Out of the blue, Nintendo recently announced an update to its classic NES title, Excitebike. Called Excitebike: World Rally, the WiiWare title is just like the original that you know and love, just with updated graphics, user-created-track sharing, and online play.
At 1000 Wii Points (that’s ten human dollars), I couldn’t resist. As a huge fan of the original, the idea of an updated Excitebike had me opening my wallet faster than you could say “Nintendo Seal of Quality.” After about 20 minutes with the game, I’m happy to report it’s exactly what I expected.
While the game features the option for an “updated” control scheme — one that allows basic bike-tilting with the Wii Remote — you can play the game in “classic” mode, which feels just like the original. Well, outside of shaking the Wii Remote vigorously to get your rider up quickly after taking a spill.
In the first ten minutes, I was able to complete the game’s training (as if I needed it!), the entire Bronze cup, and play around with the game’s track editor. What you don’t see is me trying to find a game online… I couldn’t. Yes, I cried.
Anyone else pick the game up today? What do you think so far? Have you had any luck finding games online?