A pretty good game for the release of the NES in the United States. If you got the NES day one of release, this is probably going to be your go-to home racing game for the next couple of years, and the fact there wasn't anything to really equally compare to from the time (don't tell anyone most the good home racing games were on Master System in the 1980s!!) definitely helps make it stick out.
It's also unique in that it's a racing game that's entirely from a side camera angle when almost all racing games, either on home console or arcade, were from a back perspective, or sometimes on the rare occasion, had a bird's eye view like Bump n' Jump does. The side camera angle is really nice for seeing your distance from competitors, especially for a 3rd-gen console where depth perception can get a bit difficult in comparison to arcades. It's cute too, because it allowed the creators to put additional detail like a roaring crowd, and TV cameras into the background, which definitely adds to the immersion.
The thing that bothered me the most with it all though, was how easy it was to run into someone in another lane, especially when trying to dodge an obstacle like a wall or dirt path or something. I get that it becomes a strategy to try and block people catching up to you by blocking their path and making them spin-out, but it infinitely felt more annoying than strategic in my experience.
After spending around an hour playing Excitebike, I felt I got my fill. I beat the racers in all 5 tracks, and got 1st place in all the time trials. All that's left is the "Make your own Course" section, which unfortunately my dumbass of a brain has no creativity to think of anything cool to make, a similar problem I personally had with Mario Maker, but I think it's cool they had that as an option nonetheless! It probably kept some kids way more entertained than me. I probably would have rented and returned it pretty satisfied after one day of play as a kid, I imagine.
Excitebike sets out to make an early motor-racing game for the Famicom/NES, and I think it succeeded in doing so fairly well, with not much for me to really critique or praise.
3/5
It's also unique in that it's a racing game that's entirely from a side camera angle when almost all racing games, either on home console or arcade, were from a back perspective, or sometimes on the rare occasion, had a bird's eye view like Bump n' Jump does. The side camera angle is really nice for seeing your distance from competitors, especially for a 3rd-gen console where depth perception can get a bit difficult in comparison to arcades. It's cute too, because it allowed the creators to put additional detail like a roaring crowd, and TV cameras into the background, which definitely adds to the immersion.
The thing that bothered me the most with it all though, was how easy it was to run into someone in another lane, especially when trying to dodge an obstacle like a wall or dirt path or something. I get that it becomes a strategy to try and block people catching up to you by blocking their path and making them spin-out, but it infinitely felt more annoying than strategic in my experience.
After spending around an hour playing Excitebike, I felt I got my fill. I beat the racers in all 5 tracks, and got 1st place in all the time trials. All that's left is the "Make your own Course" section, which unfortunately my dumbass of a brain has no creativity to think of anything cool to make, a similar problem I personally had with Mario Maker, but I think it's cool they had that as an option nonetheless! It probably kept some kids way more entertained than me. I probably would have rented and returned it pretty satisfied after one day of play as a kid, I imagine.
Excitebike sets out to make an early motor-racing game for the Famicom/NES, and I think it succeeded in doing so fairly well, with not much for me to really critique or praise.
3/5