brothers and I took turns playing. As a young kid I didn’t understand the game much. I expected more levels, not realizing its a short game.
excitebike Gameplay
The cool part is you can pop a wheelie and hold it as long as you can without crashing. While jumping the ramps you can fly high while doing a wheelie or leaning forward gets you some serious airtime. Another cool feature is you can hit turbo to fly past your opponents. You just have to be careful to not over-heat your motor.
Once you over-heat you have to pull aside and it takes time out of your progress. It also has an interesting perspective since its side scroll. It repeats the laps so you know you are in a track rather than a straight away. This game was different from the typical games that are overhead of a circuit track.
The obstacles
Excitebike’s obstacles consists of small ramps, high hills, dirt patches and this small wall looking thing. If you hit it head on you will crash unless you do a wheelie. You have to be careful with the high hills because one wrong move can send you tumbling. You also need to watch out for other opponents because you can crash into them and get wrecked. The mud slows you down so you want to avoid it as much as possible. Every little delay adds up and before you know it you won’t be in first place anymore.
The gameplay options
At the menu screen you have 3 options. Selection A allows you to race against the clock by yourself. Selection B allows you to race against the computer. Design lets you design your own track. Designing is the fun part because you can make the craziest most difficult track that will piss anybody off. It’s funny to me because I’ve made the most outrageous tracks to see if I can get through it.
final thoughts
Excitebike for the NES is such a classic favorite of mine which always brings me back to my childhood. It’s an easy game, very quick to beat and doesn’t make it on the list of “Most difficult NES games”. I love the colors and the sprites because they did such a good job with the design. This game was innovative because it gave you the ability to make your own stage. I always loved those type of games.
Excitebike play throughs
Below you can watch my commentary play-through or non commentary just to relive the beautiful sounds and visuals of Excitebike for the NES.
Click the link below to check out my other posts on other NES classics