Excitebike

Level editor

In the original Famicom version, it is possible to save level designs through use of the Famicom Data Recorder peripheral, which saves game data to audio cassettes. However, this peripheral was only released in Japan, so non-Japanese players couldn't save their designs, despite the game's manual saying that the save and load functions "have been programmed in for potential product developments." The Virtual Console versions finally allowed all players to save their level designs.

Nintendo 3DS

On June 6th, 2011, an enhanced remake of Excitebike was released as a download on the 3DS. Listed as "3D Classics: Excitebike" it's the first of a series of 3-D enhanced classic games to be released on the Nintendo 3DS's eShop. The game is largely identical to the classic NES Excitebike with the addition of enhanced 3-D graphics designed to update the game to take advantage of the 3DS's strengths. It is notable in that it marked the inaugural launch of the 3DS eShop as a free download the first month of it's release.

Once again, players are able to create their own tracks, but unlike the original NES release, players can now save their homemade tracks--up to 32 total, with the game keeping track of records of each track.

Awards

• Game Informer
  • August 2001 (Issue 100) - #44 in the Top 100 Games of All Time poll