Game Debate #225: Excitebike

[Reed Rothchild | 9,971]

[Webhead123 | 758]

I have a hard time pinning this one down with a rating. On the one hand, it's a game that is incredibly nostalgic for me and I spent more than a few hours in the course editor back in the day. On the other hand, I can appreciate that it is also a very simplistic game with a very limited scope. I appreciate that this is true of all of the NES "Black Box" games but I still think many of those games offer more general replay value than Excitebike. So, I'm giving it a solid 7 for being a game that is fun and classically charming in that early NES way and very approachable yet not exactly what I would call one of the defining titles of the console.

[mbd39 | 2,108]

No idea how to rate this. I didn't grow up with it and I only played it for a weekly contest and didn't have a good time.

[fox | 1,778]

A fun pick up and play racing game.  Simple gameplay but knowing to angle jumps, manage your turbo, wheelie past hazards, and clip opponents, gives it more depth than might be immediately obvious.

The level creator is a lot of fun and seems very forward thinking, since level editors were not really much of a thing in console games previously and are still rare today.

Only real downside is lack of a two player mode (which was added in the VS version) and ability to save your custom tracks.

[NostalgicMachine | 334]

I don't feel like I can fairly rate this one, as I didn't grow up with it and also wasn't a fan of the controls when I did try it as an adult.

[JamesRobot | 6,049]

I love Excitebike.  I will play it for a few days every time I get the urge to play it.  Still can't get the #1 spot on Selection B Track 5 though.  And the track editor was revolutionary at the time.  I can't think of an earlier game to do this.  Historical significance, blah blah blah...  but truly amazing if you were a contemporary player of Excitebike.  Big 9.

[Kguillemette | 1,634]

6/10. Probably the seminal pick up and play racing game on the system. Perfect for little 10 minute gaming bursts.

[Gentlegamer | 230]

A game that perfectly bridged the style of the Atari and Nintendo eras.

 

9/10

[wongojack | 327]

I voted 8.  The game pretty much does exactly what it sets out to do.  100% total success in terms of achieving the scope.  Does that make it a great game?  I think so, but not quite perfect.

 

The little tune it plays at startup might be my favorite little jingle on the NES.

[TDIRunner | 2,927]

Never owned it as a kid, but I played it a lot because of a friend who had it, and from renting it a few times.  I was never very good at it, but I never cared about the racing.  I just liked the jumps and making my own courses.  As an adult, it can still find it enjoyable, but there are better racing games on the NES.  

[G-type | 2,836]

16 hours ago, fox said:

The level creator is a lot of fun and seems very forward thinking, since level editors were not really much of a thing in console games previously and are still rare today.

Had one in wrecking crew too! I also enjoyed the level editor, but not being able to save your creation made it feel kind of like a waste of time.

[CT | 185]

Just learned about this trick recently 

 

[koifish | 601]

this game is great and in addition everybody should try the wiiware sequel too.

[Tanooki | 5,145]

I gave is a 7 which I think is fair and because I scored it for how we got it outside of Japan.  The game has a lot of nice courses given the age and size of the game, decent variety of things to get in your way with the track obstacles too.

But in the end, that's it.  Sure it has a track designer and so on, but it's pretty much a do it and forget it waste because yo can't save the work that takes a long time relatively speaking to do.

 

And that's where I leave it with the 7 it got and not the 8 I would give it.  If you do play this, it's the Japanese version and I mean either the cart or the famicom disk which is a high 8 (8.5 if it existed.)  In Japan the cart did save, off cart, using a tape deck and tones which you recorded, then fed back to the game later at a load screen.  Wrecking Crew and Mach Rider were the same, some third parties did too like Lode Runner.  On that one, same game, but no losses...yay.  Now on the FDS though you had that same editor, a little more added, but also it was VS Excitebike the arcade game which has a 2 player mode and more fleshed out designs on the courses making it the peak title.

I will link this, someone here in the past showed how to hack together a tape deck and an enio expansion device to get that thing working on a US copy but well, good luck geting all that now and doing it.  

 

[Hammerfestus | 4,110]

Unless you have nostalgia for this one it’s not very fun.

[AstralSoul | 523]

I know this is an extremely simple game. I know it probably didn't age well. I know it probably wasn't even revolutionary when it came out. But I love this game. I played this for hours and hours at a time in the 80s/90s. Even know I can get sucked into it for several hours. It's so simple yet so fun. The only thing I wish was that you could save your custom tracks. 8/10

[docile tapeworm | 4,273]

On 10/9/2024 at 7:53 PM, JamesRobot said:

I love Excitebike.  I will play it for a few days every time I get the urge to play it.  Still can't get the #1 spot on Selection B Track 5 though.  And the track editor was revolutionary at the time.  I can't think of an earlier game to do this.  Historical significance, blah blah blah...  but truly amazing if you were a contemporary player of Excitebike.  Big 9.

I love excitebike too

[mbd39 | 2,108]

6 hours ago, AstralSoul said:

I know this is an extremely simple game. I know it probably didn't age well. I know it probably wasn't even revolutionary when it came out. But I love this game. I played this for hours and hours at a time in the 80s/90s. Even know I can get sucked into it for several hours. It's so simple yet so fun. The only thing I wish was that you could save your custom tracks. 8/10

It's probably revolutionary just by virtue of coming out in 1984.

 

[AirVillain | 535]

Big nostalgia hit, but the gameplay doesn't really stand up.

Kind of fun to make your own courses, but not a lot of replay value as it gets annoying racing the harder levels.

Getting knocked over and running to your bike gets old fast.