It's obvious what type of inclines jumps have, what the dirt looks like, and where the motorists are on the screen. The graphics too are simple, yet effective. The game features no music, but I find that this exemplifies the great audio effects, rather than acting as a detraction from the immersion factor of the game. Sound is used intuitively as the player is notified about the danger of overheating through whiny engine gasps, or how well his machine is performing as it scurries along under its regular power. Aside from the arbitrary penalties and minor interface issues, you'll still feel compelled to hop right back on the bike for some more action.
If you make a huge mistake, or feel there's no hope in Hades you'll make it to the end, the only recourse is to reset the game. You could ride a perfect race, and accidentally lean back too far, and be penalized four seconds right before the finish line, when other times you may have just been penalized one second. But other times it could be as long as three or even four seconds - even though it was the same crash. If you crash into another bike, you may be penalized one second and hop right back on. However, each misadventure is arbitrarily penalized. With all the mayhem on the track, there are bound to be collisions, mistakes, and miscalculations. This is where the problems start to come in - time penalties. If the engine overheats due to excessive stress from boosting, the rider is pulled to the side and penalized a few seconds. Instead of pressing A for gas, B can be used like a nitrous boost of power - but only for a short period of time. The rider has a heat gauge at the bottom which is essentially overdrive. It all makes for drives that are packed with action and non-stop thrills. This enables players to skip right to the 5th (final, and very, very difficult) qualifier, if they so choose. There are five tracks in total, and each track's qualifying race is easier than the previous track's Excitebike race. For example, to get to the Excitebike race for track 4, you can either win track 3's race, or beat the qualifying race for track 4. If you win the Excitebike race, you're automatically qualified for the next track's race.
Instead, you are given one qualifying time, which you need to beat in order to advance to the actual Excitebike race. All those other bikers are more like obstacles than opponents. It doesn't matter who you leave in the dust, or who you cut off with a deft maneuver.
Essentially it's a Rally Car race but the track is packed with opponents. Instead of numbers above the riders' heads, Miyamoto took a different approach. Rather, all of these cyclists create a chaotic environment, where there is no indication of who holds what position, and how far ahead the leader is. It's not because of framerate issues, which you first might guess - the game runs smoothly, with complex tracks and nifty animations (riders bounce atop their vibrating machines). All of those bikes on the screen come at a price, though. There are two main gaming modes: Selection A allows the player to race solo against the clock Selection B is the ultimate dirtbike extravaganza pitting you against bloodthirsty sprites.
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