Monday MAME Club [11/28/05] - Vs. Excitebike

[Flack]

Okay people, it's time to breathe some life back into this club!

http://members.cox.net/flack/mameclub1.jpg

This week's game is Vs. Excitebike (Nintendo, 1984). Download (http://www.robohara.com/mameclub/excitebk.zip), play, and discuss! (KLOV Info (http://www.klov.com/game_detail.php?letter=&game_id=7725))

http://images.webmagic.com/klov.com/screens/E/yExcitebike.png

Club Rules

01. You do not need to sign up for the club. If you want to participate, simply download the game of the week and post about it!

02. At the end of the week, I will randomly select someone who participated this week to select next week's game.

03. The current MAME Club Pick of the Week can be found Mondays stickied at the top of the main forum, and after that stickied at the top of the Arcade Alley forum.

Previously Picked Games: Blood Bros, Bubbles, Donkey Kong 3, Great 1000 Mile Rally, Gunforce 2, Haunted Castle, Liquid Kids, Mad Planets, Ninja Clowns, Rescue, Top Hunter, Yie-Ar Kung-Fu, 19xx: The War Against Destiny, Alligator Hunt, APB - All Points Bulletin, Armed Police Batrider, Ataxx, Battle Bakraid, Battle Bakraid, Battle Circuit, Berzerk, Biomechanical Toy, Blazing Star, Block Out, Bomb Jack, Bronze Adventure, Burgertime, Caliber 50, Chuka Taisen/Cloud Master, City Bomber, Combatribes, Crossbow, D&D: Shadow Over Mystara, Daisu-Kiss, Darius Gaiden, Dr. Micro, Dynasty Wars, Elevator Action, Elevator Action Returns, Escape From The Planet Of The Robot Monsters, ESP Ra.De., G.I. Joe, Go! Go! Mile Smile, Gunbarich, Gyruss, I'm Sorry, Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom, Lady Bug, League Bowling, Mega Twins, Metal Slug 2, Mighty! Pang, Mr. Do!'s Wild Ride, Mysterious Stones, NARC, Pandora's Palace, Pang, Penguin-Kun Wars, Portman, Prehistoric Isle in 1930, Pu-Li-Ru-La, Raiden II, Rampart!, Rastan, Rollergames, Satan's Hollow, Shinobi, Solomon's Key, Splatterhouse, Strike Force, Super Burgertime, Tempest, The Punisher, The Simpsons, Vendetta, Waku Waku 7, Withdrew, WWF Superstars.

Now, MAME ON!

** Note -- want to be notified when a new Monday Morning MAME Club pick is posted? Send an e-mail to flack@cox.net asking me to add me to the mailing list, and when a new game is posted I'll e-mail you the URL! You can get removed from the list by e-mailing me and asking to be removed. **

[Graham Mitchell]

Vs. Excitebike is pretty frickin' rad, all things considered. I like it better than the NES version because of the additions of scoring and a more cohesive and challenging level arrangement. It makes me a lot more motivated to continue playing it.

Though I love the game, I thought it was kind of an odd choice for a Mame Club pick, simply because it's not often recognized as an arcade game (as well as the fact that it's nearly IDENTICAL to the console version; any differences between the two are somewhat superficial.) Still, a classic's a classic.

BTW--this would be a sweet cabinet to have in my house.

[Arcade Antics]

Though I love the game, I thought it was kind of an odd choice for a Mame Club pick, simply because it's not often recognized as an arcade game (as well as the fact that it's nearly IDENTICAL to the console version; any differences between the two are somewhat superficial.)
No way Jose! :) The arcade version is WAAAAAAAY better because of the badass bonus rounds where you jump over the smiley-face trucks. Seriously, this round was always my favorite, and it ticked me off to no end when Nintendo dropped it from the home version.


BTW--this would be a sweet cabinet to have in my house.
Muhuwahahahahaha!
*rubs hands together maniacally*

It sure is. ;)

[Graham Mitchell]

Though I love the game, I thought it was kind of an odd choice for a Mame Club pick, simply because it's not often recognized as an arcade game (as well as the fact that it's nearly IDENTICAL to the console version; any differences between the two are somewhat superficial.)
No way Jose! :) The arcade version is WAAAAAAAY better because of the badass bonus rounds where you jump over the smiley-face trucks. Seriously, this round was always my favorite, and it ticked me off to no end when Nintendo dropped it from the home version.


BTW--this would be a sweet cabinet to have in my house.
Muhuwahahahahaha!
*rubs hands together maniacally*

It sure is. ;)

Wow! I haven't had time to uncover that bonus round yet...that's what happens when you try to participate in MAME club and you're in medical school.

Oh, and you're a bastard :P !! (just kidding. Gloating bastard.)

[Cryomancer]

Wow, thanks for reminding me how much I hate this game. LOL

Had this for NES as a kid and the fact that the other bikers would teleport in front of you is just downright depressing.

I was impressed at how many small differences there were in presentation so that's cool.

[Flack]

I got my first NES in '90 or '91, so to me Excitebike was all about the arcade version. There are very few games out there that I can play for 10-15 minutes on 1 quarter, but this is one of them. Our neighborhood convenient store had this one for a while which is where I used to play it on a regular basis. Between it and Track and Field, I could kill an afternoon on a buck's worth of quarters.

How far have you all got in Excitebike? For as long as I've been playing it, I'm not sure I've ever beat all 8 races listed on the first screen. Also, does the game scroll smoothly for everyone? On my MAME cabinet the scrolling seems kind of weird every now and then, although it seems okay on my laptop.

Oh yeah, and tapping the buttons really does make your little dude run faster after a crash. :)

[poloplayr]

The BS version on the Super Famicom is also really amazing, despite having a really annoying internal clock, which needs to be waited out before being able to play.

[scooterb23]

I can get into, but not through the third race on the arcade version...I have never head of this bonus level before, but I really want to try it now. How far do you have to get into the game to see it?

[davidleeroth]

I can get into, but not through the third race on the arcade version...I have never head of this bonus level before, but I really want to try it now. How far do you have to get into the game to see it?

It's after the third race. :P

I'm really surprised they removed it as it seemed pretty fun to me. Maybe it was pushing the NES a step too far? LOL

[Pantechnicon]

I'm pretty new to Excitebike but so far I like it. Just need to get a little better with the controls. Excellent arcade game from ol' Nintender.

[Graham Mitchell]

I'm out of practice! I can get to the 4th Excitebike race (over 110,000 points). I saw that bonus round, it's pretty awesome. It's completely 2-D; no depth into the plane of the screen. It reminds me of Motocross Maniacs on the Gameboy.

I'm gonna re-teach myself how to beat this game over the weekend.

[Flack]

The bonus level is pretty easy to get perfect on. Just do the turbo button through the whole thing until the last 3 jumps, (3 sets of 2 cars each with ramps on them) and do regular gas on those and you should hit all the ramps.

I played for a while last night and couldn't beat race 4-2. I could qualify, no problem, but with the other bikes on the road I kept losing by like 20 seconds.

One thing I forgot, at 100,000 you get an extra man, which is nice since there's no continues. Also on the starting thing, I think that beginner/medium/expert just means starting on races 1, 2 or 3. I don't think it changes your qualifying times or anything.

[davidleeroth]

BTW, how come this isn't in the Arcade Alley?

[Arcade Antics]

Anybody get the GOLD bike yet?

:D

[kingpong]

I used to play this game to death in the mid-late 80s, and I despised the NES version for getting it so wrong. Back when the Guiness Book of World Records had scores for video games I was able to beat the record listed there (it was upper 300K, I was lower 400K), but I couldn't come near the record listed at Twin Galaxies. If I remember correctly, the last track just repeated once beaten, with the time limit getting lower each time.

In the quest for points, I almost always started on the 3rd track. Didn't get as much out of my quarter as if I started on the 1st, but I could never match the score they started you with on the 3rd track. For some reason I never liked getting the "superbike" as I used to call it - a powerup in a racing game made no sense, so I avoided it unless I needed it to make it through a race. Surely cost myself many points by avoiding that bike.

[Graham Mitchell]

Anybody get the GOLD bike yet?

:D

Is that the "superbike" that kingpong is talking about? How do you find that?

[Flack]

BTW, how come this isn't in the Arcade Alley?
It starts in the main forum Monday mornings, and migrates its way over to the Arcade Alley during the middle of the week (which is where it is now).

[Arqueologia_Digital]

Anybody get the GOLD bike yet?

:D
No :/ , i usually used to be good at this excellent game, but now i´m older and out of practice. Maybe i should start to play again...

Matías

[Flack]

Anybody have a good pick for next week?

[Cryomancer]

How about "Skull and Crossbones" (or is it skull n crossbones?). It's got pirates vs ninjas for those who are into that discussion. Also wenches.

[Graham Mitchell]

SNK's Psycho Solider. It's got the best soundtrack of any arcade game ever. "She's just a little girl with power inside..."