Excitebike

Excitebike
North American boxart
Developer(s)	Nintendo R&D1 Arika (3DS)
Publisher(s)	Nintendo
Designer(s)	Shigeru Miyamoto
Composer(s)	Akito Nakatsuka
Platform(s)	NES/Famicom, NEC PC-8801, Sharp X1, Arcade, Game Boy Advance, Nintendo GameCube (Animal Crossing game), Virtual Console, Nintendo eShop
Release date(s)	November 30, 1984 NES JP November 30, 1984 NA October 18, 1985 (US) February 3, 1986 (CA) EU September 1, 1986 Famicom Disk System JP December 9, 1988 GBA JP February 14, 2004 NA June 2, 2004 EU July 9, 2004 Virtual Console EU February 16, 2007 JP March 13, 2007 NA March 19, 2007 3D Classics JP June 6, 2011 NA June 6, 2011 EU June 6, 2011
Genre(s)	Racing game
Mode(s)	Single player, multiplayer
Rating(s)	ESRB: E (Everyone) (GBA, Wii, 3DS)
Media/distribution	192-kilobit cartridge
System requirements Nintendo Entertainment Software

A screenshot of the game.

Excitebike (エキサイトバイク, Ekisaitobaiku^?) is a motocross racing video game franchise made by Nintendo. It first debuted as a game for the Famicom in Japan in 1984 and as a launch title for the NES in 1985. It is the first game of the Excite series, succeeded by its direct sequel Excitebike 64, its spiritual successors Excite Truck and Excitebots: Trick Racing, and the WiiWare title Excitebike: World Rally. 3D Classics: Excitebike, a 3D remake of the original game, was free for a limited time to promote the launch of the Nintendo eShop in June 2011, and has since been available for $5.99.

Gameplay

Whether the player chooses to race solo or against computer-assisted riders, they race against a certain time limit. The goal is to qualify for the Excitebike (the championship) race by coming in at third place or above in the challenge race (preliminary race). The times to beat are located on the stadium walls (for first place) and in the lower left corner (for third place). In any race, the best time is 8 seconds ahead of third place. When the player places first, then they get a message: "It's a new record!" Additional points are earned by beating the previously-set record time.

The player controls the position of the red motorcycle with the Y-axis of the directional pad, and controls acceleration with the A and B buttons. Using B causes greater acceleration, but also increases the motorcycle's temperature shown as a bar at the bottom of the screen. When the temperature exceeds safe limits the bar becomes full, the player will be immobilized for several seconds while the bike cools down. Driving over an arrow will immediately reduce the bike's temperature.

The pitch of the motorcycle can be modified with the X-axis of the directional pad, left raises the front, while right lowers the front. In the air, this rotates the bike, but can also be used to create wheelies on the ground. The up and down arrows turn the handlebar left and right, respectively when the bike is on the ground.

At the start of the game, the player can choose one of five tracks in which to race.

Modes

ExciteBike has three modes of gameplay. In Selection A, the player races solo. In Selection B, CPU players join the player. They act as another obstacle; hitting one from the back will cause the player to fall off the bike, while any CPU riders hitting the player's rear wheel will cause them to fall off.

In Design Mode, the player has the ability to build his or her own racing tracks. The player can choose hills and obstacles of various sizes and place them. The player can also choose where to finish the lap, and how many laps there are (up to nine). After it is finished, the player can race the track in either Selection A or Selection B.

The Japanese version of the game allowed saving the player-created tracks to cassette tape, requiring the Famicom Data Recorder peripheral (basically the Famicom equivalent of the C-64's Datassette). Since this peripheral was only available in Japan (intended for use with Nintendo's Family BASIC), track saving was effectively unavailable to American and European players even though there are "save" and "load" options present within the in-game menus of those versions (the game's English manual states that "Save and Load menu selections are not operable in this game; they have been programmed in for potential product developments."). Unlike Wrecking Crew, Excitebike was never re-released for the Famicom Disk System in its original form. Subsequently, courses created within the version available on the Wii Virtual Console release in all regions can actually be saved to the Wii's internal memory.

Ports and enhanced remakes

Vs. Excitebike

Excitebike was enhanced in two different versions, both titled Vs. Excitebike.

The first version was released for arcades in 1984, some time after the Famicom release. The game was based around the VS. Unisystem unit. It is similar to its NES counterpart, though this version has the Design option gone and in the main game there are three difficulty levels (Beginner, Intermediate and Advanced), and the levels are arranged in a different setup: there are seven tracks that must be played twice, the first time as a challenge race, and the second time as an Excitebike race. Whereas the challenge race has no CPU bikers as obstacles, in the Excitebike race mode they appear. Also the position qualify will rise to the 5th place, which means the player must clear the track in that position or higher to advance.

The second was released for the Famicom Disk System peripheral in 1988. While the graphics and core gameplay are still the same, there are several differences between this version, and both the original and its arcade namesake:

• The game features a versus mode known as "Vs. Excite", in which two players compete for winning. The options include maximum number for rounds for deciding a winner, the track in which the players will race on, and the number of laps for said track.
• The music is completely different; none of the songs from the original game are present in this version.
• The "Original Excite" mode is based on the main mode of the arcade version.
• Its rewritable disk format also allows the player to save created tracks.

Excitebike: Bun Bun Mario Battle Stadium

Excitebike: Bun Bun Mario Battle Stadium (エキサイトバイク ぶんぶんマリオバトルスタジアム^?, also known as Mario Excite Bike, BS Excitebike) is a video game for the Satellaview (available only in Japan), and a remake of this game. Unlike the original Excitebike, the human racers have been replaced by Mario, Luigi, Princess Peach, Wario, Toad, and some of Bowser's Koopa Troopas. The concept of the game was unchanged except for a "SUPER" mode where the player has unlimited turbo, as well as the addition of coins. The coins are spread out on the courses and increase top speed.

Other ports and remakes

The original Excitebike has appeared on a number of gaming platforms since its debut in 1984.

• A version of the game was released for the Japan-only NEC PC-8801 and Sharp X1 by Hudson Soft in 1985.
• Players can unlock the title on the Nintendo 64 sequel game Excitebike 64.
• Players can unlock the title (one of several bonus NES games included) on the GameCube game Animal Crossing.
• In 2003, it was released as a five E-card set game, entitled Excitebike-e, for the now-discontinued e-Reader, a device for the Game Boy Advance used for scanning special "e-Cards" to play games, obtain information, or unlock special content.
• In 2004, it was released as part of the Game Boy Advance Classic NES Series. This version is the first non-Japan version to allow the player to save their tracks, although this port only has one savable track.
• The game was added to the European Virtual Console on February 16, 2007, the same day its spiritual successor, Excite Truck, was released there. The game was added to the North American Virtual Console on March 19, 2007.^[1]
• The Nintendo DSi and 3DS includes an Excitebike visualizer that is used while playing music from your SD card on Nintendo DSi Sound or Nintendo 3DS Sound.
• Excitebike: World Rally, a WiiWare game, was released for download on November 9, 2009.
• 3D Classics: Excitebike was released on the Nintendo 3DS as a launch title for the Nintendo eShop in America, Japan and Europe, the game was initially offered for free for a period but is now sold at £5.40 / €6.00 for European markets^[2] and $ 5.99 in the US.^[3] The game features 3D support and analog support. This release was featured amongst other games from the Nintendo Entertainment System and Super NES to be released for the 3DS on a tech demo called Classic Games at E3 2010.^[4][5] The game allows the player to save up to 32 custom created tracks that can be played in either 2D or 3D.^[6]

See also

• List of Nintendo Entertainment System games
• Stunt Kids (1992)

References

1. ^ "Three new releases for Virtual Console". N-Sider.com. 2007-03-19. http://www.n-sider.com/newsview.php?type=story&storyid=2681. Retrieved 2011-06-08. 
2. ^ "3D Classics Excitebike". Nintendo of Europe. http://www.nintendo.co.uk/NOE/en_GB/games/nintendo_3ds_download_software/3d_classics_excitebike_43152.html. Retrieved 10 August 2011. 
3. ^ "3D Classics Excitebike". Nintendo of America. http://www.nintendo.com/games/detail/rzR2UbTBHzXgiibdHhfKQZD3PTzDUTG3. Retrieved 10 August 2011. 
4. ^ Stephen Totilo (2010-06-18). "Mega Man 2, Yoshi's Island Among Teased 3DS Sorta-Remakes". Kotaku.com. http://kotaku.com/5566935/mega-man-2-yoshis-island-among-teased-3ds-sorta+remakes. Retrieved 2011-06-08. 
5. ^ Craig Harris (2010-06-15). "E3 2010: Classic NES in 3D! - Nintendo 3DS Feature at IGN". Ds.ign.com. http://ds.ign.com/articles/109/1098405p1.html. Retrieved 2011-06-08. 
6. ^ "3D Classics Excitebike Will Be Free in North America - News". Nintendo World Report. http://www.nintendoworldreport.com/news/26461. Retrieved 2011-06-08. 

External links

• Excitebike guide at StrategyWiki
• Excitebike at MobyGames