 Snastruck! Excitebike was a launch title for the NES all the way back in 1984, so yeah, a 30-year-old game is going to have its limits. This is as bare bones as it gets, no frills here. But that's perfectly fine, as the game makes up for it in other ways. Excitebike at its core is a series of races set against a time limit. In mode A, you race by yourself. In mode B, you race with others, but the people you see me passing here are just there to get in your way. The A button accelerates, but the B button accelerates faster, but conversely raises your bike's temperature, so if you overheat, you gotta sit there like an idiot until it cools down. The bike's controls are very flexible. You can manipulate the bike pretty well in mid-air to allow yourself to land in the best possible position so you don't lose any speed or momentum. One thing I love about this game is when you wreck, and you end up on the far end of the course, thrown into the grass like 15 feet away from your bike, and you gotta pound the buttons while your sorry ass gets back on. I love little touches like that, not only because they make me laugh, but because it shows there's actual consequence for driving recklessly, or in my case, just flat-out sucking. There's a third game mode, where you get to design your own course. Now, that's cool as hell, and unheard of for any game at the time, and honestly, I still think it's a lot of fun. My favorite is doing this with another player. You design a course as dickishly as possible, and then watch him or her try and erase it. James and Mike Plays did this not too long ago. It's good times. The only flaw is that there's no battery saved, so you can't save your courses. Excitebike also spawned a sequel on the N64, which is actually surprisingly very good. It might be a top 10 game for the N64. That's pretty good for what's essentially an advanced 3D version of an NES game that came like 14 years before. So is Excitebike worth playing today? Yeah, but I think it's best realized with the second player, so you can do the design a track like an asshole thing I talked about earlier. I really think that's the best part of this game. Otherwise, what this game lacks in its lo-fi graphics and presentation, it makes up for in good control. Go check it out if you haven't.