Excitebike

Excitebike[lower-alpha 1] is a motocross racing video game franchise made by Nintendo. It debuted as a game for the Famicom in Japan in 1984 and as a launch title for the NES in 1985. It is the first game of the Excite series, succeeded by its direct sequel Excitebike 64, its spiritual successors Excite Truck and Excitebots: Trick Racing, and the WiiWare title Excitebike: World Rally. 3D Classics: Excitebike, a 3D remake of the original game, was free for a limited time to promote the launch of the Nintendo eShop in June 2011.

Excitebike
Packaging artwork released in North America.
Developer(s)
Publisher(s)
Director(s)Shigeru Miyamoto
Producer(s)Shigeru Miyamoto
Designer(s)Shigeru Miyamoto
Programmer(s)Toshihiko Nakago
Composer(s)Akito Nakatsuka
Soyo Oka (FDS version)
SeriesExcite
Platform(s)
Release
    • JP: November 30, 1984
    • USA: October 18, 1985
    • CAN: February 3, 1986
    • EU: September 1, 1986
Genre(s)Racing
Mode(s)Single player, multiplayer

Gameplay
A screenshot of the game.

At the start of the game, the player can choose from five tracks in which to race. Whether the player chooses to race solo or against computer-assisted riders, there is a certain time limit. The goal is to qualify for the Excitebike championship race by finishing at third place or above in the preliminary challenge race. The times to beat are located on the stadium walls for first place, and in the lower left corner for third place. In any race, the best time is 8 seconds ahead of third place. When the player places first, a message appears: "It's a new record!" Additional points are earned by beating the previously-set record time.

The player controls the position of the red motorcycle with the Y-axis of the directional pad, and controls acceleration with the A and B buttons. Using B causes greater acceleration, but also increases the motorcycle's temperature shown as a bar at the bottom of the screen. When the temperature exceeds safe limits the bar becomes full; the player will be immobilized for several seconds while the bike cools down. Driving over an arrow will immediately reduce the bike's temperature.

The pitch of the motorcycle's airborne trajectory can be modified with the X-axis of the directional pad: left raises the front, and right lowers the front. In the air, this rotates the bike, but can also be used to perform wheelies on the ground. Pushing up or down turns the handlebars left or right, respectively, when the bike is on the ground.

If the player crashes by colliding with an opponent or ramp, or by landing badly from a jump, the rider is knocked off the bike and lands in the field. Pushing A repeatedly allows the rider to run back to the bike and continue the race.

Modes

Excitebike has three modes of gameplay. In Selection A, the player races solo. In Selection B, CPU players join the player. They act as another form of obstacle; hitting one from the rear will cause the player to fall off the bike, and any CPU riders hitting the player's rear wheel will cause them to fall off.

In Design Mode, the player has the ability to build racing tracks. The player can choose hills and obstacles of various sizes and place them, represented by the letters A-S. The player can also choose where to finish the lap, and how many laps there are (up to nine). After it is finished, the player can race the track in either Selection A or Selection B.

The Japanese version of the game allows saving the player-created tracks to cassette tape, requiring the Famicom Data Recorder peripheral. Since this peripheral was only available in Japan and intended for use with Nintendo's Family BASIC, track saving is effectively unavailable to American and European players even though there are "save" and "load" options present within the in-game menus of those versions. The game's English manual states that "Save and Load menu selections are not operable in this game; they have been programmed in for potential product developments". These options were removed in the e-Reader version of the game.

Unlike Wrecking Crew, Excitebike was never re-released for the Famicom Disk System in its original form. Subsequently, courses created within the version available on the Wii Virtual Console release in all regions can actually be saved to the Wii's internal memory.

Ports and remakes

Vs. Excitebike

There are two enhanced versions, both titled Vs. Excitebike.

The first version was released for arcades in 1984, after the Famicom release. The game was based around the VS. UniSystem unit. It is similar to its Famicom Disc System counterpart, though this version has the Design option gone and in the main game there are three difficulty levels (Beginner, Intermediate and Advanced), and there are seven tracks, just like the Famicom Disc System version. This is the original game with the NES version shortening some tracks and rearrangement of track obstacles. (For example, track 5 is a shorter modified version of the original track 7.) In addition, there is no track editor. The first race is qualifier and has no CPU bikers as obstacles, they appear in the "race" mode. (In reality you are only racing against the clock. You do not compete with the other riders; they are only there as obstacles.) As in real-life supercross heat races, riders must complete the track in fifth position or higher to advance.

The second was released for the Famicom Disk System peripheral in 1988. While the graphics and core gameplay are still the same, the FDS version has several distinctive features that the NES and arcade versions lack:

  • The game features a versus mode named "Vs. Excite", in which two players compete against each other. The options include the maximum number of rounds to play, the track, and the number of laps for said track.
  • The music is completely different; none of the songs from the original game are present in this version, and a theme is played during gameplay. The music is composed by Soyo Oka.[1]
  • The "Original Excite" mode is based on the main mode of the arcade version, with minor differences such as a different color palette.
  • Its rewritable disk format also allows the player to save created tracks.

Excitebike: Bun Bun Mario Battle Stadium

Excitebike: Bun Bun Mario Battle Stadium,[lower-alpha 2] also known as Mario Excite Bike or BS Excitebike, is for the Japan-only Satellaview peripheral for Super Famicom. As a remake of Excitebike, the human racers have been replaced by Mario, Luigi, Princess Peach, Wario, Toad, and some of Bowser's Koopa Troopas. The concept of the game was unchanged except for a "SUPER" mode where the player has unlimited turbo, as well as the addition of coins. The coins are spread out on the courses and increase top speed.

Other ports and remakes

The original Excitebike has appeared on a number of gaming platforms since its debut in 1984.

  • A version of the game was released for the Japan-only NEC PC-8801 and Sharp X1 by Hudson Soft in 1985.
  • Players can unlock the original game in NES emulation within its Nintendo 64 sequel Excitebike 64. This is the first non-Japan release of the original that has save game support, and only one track can be saved.
  • Players can unlock the game (one of several bonus NES games included) on the GameCube game Animal Crossing.
  • In 2002, it was released as a five E-card set game, titled Excitebike-e, for the e-Reader, a device for the Game Boy Advance used for scanning special "e-Cards" to play games, obtain information, or unlock special content.
  • In 2004, it was released as part of the Game Boy Advance Classic NES Series. As with the Nintendo 64 version, it is capable of saving one custom track.
  • The game was added to the European Wii Virtual Console on February 16, 2007, the same day its spiritual successor, Excite Truck, was released there. The game was added to the North American Virtual Console on March 19, 2007.[2] It was re-released in North America for the Wii U Virtual Console on April 26, 2013.[3]
  • The Nintendo DSi and 3DS includes an Excitebike visualizer that is used while playing music from an SD card on Nintendo DSi Sound or Nintendo 3DS Sound.
  • Excitebike: World Rally, a WiiWare game, was released for download on November 9, 2009.
  • 3D Classics: Excitebike was released on the Nintendo 3DS as a launch game for the Nintendo eShop in America, Japan and Europe; the game was initially offered for free for a period but then was sold at £5.40 / €6.00 for European markets[4] and $5.99 in the US.[5] The game features 3D stereoscopic support and analog control support. This release was featured among other games from the Nintendo Entertainment System and Super NES to be released for the 3DS on a tech demo called Classic Games at E3 2010.[6][7] The game allows the player to save up to 32 custom created tracks that can be played in either 2D or 3D.[8]
  • Excitebike was released on the Nintendo Switch in the Nintendo eShop on 21 September 2018 by Hamster Corporation as part of their Arcade Archives series.[9]


Other media
  • Excitebike is one of the video games used as a basis for the manga titled Famicom Rocky published by Coro Coro Comics from 1985 to 1987.
  • Hobby is the main character of Excitebike, and is one of the video game characters that were adapted for the manga titled Hobby's Famicom Seminar[lower-alpha 3] from 1988 to 1990.
  • On November 11, 2016, the game (alongside 29 other games) was included in the NES Classic Edition / Nintendo Classic Mini: Nintendo Entertainment System released by Nintendo.[10]
  • An Excitebike trophy, sticker, and spirit can be obtained in each installment of the Super Smash Bros. series. A bunch of 8-bit bikers from the game appear in Brawl, where they can be summoned through an Assist Trophy.
  • The Zelda expansion pack for Mario Kart 8 and Mario Kart 8 Deluxe includes "Excitebike Arena".
  • A biker from Excitebike appears in Super Mario Maker as an unlockable Mystery Mushroom costume as part of an update.

Reception
Reviews
Review scores
PublicationScore
GBANES
1Up.comC+[11]N/A
AllGame[12][13]
GameSpot(6.2/10)[14]N/A
IGN(7/10)[15](8.4/10)[16]
Aggregate score
Metacritic71/100[17]N/A

The NES version has received generally positive reviews. Allgame gave Excitebike its highest possible rating of five stars.[13] The review referred to the game as a "staple of any NES collection", praising its graphics as cute and its control as simple that still require strategy to apply properly.[13] The review noted the design mode, as "the first of its kind in a console game, and greatly extends the life of the title by featuring 19 different components you can piece together to build your own course."[13] IGN praised the NES version in 2007, stating "One of the original NES games, Excitebike was one hell of a ride 23 years ago -- and it still is today."[16] IGN praised it as "ridiculously addictive" and that it "proves video games don't need to have flashy graphics or complex AI to actually be fun. Sure, there are other racing games out there today, hundreds of them. This one may not necessarily be better than the recent stuff, but it's unique, addictive, and demonstrates what gaming is really about."[16] IGN ranked Excitebike as the 14th best game on the NES.[18] GamesRadar ranked it as the 12th best game on the NES Classic Edition, saying that it has aged well with "a great sense of speed while driving and an excellent sense of balance while jumping and landing".[19]

In Japan, Game Machine listed VS. Excitebike on their January 15, 1985 issue as being the fifth most-successful table arcade unit of the year.[20]

Kotaku editor Jason Schreier was less enthusiastic about Excitebike when comparing it to the other games available on the NES Classic Edition. He ranked it as the worst game on the console, calling it "a truly awful video game" but with no further explanation.[21]

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See also

Notes
  1. Japanese: エキサイトバイク Hepburn: Ekisaitobaiku
  2. Japanese: エキサイトバイク ぶんぶんマリオバトルスタジアム Hepburn: Ekisaito Baiku: Bunbun Mario Batoru Sutajiamu
  3. われらホビーズファミコンゼミナール

References
  1. Oka, Soyo (March 2011). Greening, Chris (ed.). "Game Music :: Interview with Soyo Oka (March 2011)" (Interview). Interviewed by Chris Greening, Dave Harris. Trans. & local. Ben Schweitzer, Shota Nakama. Retrieved November 3, 2018.
  2. "Three new releases for Virtual Console". N-Sider.com. March 19, 2007. Archived from the original on May 15, 2008. Retrieved June 8, 2011.
  3. "Excitebike". www.nintendo.com. Retrieved 21 February 2019.
  4. "3D Classics Excitebike". Nintendo of Europe. Archived from the original on September 10, 2012. Retrieved August 10, 2011.
  5. "3D Classics Excitebike". Nintendo of America. Retrieved August 10, 2011.
  6. Stephen Totilo (June 18, 2010). "Mega Man 2, Yoshi's Island Among Teased 3DS Sorta-Remakes". Kotaku.com. Retrieved June 8, 2011.
  7. Craig Harris (June 15, 2010). "E3 2010: Classic NES in 3D! - Nintendo 3DS Feature at IGN". Ds.ign.com. Retrieved June 8, 2011.
  8. "3D Classics Excitebike Will Be Free in North America - News". Nintendo World Report. Retrieved June 8, 2011.
  9. Lane, Gavin (2020-03-13). "Guide: Every Arcade Archives Game On Nintendo Switch, Plus Our Top Picks". Nintendo Life. Retrieved 2020-03-28.
  10. Paul, Ian (July 14, 2016). "Nintendo's releasing a miniature NES console packed with 30 classic games". Retrieved November 3, 2018.
  11. "Excitebike (NES Classic)". 1up. Archived from the original on March 5, 2016. Retrieved May 6, 2015.
  12. "Excitebike [Classic NES Series] - Review". AllGame. Archived from the original on November 14, 2014. Retrieved May 6, 2015.
  13. Miller, Skyler. "Excitebike - Review". AllGame. Archived from the original on November 14, 2014. Retrieved June 13, 2014.
  14. Gerstmann, Jeff (April 6, 2004). "Classic NES Series: Excitebike". GameSpot. Archived from the original on August 10, 2004. Retrieved May 6, 2015.
  15. Harris, Craig (June 4, 2004). "Classic NES Series: Excitebike". IGN. Retrieved May 6, 2015.
  16. Birnbaum, Mark (March 21, 2007). "Excitebike Review". IGN. Retrieved May 6, 2015.
  17. "Classic NES Series: Excitebike". Metacritic. Retrieved May 6, 2015.
  18. "Top 100 NES Games". ign.com. Retrieved 29 July 2020.
  19. Trinske, Connor (December 19, 2016). "The Best (And Worst) Games on the NES Classic Edition". Retrieved November 3, 2018.
  20. "Game Machine's Best Hit Games 25 - テーブル型TVゲーム機 (Table Videos)". Game Machine (in Japanese). No. 252. Amusement Press, Inc. 15 January 1985. p. 27.
  21. "All 30 NES Classic Games, Ranked". Kotaku. Retrieved May 28, 2017.


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