Arcade Archives Excitebike

Genre: Side-Scrolling Motorcycle Racing

Players: 1

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Review:

Excitebike is a Side-Scrolling Motorcycle Racing game released in arcades in 1985, then ported to Nintendo Entertainment System later that year as a launch title… at least in the US. In Japan, it was actually released on the Famicom first in 1984 and later that year it received an arcade port called VS Excitebike with multiple improvements, with an upgraded version of that game released to Famicom Disk System in 1988. Each subsequent release of this game received improvements – the Famicom and Nintendo Entertainment System versions of the game got a stage builder, the VS Excitebike arcade release got an additional multiplayer mode, and the Famicom Disk System version of VS Excitebike got both.

…Which is all a really roundabout way of saying that the US arcade version of the original Excitebike is surely the worst version of this game.

Having said that, this is still a classic Nintendo game, and while this release may not be giving us the game at its best, it is nevertheless an enjoyable game, and an important game in Nintendo’s early days as a videogame manufacturer, albeit nowhere as important as contemporaries like Donkey Kong and Super Mario Bros.

The 2D pixel art visuals and chiptune sound design in this game look good but extremely simple by today’s standards. It all works, and it even has a retro style charm to it, but I can’t help but wonder if this would just come across as bland and forgettable if it wasn’t one of the iconic early Nintendo games.

The gameplay here is decent, with players having to avoid obstacles and other racers on the track, ensure that their bike is angled correctly when coming down from a jump, and make good use of the “turbo” to speed up without overheating their bike. Even today, this still feels like a fairly unique Racing game, and I can see it being a fun time-waster. Unfortunately, the lack of multiplayer really hurts this game’s longevity, and I can’t imagine many players will keep coming back to this one after playing it for a few minutes.

This release of the game includes a new “Hi-Score Mode” that challenges players to make as many points as they can in one run. There is also a new “Caravan Mode” that does much the same, but with the limit being five minutes. In addition, this release of the game gives players a decent array of options, including various display options, sound options, challenge modifiers, button mapping, and online leaderboards.

So there are only two remaining elephants in the room to discuss. First: Is this game worth its $8 price tag? And second, is it worth buying if you already subscribe to Nintendo Switch Online, which includes multiple versions of this game on its Nintendo Entertainment System app? I’m going to say no on both counts. Not only is $8 pretty steep for a game this old, but both the regular and VS Excitebike versions of the game available on the Nintendo Entertainment System app are better than this release, due to the inclusion of a stage builder and multiplayer. Really, the only reason anyone would want to buy this release is if they absolutely must own a version of the game. But if you plan on continuing to maintain your Nintendo Switch Online subscription, this release has virtually nothing of value for you.

Is Excitebike an enjoyable game? Sure, but it’s dated and just doesn’t have much staying power compared to other more modern Racing games. It’s definitely not worth the $8 asking price, especially when you can just play better versions this game on Nintendo Switch Online’s Nintendo Entertainment System app instead. If you want to play this game, I recommend you do that.

tl;dr – Excitebike is a Side-Scrolling Motorcycle Racing game that’s a classic from Nintendo’s earliest days as a game developer, but one that has aged significantly, and the lack of multiplayer really hurts this one. On top of this, the price seems far too steep, especially with multiple NES versions of the game being easily accessible on Nintendo Switch Online’s NES app, both of them improved over this version. As a result, it’s difficult to give this game a recommendation.

Grade: C-

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