The Best Nintendo Game Every Year 1983 - 2024
41. 1984 - Excitebike
Speaking of things we immediately took for granted, how does smooth horizontal scrolling grab you? No, Excitebike wasn’t the first to showcase this but it certainly pushed things forward with how quickly it appeared to do so when other systems were yet to confidently get the basics down.
Shigeru Miyamoto’s motocross racer was a huge deal for home console sports games for so many reasons, not least because it was intuitive and fun. Avoiding obstacles, other racers and overheating made for a challenging and exciting title.
It’s also absolutely worth mentioning the Design Mode, which allowed players to create custom tracks. The Famicom Data Recorder device, which was exclusive to Japan, meant drivers could save and load these creations.
Additionally, in the first year of Nintendo’s foray into US, Excitebike landed as the third best seller behind pack-ins Mario Bros and Duck Hunt, meaning it was the game most people gravitated towards to add to their game library.