mini-Review: Excitebike

     Excitebike

    Any Nintendo fan that grew up with the NES, or who experienced the virtual console on the Wii, 3DS, Wii U or on the Switch will most likely know Excitebike. One of the OG 35 releases in the states for the NES in the "programmable series" of black box games, Excitebike is an all-time classic and in my opinion has stood the test of time and a testament as a game where just because a game is simple, doesn't mean it's not fun.

    The game itself is fairly simple. Select from a handful of courses between "selection a" and "selection b" which just meant do you want to race alone on the track, or race against other racers on the track. The goal is to race your bike on a horizontal 2D plane over the course of 2 laps, trying to get a top 3 time to move onto the next stage. 

    The real charm comes from the presentation. Early era Famicom/NES visuals scratch a very specific itch that many indie games have tried to replicate, but don't realize how simple some of the visuals are. The soundtrack, similar to many other of the games from that era, is minimal and oozes with charm. The preparation of selecting a track jingle along with your little avatar standing on the podium hopping along to the victory tune after you win a race is peak video games. The default courses all have their own challenges to them, with varied hills and bumps to go over, with a learning curve that wants you to keep coming back for more. Excitebike also has potentially one of the first major instances of resource management in a game, let alone a racing game. Making sure you don't over heat can be one of the difference makers from a good Excitebike player, and a great one. The course customization is awesome as well. Getting to create courses for friends and family to enjoy, or just to push to the limits what you can accomplish on a course while your console is still on. 

    Long-story short, I love Excitebike. There's not much to the game, but there doesn't really need to be! Simple yet effective gameplay that keeps you coming back for short sessions was the king of home games in the early-mid 80's and Excitebike is one of the best to do so. If you haven't played it already, give it shot!