Excitebike World Rally Review
Monster Games has pretty much taken up the mantle now as developer of all things Excite-related. After creating the excellent launch-title arcade racer, Excitetruck – the first game to branch the Excite series out of bikes – and following up with the goofy but fairly good Excitebots, the developer has returned to the roots of the series with a pseudo-3D update to the original NES title.
Excitebike World Rally for the WiiWare (1,000 Wii Points) is essentially an expansion of the Excite 3D mode from 2000’s Excitebike 64. If anyone recalls, the Nintendo 64 title (developed by Left Field) featured a perfectly emulated version of the NES title as well as a special one-track sampling of the NES racer redone in full 3D graphics, but with an optional ¾ view ala Super Mario RPG or Sonic 3D Blast. The short-but-sweet “remake,” if you will, was a great deal of fun and the first instance of Excitebike being remade without altering the core 4-lane straightaway racetrack design.
The developer seems to have taken some inspiration from the Excite 3D mode because its recent WiiWare title plays essentially the same – although with much more content and more refined controls.
Excitebike World Rally copies the simple formula pioneered by the NES title – four dirt bike riders race from left to right on a straight track loaded with insane amounts of varying jumps and obstacles while trashing each other along the way – and expands upon it not only with fully 3D levels, backgrounds and bikes (although in essentially a 2D presentation), but with gameplay updates from both Excitebike 64 and Excitetruck.
Like the original title, World Rally’s challenge is to speedily navigate the assortment of jumps and ramps by landing both wheels flat on the terra firma. You’ll have a standard gas button (2 on the Wii remote) and the returning turbo throttle feature (1 on the Wii remote), but if you use your turbo throttle too much your bike will overheat and you’ll fall behind as your bike lags.
Punch-Out!! exclusive to one retailer in Australia, Excitebots excluded entirely
Demand for upcoming first-party Wii games doesn’t seem to be high in Australia — and if it is, it just means a lot of people are about to be disappointed. Nintendo Australia managing director Rose Lappin told Kotaku AU that Aussie gamers can expect Punch-Out!! in stores late August, but only if those stores are JB Hi-Fi locations.
“To be honest we didn’t have a lot of requests for the game,” Lappin said. “There’s a few people… there’s a lot of noise but not a lot of sales, that sort of thing.” JB Hi-Fi, Lappin suggested, was the only retailer that showed significant interest.
But at least Punch-Out!! is getting some kind of release. Not so for Excitebots, which won’t come out in Australia at all. Lappin told Kotaku AU that there just wasn’t enough demand for the game from retailers or consumers. “”
Punch-Out!! exclusive to one retailer in Australia, Excitebots excluded entirely originally appeared on Joystiq Nintendo on Tue, 14 Jul 2009 14:10:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Excitebots has slow sales start in April
Someone call Benjamin Jahveri, Excitebots is in rough shape. During the 10 days the racer was available in April, it managed to move just 13,000 copies, according to the NPD. To give some perspective, more mature Wii titles MadWorld and House of the Dead: Overkill were able to move 66,000 and 45,000 units respectively in their first 20 days.
This is purely just our observation, but did the hype machine seem a little weak for Excitebots? We can’t recall seeing much in the way of marketing for the game, but honestly … we don’t get out much.
Excitebots has slow sales start in April originally appeared on Joystiq Nintendo on Fri, 15 May 2009 10:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Joystiq Review: Excitebots: Trick Racing
At first glimpse, Excitebots: Trick Racing is very different from its Wii launch title predecessor, Excite Truck. However, the more time you spend diggin into the races, the more the two games start blurring together. Aside from the gigantic, robotic animals you’re racing as and the quirky, brief mini-games you’ll partake in mid-race, these are pretty much the same games, with the same problems.
Note: If you want to skip the text and watch a video review for the game, click here.
Continue reading Joystiq Review: Excitebots: Trick Racing
Joystiq Review: Excitebots: Trick Racing originally appeared on Joystiq on Wed, 22 Apr 2009 15:01:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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ExciteBots uses real-time pie-in-the-face technology
ExciteBots: Trick Racing is certainly not a realistic “simulation” racing game. However, it’s not a kart racer either. As this trailer demonstrates, its long, straightforward track designs and high speeds make it seem most similar to an F-Zero-like futuristic racing game. Except for the mid-race sandwich-making and giant clown face.
Yes, in addition to the basic high-speed racing, the trailer gives us a look at the minigames involved. They’re actually integrated into the race rather than separate events, and most of them are simply played by driving into them. And they are weird. We didn’t realize how much we wanted to make a race car (which is also a mechanical insect) swing from a bar in the middle of a race, but it’s a lot.
Continue reading ExciteBots uses real-time pie-in-the-face technology
ExciteBots uses real-time pie-in-the-face technology originally appeared on Joystiq Nintendo on Tue, 10 Mar 2009 10:10:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Here’s the ExciteBox for ExciteBots: Trick Racing
Orange Lounge Radio found (what it identifies as) boxart and a retail game description for ExciteBots: Trick Racing, the apparent sequel to ExciteTruck, and … well, we foresee some of our readers getting pretty angry — like the people who expected Monster Games’ next title to be an F-Zero update. While ExciteTruck may not have been the deepest racing simulation, Nintendo and developer Monster Games have gone even further in the kid-oriented/casual direction. How much further?
ExciteBots is a party racing game starring animal-shaped robots, in which minigames pop up during races. “You won’t believe your eyes when you find yourself shooting goals, throwing pies and even playing poker in the middle of racing robotic animals and insects around off-road tracks,” the blurb says. If you were expecting something a bit more … realistic, this is going to be DisappointBots for you. As for us, 6-player online racing combined with a party game? We’re on board.
GameStop reveals a few further details about the game’s release: according to listings on the retailer’s site, ExciteBots will be sold both in a $39.99 standalone edition and a $49.99 Wii Wheel bundle.
Continue reading Here’s the ExciteBox for ExciteBots: Trick Racing
Here’s the ExciteBox for ExciteBots: Trick Racing originally appeared on Joystiq Nintendo on Tue, 03 Mar 2009 11:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Mystery title from Monster Games kicks speculation into high gear
Filed under: News
Looks like Monster Games — the folks behind the Wii launch title Excite Truck — are hard at work on a super secret new project for the console, and have been for a long time. How secret is it? So secret, apparently, that they have to turn down their monitors when unauthorized folks walk into the office. Sounds like anything but an Excite Truck follow-up, eh? There aren’t many reasons to keep that a secret. So what could it be? Monster Games only seems to put out racing titles, so we’re gonna bet there will be vehicles and high speeds, but that could cover a lot of ground. Some have guessed that it might be an all-new F-Zero, but frankly, we’re holding out for something that’s really new and not a revival. Not that we wouldn’t enjoy a little F-Zero, but we like new things, too.
[Via The Tanooki]
Mystery title from Monster Games kicks speculation into high gear originally appeared on Nintendo Wii Fanboy on Sat, 29 Nov 2008 17:17:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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