A belated follow-up to 1985's classic SNES racer Excitebike, Excitebike 64 brought the series into the 3D realm with class and style, delivering one of the most comprehensively brilliant racers on the console. Graphically, it popped for the time (even with a less-than-desirable frame-rate), the bikes all sounded fantastic, and the ridiculous number of modes gave it a high replay value, particularly the revolutionary, ground-breaking track editor. What's really amazing for a game released almost 15 years ago is how responsive it is: the controls are intuitive and there's a decent axis of movement for all the bikes, even allowing you to tilt the bike in mid-air and attack other players as they try to soar past you, which is both hilarious and dementedly fun, especially during the 4-player multiplayer mode. It's a shame and a mystery that the series just crashed and burned with uninspired spin-offs following this game, as it surely had (and continues to have) so much potential for current consoles.
Stay at home dad who spends as much time teaching his kids the merits of Martin Scorsese as possible (against the missus' wishes).
General video game, TV and film nut. Occasional sports fan. Full time loon.
