Excitebike is a landmark motocross racing video game franchise crafted by Nintendo, first hitting the Famicom in Japan in 1984 before becoming a launch title for the Nintendo Entertainment System (NES) in 1985. As the inaugural game in the Excite series, it paved the way for sequels like Excitebike 64, spiritual successors such as Excite Truck and Excitebots: Trick Racing, and the WiiWare title Excitebike: World Rally. A 3D reimagining, 3D Classics: Excitebike, was initially offered for free to mark the Nintendo eShop launch in June 2011 and is now available for purchase.
Whether choosing to race in одиночном mode or against computer-controlled opponents, players in Excitebike are always racing against the clock. The primary objective is to secure a spot in the Excitebike championship race by achieving a third-place finish or better in the preliminary challenge race. Target times are displayed on stadium walls for first place and in the lower-left corner for the third-place benchmark. Notably, the first-place time is consistently set 8 seconds ahead of the third-place qualifying time. Setting a new record by surpassing the existing best time earns players bonus points and a special in-game message.
Mastering the Controls and Gameplay of Excitebike
Players maneuver a red motorcycle using the directional pad on the NES controller. Vertical movement on the D-pad controls the bike’s lane position, while the A and B buttons manage acceleration. The B button provides a burst of speed, but it also causes the motorcycle’s temperature to rise, indicated by a meter at the screen’s bottom. Overheating, when the temperature bar fills completely, leads to temporary immobilization as the bike cools down. Strategically riding over arrows on the track instantly reduces the bike’s temperature, adding a tactical layer to racing.
The horizontal axis of the D-pad adjusts the motorcycle’s pitch; pushing left raises the front wheel, and right lowers it. In mid-air, this control rotates the bike, and on the ground, it can be used to perform wheelies. Steering, when grounded, is handled by pressing up or down on the D-pad to turn the handlebars left or right, respectively. Collisions with opponents, poor jump landings, or crashes into ramps result in the player being thrown off the bike. Rapidly pressing A and B allows the player to quickly remount and rejoin the race, minimizing downtime.
Game Modes: From Solo Races to Track Design in Excitebike
Excitebike offers three distinct gameplay modes. Selection A is a solo racing mode where players compete against the clock and track records. Selection B introduces CPU-controlled riders as additional obstacles. In this mode, bumping into a CPU rider from behind causes the player to crash, while CPU riders hitting the player’s rear wheel will also result in a crash, adding a competitive and sometimes chaotic element to the races.
Design Mode is a standout feature of Excitebike, allowing players to unleash their creativity by building custom racing tracks. Using a variety of hills and obstacles, represented by letters A through S, players can shape their own courses. The mode also allows customization of the finish line location and the number of laps, up to nine. Once a track is designed, it can be raced in either Selection A or Selection B modes, providing endless replayability.
Originally, the Japanese Famicom version of Excitebike allowed players to save their custom tracks to cassette tape using the Famicom Data Recorder. However, this peripheral was exclusive to Japan, rendering the save and load functions in the international NES versions of the game effectively unusable, despite being present in the game menus. These options were later removed in the e-Reader version. In contrast, the Wii Virtual Console release of Excitebike enabled players to save their designed courses directly to the Wii’s internal memory, bringing the track-saving feature to a wider audience.
For more comprehensive information on Excitebike, further details can be found on Wikipedia.org.
