Genre: Racing
Developer: Nintendo
Publisher: Nintendo

Excitebike's pleasantly shaded ramps, clearly delineated racing lanes, and crowd-filled backgrounds are eye catching, especially for a 1984 release. The tracks get palette swapped graphics, and the various themes-- a bright green, and a midnight blue, just to name a couple-- look fantastic. The vibrating bike animation is both clever and charming.

Like the game's graphics, Excitebike's music-- which plays in between races-- is catchy and cheerful, with just a hint of racing tension. The main theme in particular has gone on to become iconic, with remixed versions found in the contemporary Mario Kart games. The sound effects are meaningfully distinct, and clearly bear out the action.

Especially when played against AI opponents, Excitebike has a pleasing learning curve; specifically, the player's jumps must be landed via an appropriately applied tilt, using left and right on the dpad. It takes some practice to get the hang of this technique. A turbo effect can be applied to improve acceleration, but requires careful management compliments of "cool down" markers on the various tracks.

Excitebike's sharp aesthetic, excellent audio, fantastic track designs, and built-in level editor make for an accessible and sometimes intense motocross experience. Lack of two player support and sometimes frustrating, stop-start gameplay though means that this offering isn't quite as addicting as later era racers, such as the Pole Position or Final Lap games.