Release Date: October 18, 1985
(Our first entry in the underappreciated programmable series)
The Nintendo Entertainment System entered the US market at a time when game consoles were practically dead. In 1983 the market was saturated with over a half dozen consoles cranking out games at a breakneck pace. By 1985, however, it was all gone. The Atari 2600 only had three new games in 1985 with one of them, Q*Bert’s Qubes, seeing a very limited release. The only other still active console, the Intellivison, had already been disowned by Mattel and had gone to mostly mail order. It looked like consumers didn’t want game consoles anymore. So when Nintendo decided to market their console in America they had to sneak in through the back door. They had a soft launch in New York in the fall of 1985 and didn’t go nationwide for almost another year. Because of this most of the games we probably think of as launch titles were actually released later. Early classics like Metroid and Kid Icarus were released almost a year after launch. Probably most shockingly was that although there were three games featuring Mario, there was no Super Mario Bros. Just try to think of a time when there was an NES but no Super Mario Bros. It’s hard to do, isn’t it? So what did get released back in November 1985? Well it was mostly odd arcade games and sports titles that were not necessarily new. Baseball was already two years old and it showed. Excitebike is one of the few that has stood the test of time. Why has this simple motorcycle game been so endearing?
(The starting screen of my childhood)
Excitebike works because it has an engaging simplicity. A side-scrolling racer with only five tracks doesn’t sound that exciting, but it’s all in the execution. Actually calling it a racer isn’t exactly accurate because while there are other cyclists out there you are facing a tougher opponent, yourself. Every track has a preset time to beat, and it’s all about finding a way to get through the race faster. With almost two dozen obstacles to chose from this can be challenging. Much of the tension comes from jumping and landing. You really have to learn how to position your bike after jumps to get good speed. This becomes even more difficult with other racers clogging up the lanes. They love to congregate around the engine cooling arrows and they just keep on coming. Engine temperature is another wrinkle this game has to make it more challenging. You can either hold down A and race at a slower speed without the threat of overheating or hold down B and race faster but with a quickly heating engine. For such a simple game it has quite a bit of strategy.
(Pure racing goodness! I love how they show the best time in the background)
Of course the meat of the game is its fondly remembered track editor mode. It couldn’t be much simpler. The track moves to designated areas where you pick out obstacles and jumps. It’s fun because there are different ways to go about making a track. You can design one for speed or skill. Of course if you’re like me you alternate between jumps and those giant platforms that always make you crash. Then maybe put in those potholes that slow you down. Then maybe zigzags of speed bumps. I’m sorry I’m a bit of a masochist when it comes to Excitebike tracks. The track editor really give the game personality which was still a fairly new concept in gaming and what Nintendo would quickly become known for.
So Excitebike is actually going to go fairly high on my list. It’s right there in a clump of cartoony racing games. I agonized about if I was going to put it above Metro-Cross, and I did because the track editor and selectable tracks gives it a bit more replay value. Then I bumped it up even a couple more spots because I thought about it too long. It’s an impressive little game for 1985. I’ll probably be proven wrong, I can’t think of a better console racer that came out earlier. It certainly showed that while the NES might not be ready for prime time it sure had potential. It was just the game to tide us over until 1986.
1. Super Mario Odyssey
2. Galaga
3. Donkey Kong
4. Exodus: Ultima III
5. Pac-Mania
6. Pac-Man
7. Excitebike
8. Artifact Adventure Gaiden DX
9. Mickey’s Racing Adventure
10. Metro-Cross
11. Gaplus
12. Dragon Spirit
13. Walt Disney World Quest: Magical Racing Tour (GBC)
14. Red Sea Crossing
15. Baraduke
16. Gamma-Attack
17. The Legend of “Valkyrie”
18. Galaxian
19. Evoland
20. Defunct
21. Gyruss (2600)
22. Looney Tunes Racing
23. Squidlit
24. Birthday Mania
25. Bad Street Brawler
Loved this game as a kid. Particularly the track editor. For me it was setting up the best jumps.
ReplyDeleteReally love the history lessons you been throwing in some of these reviews. The Nintendo history you just put in this one was especially enlightening.
On a sort of side-note, the middle section of of the rankings that has been referred to as the blue section, looks purple to me on my screen. Does it look purple to anyone else?
Yeah that does look purple. It looks blue on my word processor so it must be the background color messing with it.
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