Year released: ? (Arcade), 1985 (NES)

Number of Players: 1)

Motorcycles + NES.

Graphics: The racers are small, but the terrain can fill up the screen. Not that many colors are used, and since you're racing on dirt, the graphics look ugly.

Play control: Up and down move your bike left and right on the course--you're seeing it from a 3/4 view from the side, so it looks like you're moving up and down. Pressing left will make you move back on one wheel, and when jumping, pressing right will make you dive forward.

Sound: A game full of revving motorcycles, weird jumping sounds, and nothing else. Pump up the volume...?

Challenge: Beat whatever race you take on in the given time limit. This will involve avoiding other motorcyclists (of which there is an infinite supply) to avoid a crash, hitting jumps just the right way, and landing the right way. Not much variation, all easy to learn but hard to master.

Gameplay: Everything is fun while you're learning, but when you can execute the stuff you need to, it just gets boring. Nobody wants to go up and down and up and down all day just to claim first place in a game that doesn't even save. Still, you can whip it out for a half hour worth of play every now and then. It's not like Tetris, where you can get infinite combos and get better--Excitebike hits a wall where after an hour of work you can't get better. The variation isn't that great, either. Ooh, but you can make your own tracks... that adds a lot of fun value. Just to put in your favorite obstacles is really cool...

Bottom line: Eh... kinda fun. Not quite good enough to be a rainy day game.

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