It took a while for me to finally gathered the focus to beat a game again when I played this. Let's get straight to it!
The game: Excitebike
The system: NES
Time spent on the game(rounded up to the highest hour): 1 hour
Let me start off by saying that it's unlikely that I'll play another sports game on this project, so yeah, this is a special exception. It's probably This game is just that much fun...and it's short enough too.
Anyways, this is a very simple side scrolling motorcycle racing game with 2 ways to play the game. There's the Time Trial where you need to complete 5 tracks, and...well, the time trial with other racers involved, which pretends to be a race. Yeah, there are ranks for the races, but honestly, you get 1st-3rd place, or it's game over, and the places at least seem to be seconds apart.
What makes this game so awesome overall? The controls that blow me away for a NES game. both butttons accelerate, but one accelerates faster. The thing is, if you hold it for too long, your bike overheats, and you have to wait5 or so seconds to let it cool down.. Oh, and did I mention that the last 2 levels basically cannot be beaten unless you do them perfectly? Don't worry though, you can select whatever of the 5 levels you want to do at any time.
Bottom Line, I'd probably go so far to say that if you were to play 3 NES games from 1985, they really should be this game, along with Super Mario Bros and Duck Hunt. Chances are you haven't played this game unfortunately, and you should, even if you hate racers. It's that awesome!
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Project Beat a Game a Day, along with my Daily NES Archive:
http://www.gamefaqs.com/boards/563947-a-view-to-a-kill