Excitebike

If you own a 3DS and have access to wireless internet right now, you basically have to have 3D Classics: Excitebike on your system right now. Because for now until July 7th, it’s free. Save the $5.99, and get yourself this tentatively free title in celebration of the arrival of the eShop.

But if you are reading this article right now post 7/7/11, you should still get this re-release of the NES classic. Why? Because Excitebike is still an incredibly fun arcade-style motorbike game, that’s why. Though the game still has just ten tracks to time trial (without putting your name with your new records no less), it’s still an incredibly fun time to be had. Having to make it from point A to point B through all the hazards, while making sure you don’t overheat your engine with two seperate acceleration speeds is still an incredibly unique challenge. And when you do get done mastering those old tracks, you can make your own with the better inferface from the 3DS version.

But if you thinking you could download some crazy tracks online from other people, or competing against the whole world with your record times, you’re plum out of luck. But other than that, developer Arika has done a great job in emulating the NES game. It added a new widescreen view, and the 3D slider can adjust how much depth you see between the lanes, with no slow time to be seen when you crank it all up.

As it comes to playing the oldies, I’ve always had the traditionalist mind that adding things like 3D and widescreen to a classic is something that is almost taboo. But this first entry of Nintendo’s 3D Classics series made me realize that it could work with the labor of love that Arika put into it. The 3D adds some neat depth, without being too showy about it. And Excitebike is still an incredibly fun 8-bit game to play. Even if there hasn’t been any additional content to go along with the great new presentation, you should absolute purchase (or get for free) 3D Classics: Excitebike for your 3DS.