{"id":222,"date":"2014-07-05T14:30:20","date_gmt":"2014-07-05T18:30:20","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/gaminginsurrection.com\/stories\/?p=222"},"modified":"2022-07-17T18:34:42","modified_gmt":"2022-07-17T22:34:42","slug":"excitebike-3q2014","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/gaminginsurrection.com\/reviews\/index.php\/2014\/07\/05\/excitebike-3q2014\/","title":{"rendered":"Excitebike \u2014 3Q2014<\/span> issue"},"content":{"rendered":"

Pho\u00adtos cour\u00adtesy of Gamefaqs.com<\/p><\/div>\n

Noth\u00ading to get excit\u00aded over<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

Near\u00adly every\u00adthing game indus\u00adtry leg\u00adend Shigeru Miyamo\u00adto touch\u00ades turns to gold. The key\u00adword there is near\u00adly. While it might be con\u00adsid\u00adered blas\u00adphe\u00admous in some cir\u00adcles to ques\u00adtion the god\u00adlike ten\u00adden\u00adcies of Miyamo\u00adto-kamisama, there are some\u00adtimes valid rea\u00adsons strewn about his resume. Excite\u00adbike is one of those excus\u00ades to point to when some\u00adone says that Miyamo\u00adto is capa\u00adble of com\u00admit\u00adting no wrong in game design.<\/span><\/p>\n

Excite\u00adbike isn\u2019t a ter\u00adri\u00adble game. In fact, it\u2019s one of the bet\u00adter games to come out of the NES<\/span> line\u00adup. But that isn\u2019t say\u00ading much in the long run. Excite\u00adbike takes a sim\u00adple con\u00adcept and makes a moun\u00adtain out of a mole hill. So much so that if you have no idea how the game works, you\u2019re not going to imme\u00addi\u00adate\u00adly fig\u00adure it out just by rum\u00adbling through a cou\u00adple of tracks. My per\u00adson\u00adal learn\u00ading curve stretched from age 8 to age 28, and it was only because I asked some\u00adone about the nuances that I became a bet\u00adter player.<\/span><\/p>\n

That\u2019s the thing about Excite\u00adbike, though: I get that it\u2019s a real\u00adly sim\u00adple game. You, the dirt bike rid\u00ader, are gift\u00aded and able to chal\u00adlenge a mul\u00adti\u00adtude of tracks. You aim for the high\u00adest score, stay off the rough patch\u00ades, use your boost to speed up and attempt to keep your bike lev\u00adel with the course once you make big leaps. That\u2019s the extent of the game. There\u2019s a track edi\u00adtor thrown in for good mea\u00adsure and a sec\u00adond type of race that\u2019s basi\u00adcal\u00adly time tri\u00adals. Sim\u00adple, right? Yes.<\/span><\/p>\n

And frus\u00adtrat\u00ading. No one knows what I would have giv\u00aden to know that press\u00ading A rapid\u00adly when you fall off your bike helps with recov\u00adery. I would have trad\u00aded my tiny king\u00addom in lit\u00adtle old Colum\u00adbia, S.C., to know that. It would have also helped to know that dri\u00adving over the arrows on the ground reduces bike tem\u00adper\u00ada\u00adture. Know\u00ading these two impor\u00adtant pieces of infor\u00adma\u00adtion might have made a dis\u00adtinct dif\u00adfer\u00adence in my con\u00adtin\u00adued career of dirt bike rac\u00ading. But, alas, that dream went right out of the win\u00addow with my incli\u00adna\u00adtion to con\u00adtin\u00adue rent\u00ading the cart back in the day.<\/span><\/p>\n

If you want nos\u00adtal\u00adgia and you can appre\u00adci\u00adate being forced to learn the ins and outs of dirt bike rac\u00ading, by all means pop a wheel\u00adie in Excite\u00adbike. But don\u2019t be sur\u00adprised with the unimag\u00adi\u00adna\u00adtive locales, race lay\u00adout and pen\u00adchant for keep\u00ading you the play\u00ader in the dark. Sim\u00adple con\u00adcept? Check. Sim\u00adple con\u00adtrols? Check. Mario cameo? Triple check. But Shigeru Miyamo\u00adto\u2019s genius touch to make the game a bet\u00adter expe\u00adri\u00adence for the unini\u00adti\u00adat\u00aded? Nope. That\u2019s still sit\u00adting in the garage with my dri\u00adve to play the game as a frus\u00adtrat\u00aded 8\u2011year-old and now as a more dis\u00adcrim\u00adi\u00adnat\u00ading 32-year-old.<\/span><\/p>\n