Excitebike retrospective: Real racing roots | NES Works

Designed by Shigeru Miyamoto, this motocross game is anything but your typical racer - with its side-scrolling design and emphasis on physics and jumps, it feels almost like a rough draft for Super Mario Bros. Ah, but there's a dark and terrible secret lurking in Excitebike, hidden just off the main menu... a sign of just how much Nintendo was making up the NES launch as they went along.

[@thegouldfish]

It wasn't mentioned but Nintendo released a version of ExciteBike for the 3DS that wasn't just a virtualConsole release but a full reworking that included 3D visuals.

[@SlyBeast]

The intros for this series are a master class in high production value.

[@jorymil]

The music of Excitebike, for the couple of seconds it lasts, is quite sophisticated: major 7ths & suspended 9ths, chord inversions, etc.

[@JazzemYT]

As someone who is obsessed with knowing every detail of Nintendo's history, these videos are essential for me. Thanks for the great work as always Jeremy :D I can't believe I didn't know Miyamoto designed Excite Bike...I love the notion as well that the design of Devil World informed Excite, which in turn informed Super Mario Bros.

[@ibrahimblake1219]

You probably dont care but does anybody know of a trick to log back into an instagram account..? I somehow forgot my login password. I would appreciate any tricks you can give me

[@ashtonalex3813]

@Ibrahim Blake instablaster =)

[@ibrahimblake1219]

@Ashton Alex i really appreciate your reply. I got to the site on google and im trying it out atm. Takes quite some time so I will reply here later with my results.

[@ibrahimblake1219]

@Ashton Alex It did the trick and I now got access to my account again. Im so happy:D Thanks so much, you saved my ass :D

[@ashtonalex3813]

@Ibrahim Blake happy to help :D

[@Hellodentist]

Ah, memories of saving a track and then sitting back with a glass of cold chocolate milk with that relaxing, blue loading screen.

[@milkcarton6654]

Excitebike is forever linked to one of the best days, if not the best, of my childhood. Some day of july 1988 we waited impatiently all day for my aunt to come from the city with the NES my parents had her buy for us (cheaper to buy in the city). We were dropped at my grandma's in the morning and then rode our bikes all day around my tiny remote hometown trying to kill time (some of that time was efficiently murdered by watching people play one of the three arcade games that had been rented and put outside on one of the street during the summer flea market, the only time i ever saw an arcade machine in my hometown, i remember they had Choplifter). Anyway when our aunt finally arrived we immediately asked our parents (who by then had returned from their day's work) for money to go rent some games. We rented two, Punch out, and Excitebike. When i think of this game i see myself, my cousin and my brother sitting in our grandparents basement with our brand new NES hooked to the tv and having the time of our young lives. Time. It flies by and leaves you stranded in mid-life, wondering where all the great moments went and knowing you'll never get them back.

[@MiClLC]

I loved this game as a kid. Built all sorts of crazy race tracks

[@absolite6]

Been watching a few of these vids while perusing/playing the Switch Online games and I must say I'm impressed with the level of detail put into them. Been real interesting, have a sub.

[@CraparellaSmorrebrod]

Great video as always. But you missed to mention the Excitebike Arena track in Mario Kart 8, which has the cool feature that it changes its layout every time.

[@JeremyParish]

+Craparella Smørrebrød I also didn't mention Excitebike for 3DS.

[@CraparellaSmorrebrod]

tsk tsk :-D

[@Kafei2006]

+Jeremy Parish I was actually going to comment on that, but seeing as you already noticed, i will not bother reminding you. The 3DS release is also worthy of note because it includes a track editor that actually lets you SAVE your creations ! Other references you could have included is the Excite Bike inspired track as DLC for Mario Kart 8.

[@pentelegomenon1175]

Excite Truck has nonstop loud psychobilly music, and the exact kind of gameplay that is well complemented by nonstop loud psychobilly music. It has the "overheating" mechanic of Excite Bike (except instead of magical arrows that cool you off instantly, you cool off rapidly while driving through puddles and streams) and an interesting mechanic where you can hit switches to change the altitude of the track in front of you, to the horror of anyone driving on it.

[@reath3155]

Did you know that you can mash a and b to get back on the bike faster after a crash? I noticed you never used it in the video.

[@jjmah7]

It doesn’t help a whole lot though does it? I recall it still being slow...but maybe I’m wrong. Hell, that was a longgggg time ago haha

[@DonnyKirkMusic]

i love that sort of tech in old games where it can go fully-unnoticed until experimenting with the game A LOT. Or word-of-mouth gives you a tip.

[@MrSampsonne]

Button mashing actually makes a big difference getting back to your bike. Another thing I noticed is that he never wheelied over the speed bumps. It slows you down a little but sometimes it’s worth it.

[@harrylane4]

He also didn't lean forward to keep momentum during jumps... The gameplay footage in this one was rough to watch

[@esmooth919]

That was one of the first things I discovered as a kid, because I was scrambling to get back to my bike

[@powruser0]

Man, this game brings back memories of me and my brother sitting two feet from the tv playing excitebike.

[@Levitz9]

Funny thing about Excitebike's track save format: Treasure would revisit it decades later with Bangai-O Spirits on the DS. Having been released before Streetpass, the only way to share levels was by recording them as sound files and distributing them with friends via the Internet. It was an interesting experiment, much like Shiren the Wanderer's rescue system, but I could never get it to work. A shame, because Bangai-O had an amazing level creator system. You could even edit in-game levels with a press of a button.

[@JeremyParish]

+Levitz9 Yeah, I loved that. Bangai-O Spirits is the only DS game whose online multiplayer component still works after the Gamespy servers died!

[@todesziege]

Saving to tape wasn't anything unique to Excite Bike. It was the mainstream way of saving and loading data on a lot of computers throughout the 80's until disk drives got cheaper, especially outside the US.

[@RetroPowerUp]

I used to love playing Excitebike on the NES so much! I spent hours with the level editor! I had no idea there was a VS Excitebike version nor did I know it was on VC! I'll definitely check that out!

[@FallicIdol]

Excite Bike was one of the games I got with my NES for Christmas one magical morning. I will always love the game for that reason alone. The NES came with Super Mario, and I got this and Kung Fu. It was a very happy season. I got this straight from the the Atari, so I thought world 1-4 was the end of the game and would not have felt ripped off if it had been.

[@2001mark]

NES Classic save states are great for course editing + time results. This game is probably still the most charming racer ever, black box legend.

[@NORMALLYRETRO]

Besides all of the cool additions for Excitebike Vs, Soya Oka's OST for it was really nice.

[@jamesmoss3424]

I play excitebike a lot when I was a kid and it's still the best. 😀👍🎮

[@FloatingSunfish]

I always found the goofy music of this game quite hilarious, even as a grownup. 😂

[@joko49perez]

This is one of the best channels I've seen in my life. I really wish you could live long enough to finish these series, but that would realistically require you to make the episodes less in-depth. I really hope you at least finish the N64 library in 5 or 8 years or something.

[@JeremyParish]

I promise to have Virtual Boy done by the end of summer.

[@joko49perez]

@@JeremyParish Hot

[@playnejaymes]

Jeremy Parish you work at your own pace boss we love you & thank you for this content that you bring to us for free but not @ your own expense when you stop i will lament it because this is some of my fav content on you tube but it’s all thanks to you @ the end of the day and if you wanna do something else with your life that’s your prerogative

[@apollosungod2819]

You know so many people wanted a Super NES Excitebike but NOT in Mode 7... basically the same design but SNES graphics but maybe they were not too vocal in sending mail to Nintendo Power magazine.

[@MaxW-er1hm]

Excitebike was inspired by Kickstart...F1 race is underrated. It controls beautifully , better imo then pole position or Rad racer. I love excite bike, but to me it's not a "racing game" but a whole nother thing , its like the later Motocross maniacs or the earlier Kickstart (UK, spectrum - and c64) games

[@DonnyKirkMusic]

VS Excitebike is so underrated. The music is done by the Pilotwings composer.

[@emilyapricot1313]

Thanks for the in depth look at Excite Bike. My cousins and I always saw this as an overlooked game, but with a surprisingly impressive and addictive physics set.

[@active_ate9183]

More great work. Thanks for keeping us all entertained AND informed.

[@paulhat33]

Excitebike was also a mini game in Animal Crossing, along with others like Golf, Soccer, and Pinball.

[@anim604]

All I remember when I was a kid playing this game back then, was getting my kicks from tripping up the other racers by cutting in front of them. I would sit there with a huge grin and my family members would wonder wtf I was playing :)

[@JVeg199X]

It's worth mentioning that you can only play custom tracks in 2 player mode in Vs. Excitebike, unlike in the original. Which is a shame, because I'll never get to properly enjoy any tracks I created using that really nice editor.

[@RemnantCult]

This game got me into motocross. I still go for riding on duel sports because of it. Great game that stands the test of time.

[@MrSnapy1]

I played the absolute crap out of this game as a kid I loved dirt bikes in real life so this was just up my alley..

[@BesterP12]

And it lives on in Trials.

[@katt-the-pig]

I never even heard of Vs. Excitebike before now, and you're telling me it's on the Virtual Console? Well, regardless of the lack of fanfare, I'm glad to hear it, because I was kinda sad hearing about this game we never got.

[@davidmckean955]

We got it, it was just on those Playchoice 10 machines in the arcade.

[@Justin-TPG]

Ah, the hardship of having to connect up, manually seek, and start and stop a cassette tape, AKA what we in the UK had to do every time we wanted to play games on the dominant '80s computer formats here :)

[@frank68x]

Mash A to get back on your bike faster. Great stuff!

[@TheTacticalRPGOdyssey]

Excitebike was also great on the go with the E-reader for GBA!

[@preservationera9768]

I have the same problem with loading levels/tracks/progress on anything, and after researching I eventually found that my keyboard seems to be broken. If you see a listing that's "working", it's very possible that they only tested its actual keys on Family Basic. And Arkanoid II was confirmed to use the Data Recorder, though I heard someone say that their level was coming out scrambled. This and the fact that the game was released in 1988, well after the short-lived Data Recorder's prime days (if it even really had such a thing) and in the middle of the Disk System's lifespan, it seems that Taito didn't put too much effort into making it work well.

[@trippmoore]

your data saving/loading problem might be related to the cassette tape you are using. believe it or not, but for data storage, the cheaper, lower quality tapes worked better. has to do with the frequencies being using. the lower quality, good for voice recording tapes works better than a high-quality type I tape for good audio reproduction. don't even think about using a Type II or IV tape for this. you wanna find a cassette with the lighter brown tape rather than darker or blacker tape formulations.

[@michaelsegal3558]

I wish you could change the colour of the race course in Excitebike when designing your own course just like how some of the preset courses are different colours

[@lilwyvern4]

First played the OG Excitebike as a bonus unlockable in Excitebike 64. As I recall, the emulation wasn't quite perfect, and while it played fine, the silly "boing" noise in the menu theme wasn't there. Imagine my surprise/amusement when I heard the real version later, assumed it was a funny glitch, then learned that's actually how it's supposed to sound.

[@jamiecampbell8855]

Greatest series on Nintendo's hallowed history. Hopefully it will continue exploring not just snes but all of Nintendo's consoles/handhelds.

[@sonicmario64]

FUN FACT - The Excitebike Racer was originally planned to become a playable character in "Super Smash Bros. Melee", but was ultimately replaced with the Ice Climbers. :)

[@underwaterlevelz1947]

The good news is that you can use the Suspend Point file on the NES mini to save your excitebike courses. Too bad they didnt put Wrecking Crew on the NES mini too, that way you can save your custom levels

[@DanielSong39]

F-1 Race was pretty solid for a 1984 Famicom game, but Excitebike was a classic

[@Raiko101]

I rather enjoy the 3DS version, myself. It looks great in 3D, has some lovely backgrounds and has widescreen support. I didn't realise VR Excitebike was on the Wii U VC though. I'll be picking that up now.

[@SergioPL]

Great video!! Your channel rocks

[@swankidelic]

Since Nintendo is finally embracing smartphone/tablet space, maybe it's time for a mobile Excitebike game modeled after endless-runner games, like Canabalt. Tap to jump, swipe up and down to switch lanes, hold a finger on the screen for turbo. It designs itself!

[@mootbooxle]

It would have been hilarious if you'd worked some reference to Devil World into every subsequent episode. lol.

[@chaseman94]

I always wondered this and I know it's just a video game but what would cause the bike to overheat under heavy throttle?

[@exeacua]

What about the big bounce trick?

[@rodddossantos1437]

I never knew what the “chevron” patches were for!

[@colecash5982]

Yo…beautiful R4 reference here.

[@willmistretta]

Seems like just writing down the letters for the course features you picked out and using it like a password is a better option that the cassette backup would have ever been, even if it released in the U.S.

[@ChristopherSobieniak]

Certainly wouldn't hurt.

[@JonSmith-hk1bq]

I like the history (I'd always wondered what was up with the save/load that didn't work), but for all that is good, do not take his recommendations on how to control your racer. You actually want to lean forward as much for speed as you can most of the time. As long as you can safely bounce on the ground if you're just a touch short of being fully forward. If you're leaning back all the time, you're pretty much going the slowest possible way. The only time I recall leaning back was to get clearance over an obstacle or two. It especially helps when going over rhythm sections. The way he was playing was honestly pretty poor, to the point where I'd suspect he just played the game long enough to get video and impressions for the video.

[@massivepileup]

Excite Truck was fun too.

[@w.s.mcgallis7731]

Damn that save option....

[@jjmah7]

Start at 0:07

[@MurasakiBunny]

Funny how F-1 Race sounds exactly like Hang-On on the SMS.

[@Retroman8000]

Where does the AVS display reside? Is it viewable in real life....and what's clu clu land d?

[@JeremyParish]

Used to be at the NYC Nintendo store, may still be there.

[@guyincogneto8979]

Great doc except that you never mention why Nintendo didn't include the ability to GET the Excitebike ( after knocking down 5 drones, the bike turns black and yellow and won't over heat) on the home version. When I got my cart I was crushed that it didn't have the Excitebike like the arcade version.

[@JeremyParish]

That wasn't removed from the arcade game-the JP home release came first, and several features were added for Vs. Excitebike in arcades. I didn't cover those changes in detail here because Vs. Excitebike is a separate game that I'll cover at some point.

[@guyincogneto8979]

@@JeremyParish Ah. I played the arcade version first, now I know!☺

[@michaelsegal3558]

I thought Devel’s world came out in the UK

[@unoclay]

When will I ever stop learning new things about NES??? Never ever heard of the tape drive (though I used one for a Texas Instruments computer) for NES or that element/explanation of Excitebike saves. THANKS!!

[@ChristopherSobieniak]

A lot of home computers in the early 80's used cassette players and tapes to record data or load programs recorded on cassettes.

[@donaldsmith5667]

Brilliant!

[@giuseppedepascalis7067]

Majestic!

[@michaelsegal3558]

I wish F-1 Race and Devil’s World made it to the west

[@THEEJONESY]

devils world sucks tho lok

[@michaelsegal3558]

@@THEEJONESYno it doesn’t

[@Skyk0rn]

excitebike on wii is so forgot that they dont even list it on wikipedia. thanks for the heads up.

[@TroyBlackford]

I really don't get the tiny minority of people who downvote Jeremy's videos. What do they want?

[@JeremyParish]

Typically: Screaming, fascism, or tiddies

[@FurEngel]

Nothing recently? Don't forget, Nintendo re-released and made a unique version for the 3DS that made the entire game "3D".

[@michaelsegal3558]

City Connection was made by Jaleco not Nintendo

[@michaelsegal3558]

I own Lode Runner and it’s by Broderbund not Hudson

[@hansjavis5854]

The neon green and blue track made me think of lemon lime gatorade as a child.

[@britsluver]

Omg the vengaboys 🥰

[@theantithesis1]

See also Stunt Cycle 1976 Atari

[@michaelsegal3558]

I have this game

[@ChristopherSobieniak]

Too bad they didn't think to stick a battery inside the cartridge like they did with Metroid and Zelda.

[@foxymetroid]

Metroid didn't have battery-saves. Instead, it relied on a fairly sophisticated password system. The game would use an algorithm to generate a code that could be used later to start the game in the appropriate area with the collect power-ups, missiles, etc.

[@todesziege]

Battery save RAM was costly, and even then only allowed for a tiny bit of data saved. Probably not worth it, but it was still fun to build tracks for your friends to try out, passing the controller back and forth.

[@robertellis5977]

I want that second vs excitebike that came out in '88....that shit looks fun!!! Only if I had a famicom and the disk system....smh

[@michaelsegal3558]

I guess Rad Racer came after Excitebike

[@DS-er4ng]

Devil World came to Europe.

[@JeremyParish]

Yes. That's why the title graphic I included for Devil World includes a European release date.

[@70smebbin]

I want to like this video but I don't want to be like #666

[@2Cerealbox]

No one cared about the main game of Excitebike. All anyone played it for was the level editor. You've got it reversed. It was terrible as a racing game.

[@TheSmart-CasualGamer]

Oh, yeah. The level creator was the best.