Excitebike (エキサイトバイク, Ekisaitobaiku) is a Nintendo Entertainment System racing video game initially released in 1984 by Nintendo and the first game in the Excite series. In the game the player has the option to race against the computer or with a friend. A noteworthy feature is the ability to create custom-made tracks which allows the player to add pieces to a blank track. Not including the tracks created by the player, Excitebike contains ten courses.
Gameplay
The player is allowed to either race against the time or race against both the time and other racers. During the race the player will move their motorcycle to the right, all while moving up and down in order to avoid obstacles, pass other drivers and go over ramps. The main goal is not only to win the race, but to also get a high score. To get in first place, the player must be eight seconds faster than the racer in third place.
To accelerate, the player will press the A button on the NES controller. Pressing the B button will cause it to go even faster than usual. During the entire race, the player has to make sure his motorcycle doesn't overheat by going too fast. If it does, then they'll be halted for a short time while it cools itself down.
Development
A Nintendo team in Tokyo developed Excitebike. Excitebike was the first game Shigeru Miyamoto and Toshihiko Nakago worked on together. They would commonly travel to Tokyo to assist the team, and stay down in Tokyo for a few days. Due to the high amount of tourism at the time, they would often have to share a hotel room.
Remakes and re-releases
- Vs. Excitebike was released for arcade and the Famicom Disk System, the later version featuring a new soundtrack, additional levels, an added two-player competition mode (hence the "Vs." in the name), and custom courses that are savable.
- Hudson Soft published a port of Excitebike for the NEC PC-8801 and Sharp X1 home computer systems in Japan.
- Excitebike was released twice for the Game Boy Advance. The first release, Excitebike-e, was as a pack of E-Cards for the E-Reader. The second was a standard cartridge release as part of the Classic NES Series; this version also allowed users to save one custom course.
- Excitebike can be unlocked in Excitebike 64 and Animal Crossing.
- Excitebike is available for download on the Wii's Virtual Console
- An upcoming 3D port of Excitebike will be be available from the Nintendo eShop for 3DS. The port is set to released around the end of May 2011.
Legacy
The Excitebiker has made cameo appearences in the Super Smash Bros. and WarioWare series. In Super Smash Bros. Melee, he appears as a collectable trophy, while in Super Smash Bros. Brawl, he appears as a pixelized Assist Trophy. a minigame in WarioWare, Inc.: Mega Microgame$ is just like Excitebike except the Excitebiker is replaced with Wario on his motorcycle. In the Animal Crossing series, the player can play Excitebike in its entirety.
According to Toshihiko Nakago of Systems Research and Development, Excitebike helped lead to the creation of Yoshi in Super Mario World.
A remake, entitled Excitebike: World Rally, was released as a WiiWare game on November 9th of 2009. It was developed by Monster Games, the same team behind Excite Truck and ExciteBots: Trick Racing on the Wii.
External Links
- Excitebike at Nintendo.com
- Excitebike at Virtual Console Reviews