New Impressions: Excitebike 64

TOKYO - Having sat down with Excitebike a few more times, I felt it necessary to give some further impressions on the title. The game was without a doubt (in my opinion) one of the top ten titles shown at Space World. Here's why.

As I stated in my first report, it plays like the original game. Which is to say, easy. There are no complex racing tactics to figure out, and there are no fancy controls. It's just pure, simple fun. Just the way I like it. When you go off jumps in the game you have to make sure to land properly, as in the original Excitebike – but with the analog pad it works really well. You really get the feeling that you have complete control over your bike.

The graphics, in my opinion, are simply top notch for the Nintendo 64. From a distance you'd almost swear the game is running on the Dreamcast – in large part because of its high res. I heard a few complaints from others that it was tad choppy, but to be perfectly honest I didn't notice any choppiness or slowdown. While observing someone else playing the game I noticed one or two instances of pop-in, but it was such a rare occurrence that if you weren't looking out for it, you'd never spot it. And of course the title is only 50 percent complete, leaving ample time to remedy any of that.

The game lets you choose from six options at the start: Season Mode, Special Tracks, Multiplayer Racing, Time Trials, and (what will easily be the title's greatest attraction) the Custom Track mode. I got a chance to try out the two and four player modes, and both worked great. It's easy to see what you're doing in both cases – the game is perfectly scaled down into the smaller windows.

The version on display at the Space World show offered six tracks; three stadium courses, a jungle level, and two taking place in a quarry. The Jungle course was easily my favorite of the bunch, as it featured lots of extreme terrain throughout the track. You'll drive through areas with water and you'll come across parts where you can go up on hills while other racers will remain down below you. It's some great track design in my opinion. The game also makes great use of the Rumble Pak, offering some of the best rumbles yet felt with the device.

Excitebike uses a very similar engine system that the original game used – you accelerate with one button, and then if you want to go any faster than that you can use your turbo engine. However, you can only use this for limited amounts of time, as you don't want your engine to overheat. As you play through the game more and more you can get better at using the turbo; finding the exact time when to press it and when to let go. There are even certain tracks (such as the jungle level) where you absolutely have to use the turbo power to progress past a specific part correctly.

So while the Space World version of Excitebike was only listed as being 50 percent complete, I felt the game already looked quite polished. It was definitely one of my favorites. Fans of the original Excitebike (like myself – I still think the original title is one of the best games of all time) are going to love this one. It's one of the few instances where a great 2D game has successfully made a transition to the 3D world. Excitebike 64 is slated for release in February of 2000 in Japan, and I'd assume a US version will come out around then as well.