Excitebike is a racing video game created in 1984 by Nintendo for the Nintendo Entertainment System. Later that year, it was moved to arcades using the Nintendo VS. System, and in 1988, it was also released for the Famicom Disk System. In North America, it became one of the most popular games on the console. It was the first game in the Excite series.

Shigeru Miyamoto designed and directed Excitebike. His team created a smooth side-scrolling system for the game, which was later used to develop Super Mario Bros. (1985). This system allowed Mario to speed up smoothly from walking to running, instead of moving at a constant speed.

Excitebike was successful both in reviews and sales. It led to several follow-up games and has been released again on other Nintendo platforms, such as the Wii and Wii U Virtual Console, and the Nintendo Classics service.

Gameplay

Excitebike is a side-scrolling racing game where the player controls a motocross racer. There are two gameplay modes: Selection A is a solo race, and Selection B is a race against computer-controlled opponents. The goal is to finish in third place or better in a preliminary race to qualify for the championship race. The A button accelerates the bike, and the B button gives a turbo boost that increases speed but can overheat the engine if used too long, causing a cooldown period where the bike stops. The engine's temperature can be reset by driving over arrows on the course. The directional pad allows players to switch lanes and adjust the racer's balance midair after jumps. Landing on both wheels keeps momentum, but uneven landings may cause a loss of speed or a crash. As the game continues, players face more obstacles like gaps, rough patches that slow the bike if hit, and bottlenecks with only two lanes instead of four.

Design Mode lets players create tracks using 19 types of hurdles. Players can save and load tracks for the Famicom Data Recorder tape drive, which was only released in Japan.

Other releases

There are two improved versions of the game, both named Vs. Excitebike.

The first version was released in 1984 for the VS. UniSystem arcade machines, after the Famicom version came out. It is similar to the Famicom Disk System version, but this arcade version does not include the Design option. It has three difficulty levels and other small differences compared to the Famicom version.

The second version was released in 1988 for the Famicom Disk System. The graphics and main gameplay are the same as before, but the FDS version has special features not found in the NES or arcade versions:

• The "VS. Excite" mode allows two players to compete. Players can choose the number of rounds, the track, and the number of laps.
• The music is completely different from the original game. It does not include any songs from the original and has a new gameplay theme. The music was created by Soyo Oka.
• The "Original Excite" mode is based on the main gameplay of the arcade version, but it uses a slightly different color scheme.
• The FDS version uses a special disk format that lets players save custom tracks they create.

Excitebike: Bun Bun Mario Battle Stadium, also called Mario Excite Bike or BS Excitebike, is a remake of the original game. It was released in 1995 for the Japan-only Satellaview peripheral for the Super Famicom. In this version, human racers are replaced by characters like Mario, Luigi, Princess Peach, Wario, Toad, and some of Bowser’s Koopa Troopas. The main idea of the game remains the same, except for a "SUPER" mode where players have unlimited turbo power and can collect coins to increase their speed, similar to the Mario Kart series.

The original Excitebike is an unlockable bonus game in Excitebike 64, released in 2000 for the Nintendo 64. It is also one of several unlockable NES games in Animal Crossing, released in 2001 for the GameCube. The Nintendo 64 version adds back the ability to save and load custom tracks in Design mode, but only one track can be saved on the Game Pak. The Animal Crossing version allows players to transfer the game to the Game Boy Advance using a link cable. Excitebike was also released for the Game Boy Advance as e-Reader cards and later as a Game Pak in the Classic NES Series.

Excitebike was added to the Wii’s Virtual Console in Europe on February 16, 2007, the same day its spiritual successor, Excite Truck, was released there. The game was later added to the North American Virtual Console on March 19, 2007. It was re-released in North America for the Wii U’s Virtual Console on April 26, 2013. 3D Classics: Excitebike was released on the Nintendo 3DS as a launch game for the Nintendo eShop in America, Japan, and Europe. It was initially free but later sold for £5.40/€6.00 in Europe and $5.99 in the U.S. This version includes 3D stereoscopic support and analog control support. It was part of a tech demo called Classic Games at E3 2010, which showcased other NES and Super NES games on the 3DS. Players can save up to 32 custom tracks, which can be played in 2D or 3D.

Excitebike is one of the 30 games available on the NES Classic Edition, released by Nintendo on November 11, 2016. Vs. Excitebike was released on the Nintendo Switch in the Nintendo eShop in September 2018, by Hamster Corporation as part of the Arcade Archives series, under a license from Nintendo.

Reception

In Japan, Game Machine listed VS. Excitebike as the fifth most successful table arcade unit in January 1985. In North America, the game was ranked number 13 on the RePlay arcade software charts in December 1985. It finished the year as America's second highest-selling arcade system game of 1985, behind Nintendo's Hogan's Alley.

The game has received mostly positive reviews. Allgame gave Excitebike its highest rating of five stars and called it an "essential part of any NES collection." The review praised its graphics as cute and its controls as simple but still requiring skill to use effectively. It also highlighted the game's design mode, which allowed players to create their own courses using 19 different components, calling it the first of its kind in a console game.

IGN praised the NES version in 2007, saying it was "very addictive" and noted that it shows video games can be fun without needing flashy graphics or complex AI. The review stated that while there are many racing games today, Excitebike remains unique and demonstrates the core joy of gaming. IGN ranked Excitebike as the 14th best NES game. GamesRadar placed it as the 12th best game on the NES Classic Edition, saying it has aged well with "a strong sense of speed while driving" and "good balance while jumping and landing." Game Informer ranked the game 44th on its list of the top 100 games of all time.

Kotaku editor Jason Schreier ranked Excitebike as the worst game on the NES Classic Edition, calling it "a truly bad video game" without providing further details.

Legacy

The side-scrolling gameplay of Excitebike played an important role in creating Super Mario Bros. (1985). The same team led by Shigeru Miyamoto, who developed Excitebike, later created a 1985 version of the side-scrolling action game Kung-Fu Master (1984) for the NES, called Kung Fu. Miyamoto’s team used the skills they learned from making both games to improve the platformer genre, which they had started with Donkey Kong (1981). These steps helped bring Miyamoto’s vision of a more complex side-scrolling platformer closer to reality. While working on Excitebike and Kung Fu, Miyamoto created the idea of a platformer where players could move sideways over long distances while planning their actions, and where the backgrounds were colorful instead of black. Super Mario Bros. used the smooth scrolling system Miyamoto’s team had first developed for Excitebike, allowing Mario to speed up from walking to running, unlike earlier games where movement was constant.

Excitebike led to several follow-up games, including Excitebike 64 (2000), Excite Truck (2006), Excitebots: Trick Racing (2009), and the WiiWare game Excitebike: World Rally (2009). A track based on Excitebike was added as downloadable content for Mario Kart 8 (2014) and was included by default in Mario Kart 8 Deluxe (2017). Characters from Excitebike also appeared as Assist Trophies in Super Smash Bros. Brawl.