Soapbox features enable our individual writers to voice their own opinions on a wide range of topics, opinions that may not necessarily be the voice of the site. In this edition, Dave Letcavage discusses his somewhat recent introduction to the divisive Wii launch game Excite Truck, and makes a case for why it's worth adding to your collection if you missed it when it initially left the starting line.
Back in the N64 days, I lived for racing games that allowed my vehicle to catch big air and soar through the sky with reckless abandon. The original San Francisco Rush was the catalyst for this mild obsession, while other games such as Freekstyle, Rush 2049 (stunt mode!!), and Hydro Thunder furthered my love for gravity-defying, head-spinning heights. In real life, my equilibrium gets all wacky when I look out the window of a skyscraper or glance over the railing on the second floor of a shopping mall, so it’s no wonder that confronting this quasi-phobia within a virtual world provides me with such a thrill.
Excite Truck, developed by Monster Games and published by Nintendo as a launch game for Wii, follows in the tracks of extreme '90s arcade racers by delivering an experience centered around blazing fast speeds, simple stunts, and, most importantly, massive air. It’s a game about racing, but it’s also about earning as many points as possible to finish the race with a score high enough to advance. This means you’re gonna have to take big risks if you want to show up the competition – and these 'big risks' usually involve launching your vehicle skyward from every dirt, snow or grass-covered incline in sight.
Knowing that, it should go without saying that this game should be right up my alley.
But I didn't have a Wii at launch; I waited until the summer before the release of Donkey Kong Country Returns in the summer 2010, to invest in the console. By the time I had an opportunity to purchase Excite Truck, I'd heard so many people say it wasn't worth my money because it was shallow, and because its sequel, Excitebots: Trick Racing, was a major improvement. So, at some point down the road I bought Excitebots and passed on Excite Truck – that is, until a couple years ago when my curiosity and its affordability convinced me that Excite Truck should at the very least be a part of my Wii collection.
Fast forward to last year, to 2017 to be specific. I was in the mood for something mindless and commitment-free, so I slipped Excite Truck from its cozy spot on the shelf, dusted it off, and gave it an opportunity to rev my engine. It did just that.
Tilting a sideways Wiimote to steer your truck is an intuitive and simple method of control, one that clicked with me right from the start – same as Excitebots. Is it gimmicky? Obviously. Would an analog stick offer greater precision? Absolutely. But the truth is that the motion controls work well enough here that this is the rare occasion where I wouldn’t have it any other way. I'm a lost cause when it comes to steering with the motion controls in Mario Kart Wii, but I have no problems with Excite Truck. It’s an amusing and surprisingly reliable means of interaction, and it only contributes to the game’s arcade-like appeal.
That’s because Excite Truck’s core gameplay is so darn satisfying. The moment-to-moment racing is intense and constantly engaging, and discovering which routes ultimately lead to the best trick opportunities has keeps me compulsively selecting 'Retry' at the end of a race even if I’ve earned enough points to move on. There's something about collecting an S rating - other than unlocking additional difficulty modes - that I find so inexplicably irresistible. It certainly doesn't hurt that you're frequently unlocking vehicles, paint jobs and in-game trophies for your stunts and wins. I hate to overuse a word as plain and broad as 'fun' but in this case, it's such an apt descriptor that it feels wrong not to use it. So here it goes: Excite Truck is, simply put, a truckload of fun.
I'll admit, if I had purchased a copy for its original retail price of $49.99, I might have wound up slightly disappointed. Mainly because it's somewhat unambitious in terms of modes and options. There's no less content than an N64 racer such as San Francisco Rush or Beetle Adventure Racing; instead, the main issue is that these modes aren't all that deep or unique. Excite Race, which is a standard world tour-type mode, has you partaking in the same stunt-laden race type through six re-purposed environments (seven if you count a secret level tucked away deep in the game), while Challenge offers a few 'smash all opponents' and 'drive through the rings' variants to spice things up. And that's about the extent of the variety.
Luckily, I didn't pay $50 for Excite Truck. I was able to obtain a like-new copy for less than $10. The way I see it, that price renders any value-related concerns irrelevant. I've already extracted way more than enough entertainment from this package during the many nights I've spent knocking out a few races or dabbling in split-screen mode, and I imagine anyone else with an affinity for balls-to-the-wall racing will feel the same. There's something about its easy-to-play yet tough-to-master nature that reminds me of an NES game (and, no, it has nothing to do with its Excitebike lineage) that keeps me coming back for more every few weeks when I need to blow off some steam and de-stress. Heck, at this point I think I've spent more time with it than Excitebots.
If you still have a Wii or Wii U sitting around, and you want an accessible, high-energy game to spend at least a couple weekends with, I highly recommend Excite Truck. It's oft overshadowed by its more inventive successor, and that's understandable, but that doesn't mean it doesn't also deserve a reserved parking space in your collection, especially now that it's so cheap.
Comments 131
This is one of my all time favorite Wii games. Back in the day I would play it with friends and have a blast with it. Fun fact this game was one of the few on Wii to support playing your own tracks loaded onto the system's SD card. I did a lot of racing to Audioslave back then, good times.
Haha I f**king loved excite truck, I butchered it loads when it came out... We need a sequel!!!
This title flew right over my head. It's too bad! The only kind of racers I enjoy are arcade racers. The Excite series is due for a comeback on the Switch. And F-Zero. And a proper Star Fox.
@JTMnM
This really is a good game totally worth the money i had lots of fun playing it also i remember it had its own MP3 player so you could add your own music
Excitebike was better
This was alright, but the fact that it is limited to motion controls was something that I wasn't a fan of
Excitebots was probably worse in every way
I still have my copy of Excite Trucks. It's a good game for some quick thrills.
This is kinda off topic but I hope the rumors that the Nintendo Switch will be a getting a Burnout game are true.
you got my hopes up with that intro picture... are we getting a switch remake of Excite truck, that would be great - I loved that game!
Lately I've started missing a lot of Wii era games. I used to love Excite Truck. I nostalgically watched a game-play video on YouTube just a few weeks ago.
Probably my favorite game on Wii back in the days... I fully completed it with maximum stars on all races up to platinum... I still boot it once in a while... So gooooood.
@Mr_Horizon this would be wonderful, but I highly doubt it... The Excite Bots sequel was no so good (because less simple and arcade IMO)...
Excitebots is even better.
And wasn't released in Europe! Why!?!
One of my all time fave games. I'm not a huge racing game fan, but this was something very special
Always was interested in this game but if I remember correctly it never came to Europe.
@NintyNate It had a sequel, Excitebots, it was even mentioned in the article. Unless you meant a new sequel on modern platforms, in which case yes!
I'm a huge racing fan myself. I've never played a better racing game than Excite Truck. I rated it a 10/10 back in 2007, beating my former number one racer F-Zero GX.
11 years later, still nothing has beat Excite Truck. I replayed it a lot over the last decade and just someone mentioning it urges me to play it all over again. A new Excite Truck game would hype me to the max.
I was originally mega-disappointed when Excite Bots didn't make its way to Europe - I thought a new game in the series would be even better. But from what I gathered over the years Excite Bots isn't as good, so having to skip this semi-sequel was bearable - until EU got shafted again when Excite Bots was re-released on the Wii U in America only.
Anyway, I'm proud to have been there day 1 to have such an amazing and original racer so early in the Wii's life. It was my fourth Wii game after my Wii launch day purchases (Wii Sports, Wii Play, and Twilight Princess). I still remember the day I went out with 100€ in my pocket and spent all of it on Excite Truck and Kororinpa (both games were released the same day and 49,99 each). I felt like this was the best 100 bucks I spent in a long time.
can't believe i still haven't played this game yet even though i got my wii at christmas in 2006! don't have a wii anymore though but i will probably get one again (or a WiiU) someday
Bought this day 1 along side zelda, red steel. This was and still is a great game. Many hours of enjoyment over the years. Might have to pop this in and take a break from skyrim and rocket league on my switch.
This was the closest we ever got to a F-Zero GX sequel. It was a bad call from Nintendo Europe not to release Excite Bots over here, I had to soft mod my Wii to play it after importing it.
The only thing that did not click with me was the rock soundtrack. Thankfully the game supported SD card custom soundtrack so I got onto my laptop and made a electronic soundtrack to play along with the game.
Regardless to say as you might have deducted I really love this series and would love a new game if Nintendo keeps ignoring us fans asking for a new F-Zero for yet another year.
Excite Truck and RE4 are my favorite Wii games. I'd love a Switch version.
Not a game favoured by the critics but as with you guys, this ranks in my top 10 games of all time. A pure pleasure to play. I would love to see a sequel on switch. Drooling at the thought of online play and HD. Cmon Nintendo
It tons of fun in the way a hair metal band is fun. I'd buy a remaster or sequel instantly.
One of the first games I ever bought for my Wii and also one of my favourites. Absolutely loved this game. I S ranked every track on Super Excite mode, the mirror mode was too much for me though. I played Excitebots too but while being a great game, it couldn't beat the pure thrill of Excite Truck. Oh how I'd love a sequel on Switch.
Bought the game sometime in late-2006/early-07 after I had played through most of the my launch-day purchases. Provided a decent amount of fun but I don't think any Excite game will ever top Excitebike.
And that Pumped Up over the top jammin' music!!!
I love ExciteTruck! One of the hidden gems of the Wii.
This game is a lot of fun, easily the best racer on the Wii! I couldn't believe the reviews I read about it after I picked it up, it's such an OTT game that even crashing is funny. I agree about the motion controls, they feel just right with Excite Truck, whereas I only used them a couple of times in Mario Kart as they didn't feel anywhere near as tight. Thanks for this article, I'm gonna fire this one up again this evening.
I totally agree! I loved this game on the Wii and when the Wii U was announced one of my first thoughts was, "will it be backward compatible and will I be able to play Excite Truck on it?" I've been hoping ever since for a sequel.
This was a pretty decent game for the Wii, even the Excitebots game was pretty good. My favorite racer for the Wii, was Monster 4X4 World Circuit, another great game for the Wii.
I so agree with this article. This was one of the most entertaining arcade racers on the Wii, period. (and I would also like to give some credit to Need for Speed Nitro, another entertaining Wii exclusive for arcade racing lovers)
And even if you never had a Wii, but do still own a Wii U, I'd say it's still worth considering, especially if you can get it at a bargain price, which is entirely possible.
I do find it regrettable that, once again, there isn't a video accompanying the article, since that would have really set the stage and underlines everything that was said in the article, and might even be the ticket to persuading people being on the fence or people actually already considering to buy it, like @Robotron2084.
So, without any further ado:
VIDEO TIME !!!!!
EDIT:
There are various different worlds/levels in this game, of which only two are shown in this video. Skip to the 23m12s mark to see the second level.
The Wii Excitebike is similarly a list gem. Brain dead fun that sucks you in for round after round.
I love this game!!! Glad to see it get some recognition.
Love this game, very underrated. It was the first Wii game I tried at an EB Games demo kiosk.
Excite Truck is a stone cold classic.
It was lampooned for having impossible motion controls at the time, however once you tuned into it it had the best learning curve, track design and progression.
Still not got to play ExciteBots properly as it was not released in Europe, still waiting!
I'm also a fan of the San Francisico Rush series, which it ultimately marmite, similar to Excite Truck in it's accessibility and handling model.
I also loved Excite Truck, it was a real disappointment that Excitebots never released in PAL regions/UK. I'd love a Switch sequel.
This game was good
I really like this game too. I actually find this more appealing than Excitebots due to the fact you are racing trucks instead of robot bugs. Get this game it will not disappoint.
One of the best racing games on Wii.. Speed racer was amazing that's well. So bad I was not able to play exite boots. I dreaming to see sequels on nintendo direct.....
Yeah, I was very surprised how good the game was when I got it. The custom soundtrack thing was dope as hell.
Never played it.
Excite Truck is easily one of the best games on the Wii. I think Excitebots is more fun.
Awesome to see an article about this classic in 2018. Seriously one of the best Wii games and overlooked by most.
I knew I was in for something great, when I crashed early on and the words pop up: "Nice Crash!"
After days of playing when we realized you get points for close calls with trees... "Super Tree Run" baby! The game is all about pressing you up against danger at high speed and ExciteBots, while having some cool ideas sort of ruins the momentum with the stop everything and try to get a big boost contraptions.
My wife was always better at this game than me, but we both loved it. It's one of the games that remains as a testament to how satisfying and good motion controls can be even before MotionPlus (gyro).
(I may still have that custom music list I made on an SD card somewhere... definitely took a few times to find music that really went with it...)
class game. Thanks for reminding me to play it again soon!
As weird as it sounds, Excitebots was even better. Could be brutally hard sometimes, but it was such an amazingly fantastic game. One of the best on the Wii, which says a lot
One of the very best Wii games ever!! TOO MUCH EXCITE!!!!!!!!!
@Shiryu
Dude, you are one hell of a mixer.
Super thumbs up. Awesome job.
Love this game. This article made me want to give it another shot.
Maybe I'll try playing music from SD this time.
@ThanosReXXX Nebula Crystal Road or bust.
Excite truck switch confirmed?
@coolaggro I agree. It is a better game but I really don't like the cutesy animals I wish they would have went for realistic visuals with trucks and such.
I am sorry I missed this one at the time. It just seemed to fly under my radar until I was knee deep and several other Wii titles to even care anymore.
Yes yes yes. Excite Truck is amazing. One of my favorite Christmas memories came out of staying up until 3 in the morning getting through all the single player content by passing the controller around between family members until we beat each new course. Such a fantastic game.
This is an amazing game, I thoroughly recommend it.
Very, very happy to see so many positive comments here, and that many of you share a similar fondness for Excite Truck. Thanks for reading!
@WaveBoy Yep. Those red bars are what irritates me about Excitebots. Otherwise, that game is great, too. I actually love its playfulness and mini-games.
@lumothesinner meh excite bots was odd and not a true sequel in my opinion, do another excite game with trucks and bikes
@Robotron2084 You're welcome.
Oh, and here you go:
Saw somebody else mentioning Speed Racer, which was actually also pretty entertaining as well:
@Shiryu In the immortal words of Rocket the Space Rodent:
"Oh.... Yeah..... "
@ThanosReXXX I have both those games and they were indeed a lot of fun. We need more arcade style racers on Switch ASAP. I just keep hoping that the Burnout Paradise Switch rumor comes true...
@Shiryu Yeah, that would definitely be nice. Although I can also agree with the people that would rather see Burnout 3 on the Switch, since that was the last real Burnout game, before EA decided to make it an open world racer.
I do have Paradise, on the Xbox 360, but even though I did like it, it is quite a different type of game compared to the first 3, so I can understand that it doesn't suit everyone's taste.
@aaronsullivan "It's one of the games that remains as a testament to how satisfying and good motion controls can be even before MotionPlus (gyro)."
Couldn't agree more, it was one of those rare games were it felt completely natural and fitting, and worked almost perfectly, even without Motion Plus.
@Gamer83 Yeah, loved Excite Bike, though I always hated the User Interface and soundtrack. So many developers had terrible sound departments and User Interface designers back on those days...Boss Studios, Left Field where embarrassing - their game engine and design teams excelled, I can only assume they had no sound engineers or they left it up to the work experience boys.
@Robotron2084 Agreed. Still play that every now and then on the old Xbox 360. As we speak, I'm actually thinking about installing it on my Xbox One S...
Oh, and Need for Speed Nitro can be played with a whole range of controllers, so if you don't prefer the Wii remote and still have a Classic Controller for the Wii lying around somewhere, you can use that too. On the original Wii, you could also use a GameCube controller, but that obviously won't work on the Wii U, because the GameCube adapter isn't detected in Wii mode.
@Robotron2084
P.S.
As for other Wii game recommendations for the Wii U, of which I'm sure @Shiryu will also be able to come up with some good ones, just let me know what type of game you're looking for or what you like and I can probably come up with a nice selection for you to choose from.
And quite a few of them, much like these arcade racers, are definitely still worth playing, in my honest opinion.
This and Heatseeker were brilliant arcade style games
What a brilliant game.
@holchasaur The title is highly misleading!
I actually thought this was a new release for the Wii.
But apparently it's just some old game. No thanks, I'm not interested in that.
@shani I'm sorry if you found the title misleading, but I thought it was as straightforward as possible. Your profile says you've owned every Nintendo home console from SNES to Wii U... I'm genuinely surprised you were unaware of Excite Truck for Wii!
@Robotron2084 Actually quite enjoyable, contrary to popular belief. People keep talking to me about a PS4, but that'll never cross my doorstep, unless it wants to be burned or destroyed. Got a rather complicated and negative history with Sony, so they're never an option for me...
And besides: most of my friends also have an Xbox besides their Nintendo consoles/handhelds, so it was a rather logical choice for me.
I got the One S on a year end sale, 1TB hard drive, bundled with Forza Horizon 3 plus the Hot Wheels add-on (talk about hilarious), and a free game of choice out of four, and I decided to choose Call of Duty WW2. Great game. And all of that for only €288, so that's a great price, considering what it cost only months before that.
Another big reason for getting it was me still having an active Xbox Live Gold subscription (also because I don't sell off my old consoles, so the Xbox 360 is also still connected and used), and over the last two years, I've been collecting all the free games through the Games with Gold service, so I had about 60 games in my "ready to download for Xbox One" list...
Would have been a shame to leave those unused. I haven't even played them all yet, because one of my mates convinced me to download Destiny 2, so that has also taken up some of my time these last couple of days...
As for the Wii list: I've got some stuff to do right now, but I'll get back to you either later tonight or tomorrow, and give you a list of my favorites, and I'll put in links to YouTube videos, so you can decide for yourself. I've made a mental note that arcade is preferred, but I'll add in other types of games as well, seeing as there are plenty of other decent games as well on the Wii.
And I'll ask @Shiryu again to also chime in with his top 10, 20 or whatever. (Take it away, Gonçalo... )
One of my all-time favorite Wii games, I even like it more than its supposedly superior sequel.
I used to rent it from my local Coborn's back in the day, and then I bought their rental copy for dirt cheap a few years ago when they were closing down their video rental section and liquidating their inventory.
oh man. Thinking about the good times I had playing this game makes me feel old.
Ah, nostalgia.
@shani Man, how the hell is "Why You Should Consider Catching Big Air With Wii's Excite Truck" misleading? It explicitly says that it's about the Wii version.
And it's not just "some old game", it is one of the best, if not THE best arcade racer on the Wii, and for anyone still owning a Wii or a Wii U who likes this type of game, it is STILL highly recommended.
@ThanosReXXX I can not fit my top arcade racers in just 20 games. xP
The list is very, very long indeed...
@10-zx Depending on what hardware updates your Wii has, the SD card music option might not work anymore. I could never get into it to work.
@Shiryu the question was your Wii recommended list for ALL genres, preferably arcade-type games, NOT just racers. He is interested in more games, but just not that "in the know" concerning the Wii, hence his request.
@ThanosReXXX Oh, I've got a list for that! Now if only I had the time to pick my favourites...
Played this with the soundtrack of Iron Maiden ”dance of death” on the sd-card. They both fit each other perfectly and I cant’t believe this was more than ten years ago. A true gem of many from the wii-era.
@Shiryu Is that the original Red Steel on your list? Oh boy. I only recently played it and wrote a little something about it (never published the article, though). Long story short, that game and I did NOT get along.
@ThanosReXXX That's the thing, there are still new games coming out for the Wii, so I thought this would be one of them.
Why else would anyone write an article about a Wii game in 2018 if it's not a new release?
If I had known that it's an old game, I wouldn't even have opened the article.
But is it really that good? Judging from the trailers it looks like an average game at best.
@holchasaur Yeah well there were sooo many games for the Wii. And it's not exactly the kind of game I'd play (I prefer racing games with faster vehicles ).
But now that you mention it, I think I heard/read the title before (or maybe I'm confusing it with Excitebike?).
Anyway, no worries, it just seemed like a new title (like Just Dance is still releasing on Wii ^^).
@holchasaur Ubisoft tried but failed. Like many they were still not sure how to make motion controls work properly. Fortunately they more than made up with the sequel. You should put it up on NL.
@shani Because it's a soapbox article. That doesn't necessarily mean that it has to be about a new game or new piece of hardware.
And if you've watched the video I posted and still think it isn't interesting, then maybe it's just not for you, but besides me, everyone I know that I invited to try this game has massively enjoyed it and maybe the videos don't do it complete justice.
It's the thrill of getting the jumps just right, and hitting as many power ups as possible, that makes this the adrenaline rush that it is, and it's a truly underrated title.
@Shiryu @holchasaur I can definitely confirm that. The second game was far superior and actually quite enjoyable to play. Completely different aesthetics as well, but quite fitting to the story and the game as a whole.
@ThanosReXXX I have to admit I didn't see the video you posted, I just watched something on Google.
But after watching that video, I'm still not convinced. I thought maybe I'm judging it unfairly because I just don't like trucks. But that's not it.
I genuinely like games where you can pull off acrobatic stunts, like Wave Race, 1080, Tony Hawk, OlliOlli or, most recently, Descenders.
But it seems to me you can only do these boring long jumps in Exite Truck, which really doesn't look exciting to me at all.
But maybe that's just me, I'm happy with other people enjoying it, I mean it does really look decent otherwise.
This game is so rad. HAHa I never expected to see an article about it in 2018. Sweet
I never played this particular game, but I played and adored Excitebots. The crazy robot insect and rodent cars definitely had more of an appeal to me. But now that the online mode is gone, earning currency to pay for unlockables is such a chore.
Funny, we just went retro (for my 12 year old) and played Excitebots for a few hours a few nights ago. We adored the game. Even those 'annoying' red bars were fun because they gave you a chance to plan your next move - and sometimes, you'd pick your path and avoid those if you could score more points on a different route. Both games are excellent and truly there's no reason to pick one over the other — pick both!
Pulling off stunts and being constantly engaged was addicting and we scored an 'S' on every course on every mode!
We hope they revisit the series with an Excitetruck 2. Would be amazing!
@shani It certainly does, especially if you consider that this was one of the very first games as well, and as @aaronsullivan also mentioned, the motion controls were also rather good, yet another pretty impressive feat for such an early title. A lot of later games had decidedly worse controls, even some of those with Motion Plus.
As for the whole trick system: in all fairness, as already stated in the edit that I added underneath the video, it shows only two levels, and I could also have added that it is a little short on tricks, because there are a heck of a lot more things possible, although truth be told, I also didn't use most of the tricks when playing it.
The premise of the game is getting stars and ratings, and you get these for jumps, rings, drifting, crashing other cars, and stunts, except the reason why probably most players of this game won't perform too many stunts during racing, is because you of course also need to finish in a certain position, and pulling of the more advanced stunts during an intense race could result in you losing.
In the easy levels, you can get to the next race by finishing third, but in medium and hard, it is second and first place respectively. And that finishing position also gives you the points needed to get the desired S ratings.
And when you've finished all that, mirror mode becomes available, which is hard as nails, but ultimately very rewarding.
And besides the race, there's also a stunt mode called "Challenge", so if you want to know more, perhaps you should read this:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Excite_Truck
All you might want to learn about the game is listed there. Like for example how it is the 9th best seller on the Wii. If anything, that ought to tell you something...
@ThanosReXXX Ah now I understand, I didn't realize that it's about winning the race AND doing stunts/jumps. Hm doesn't sound so bad after all. Maybe I should look for a cheap copy for my Wii U then...
Well the only racing game where I really enjoyed using the Wiimote as a steering wheel was Need for Speed Nitro. It was way better than what Mario Kart Wii had achieved with a sideways Wiimote and it also didn't need Motion+. I remember being impressed by that back then.
Woah, 9th best seller?! Didn't know that, that's really impressive considering how many games (and especially how many good games) the Wii had! Also didn't know that it's a Nintendo game, I assumed it was a third party game. ^^
Thanks for elaborating on that, maybe I'll give it a try eventually.
@FinalFrog - Nice profile pic - LOVE Cuphead. And I'll definitely check out Munchables if I see it at the store. Never heard of it until today.
@shani - All good, dude!
@Shiryu - Yeah, I played a bunch of Red Steel 2, and it was no doubt a huge improvement. Also, I'll have a look at that RS article and see if it's something that would make sense for NL. If it is, I'll run it by Dom and see what's what.
@thesilverbrick - I prefer the animal bot vehicles in Excitebots over trucks, too. But shh. Don't tell anyone.
@Metroplex360 - Loved reading your post. Thanks for sharing!
@shani Yay! Another possible convict!
And how about that E3 2006 Game Critics Awards: Best Racing Game? Not too shabby either, huh?
You're welcome, or as they might say in your neck of the woods: "kein thema, bruder".
@shani By the way: agreed on Need for Speed Nitro, but then again: you've probably already seen me mentioning that game in this thread already as well. But if you compare it to Excite Truck, then that was of course a title that came out much, much later, so developers have had much more time to get familiar with the hardware and motion controls.
Personally, I mostly played with either the classic controller or the GameCube controller.
As for Excite Truck, here:
https://www.amazon.de/Excite-Truck-Wii-UK-IMPORT/dp/B000FQBWAG
https://www.konsolenkost.de/wii-excite-truck-mit-ovp-gebraucht/a-9071341/
Of all the Wii games I regret not owning it is this! Will defo hunt down a copy now. Also, San Francisco Rush on N64 was absolutely brilliant! Had so much fun back in the day. Did anyone else find the hidden skate park style cavern on the remote part of the beach? So awesome!
Excite Truck always looked awesome to me. I guess the issue is:
Reviewers on the whole don't rate arcade racers well. They are immediately reduced in score due to lacking the 'depth' of simulators.
I think Excite Truck did well in the reviews for what it offered at the initial price.
@ThanosReXXX Haha.
Maar ik versta ook Nederlands.
Yeah I mean, if you're so passionate about it, there has to be something good about the game, right?
The 2006 award only adds to that.
Oh and thanks for the link! I've put it in my Amazon basket.
Oh no, I actually didn't see you mention NFS Nitro, it's just the first game that comes to my mind regarding great sideways racing controls. But you're right, it was release much later.
@Lukeim64 Yeah, I loved Rush 2049 on N64, recently got the first Rush, have to say it is excellent - the visuals are top notch for a 1st gen N64 racer plus with the no AA APS patch applied it's very sharp and easy on the eyes.
@Robotron2084 Haha, I feel your pain. Here's mine: I was one of the latest adopters of the Wii U that you'll ever meet. I bought it
last yearafter Christmas 2016 on the 27th of December...I just make it a habit of buying one console or handheld a year. I had a Switch in mind, but once at the store, I saw that the Xbox One, which was next on my list, was so much cheaper than the Switch, also considering the bundle and the games that I had already collected for it, that I decided to buy that first instead, and the number of games already in my possession at least gives me more than enough to do, whereas with the Switch, I would only be able to buy two games with it, at most, so it wasn't a very difficult decision.
@shani Well, seems like we're both multi-lingual, then. But I'm not Dutch: I just live in Amsterdam nowadays, but I'm originally from California.
As for Nitro: I mentioned it in comment #30 and posted a video of it in comment #59, to inform @Robotron2084 about it.
Just out of curiosity: how come you speak Dutch? I kind of have to, considering my whereabouts, but you definitely don't, far as I know?
@LinktotheFuture
If I recall correctly, I did get it to work at one point. I think your music files need to be pure MP3s and stored at the root level of your SD Card.
I didn't get it to work this time, but I did put them in a folder, not sitting around at root. I guess Excite Truck can't read anything other than the root.
@Lukeim64 - In the first Rush? Not sure I'm familiar with that! Will have to have a look for it this weekend (my wife and I STILL play the Rush series regularly).
@liveswired - Don't sleep on Rush 2 for N64. That's my favorite. It's a slight improvement over the original in every way.
@holchasaur Wow... It's been about 20 years lol!! But yes, on a beach there are some rocks with a hidden entrance to a cavern. Blew me away back then! We so take from granted in this day and age how amazing it was to find stuff like this is games back then. 😁😉
@10-zx That could have been my problem. I just moved the songs from iTunes to my SD card. I will have to try converting them to mp3s and then putting them on a SD card.
Excite Truck was amazing, loved it. Sadly Excitebots skipped Europe but I was lucky enough to play it a few times on an imported U.S. Wii and it was just as crazy and fun. Here's hoping for downloadable Wii games for the Switch!
I played a lot of this game on the Wii. Not too sure I'd be interested in going back to it, however.
Was this the "SUPER SANDWICH" game? I only remember seeing photos of that.
Or was that the sequel (which was primarily a US release, given only a small late Japanese release and no PAL)?
@LinktotheFuture
Yup, that'll do it.
When I first tried getting some tracks onto Excite Truck, I did the exact same thing. No wonder it didn't work, especially when iTunes utilizes .m4a.
But, after running them through a music converter and sticking them in the SD Card's root directory, I believe I finally found considerable success.
Tip, don't just manually change the extension yourself. Download an application specially designed for converting music formats. When you're done, go ahead and remove it from your computer because unnecessary applications contribute to bloat.
@ThanosReXXX Ah interesting! Well how do you like it there? An American cousin of mine is also living in Utrecht right now and seems to be torn between staying and going back.
I had to learn Dutch in university as a mandatory part of my studies, but I also enjoy learning languages in general (so far "only" seven because I was too lazy in recent years, but I'm trying to learn Japanese now).
@shani Interesting. Didn't know they teach Dutch in any country other than the Netherlands and Belgium. Never too old to learn something new, I guess...
As for me: well, after more than 37 years, you could say that I've managed to settle in just fine...
Even got a Dutch ID card and all that. I would like to go back one day, but not to stay: besides an aunt and uncle well into their eighties, I haven't got any family there anymore, or to be more precise: that I'm familiar with.
My uncle and aunt did have children, but I can't really remember them, and contrary to their parents, who used to visit us every two or three years when I was young, I have never seen them again, and they now have children of their own, but all of them are unknown to me, so if I would go there, it would be more like a tourist than like someone returning home.
I suppose I feel more like a citizen of the world than an American one, or a Dutch one, for that matter. I do feel like an "Amsterdammer" by now, but that is obviously also because of the length of time that I've been living here.
And seven languages, aye? If that's fluently, then I'm definitely impressed. Most German people I got to know over the years, either refused to speak other languages, or only spoke one other, and most definitely not fluently, so you certainly seem to be somewhat of an anomaly.
But then again, so am I. Having largely grown up outside of the close-minded worldview of the States, I haven't got the whole stars & stripes mentality and I also speak more languages than the average native of my own country. I speak Dutch and English (obviously) fluently, my German is more than serviceable enough, I can make myself perfectly understandable in French, and besides that, I speak a little Spanish and Danish.
I do watch anime in Japanese with English subs, but putting in the effort to actually learn that language? Not for me, I guess. Wouldn't even know how to turn that into something useful, other than being able to watch anime without subs...
Love this game
@ThanosReXXX Oh, well in that case you seem to truly have settled in, I wasn't aware of that. I suppose after such a long time and having not much contact to anyone overseas that's normal.
And I totally get that sentiment of being a citizen of the world, although I've always lived in Germany I can relate to that. Probably because of growing with two nationalities, but also because of travelling a lot and because of my general world view. I've just always felt more interested in what happened globally than locally.
If one wanted to really tie me down, I could say I'm a European, but especially in modern days, with the internet and everything, I don't feel there are any real borders so I'd rather say I'm an earthling.
Well I guess in a way, we're both oddballs then. But then again I'd rather be an anomaly than normal. ^^
Well my French is somewhat rusty (never truly liked it and haven't spoken it in ages) and I haven't used my Dutch and Spanish that much in recent years. But I was fluent in all of them at some point. ^^ I think I still am in Dutch, more or less. And I can still make myself understandable in Spanish, I just have to look up some words occasionally. I just have to use it more regularly again.
I also had Latin in school and was really good at it, still (surprisingly) understand quite a lot of it since its often useful for all kinds of things.
Other than that, I'm fluent in German, English and Farsi (although I also don't use the latter as frequently as in my youth).
To be fair, I had already started my sixth language (Spanish, which I then continued at the university) during school, so Dutch was the last language I learned. But that was around 2010 , so as mentioned before I became lazy (although later I also had Turkish for a few months and took a few Portugese lessons).
In a way, through Spanish, French and Latin, I also understand most Italian sentences, but of course I wouldn't say I know Italian and I certainly don't speak Italian.
I've just always been highly interested in languages, their connections between each other (e.g. Indo-European studies), similarities/differences, their unique grammatical concepts etc.
The whole process of learning a new language was always quite easy (and interesting) for me and since I'm such a quick learner, it does kind of feel like a waste not learning anything new for so long.
I always get frustrated with myself when I hear a language I don't understand, because I want to understand everything and everyone.
Back when I was learning Dutch I actually decided that my next languages would be Japanese and Russian, but didn't act on it until last year.
The final push came because of Nintendo, animes (although only more recently) and more generally Japanese culture. I just like how the Japanese think and what kind of art/entertainment they come up with, it's just so different from our western ways. I just recently watched Erased (the Netflix show as well as the anime) and I enjoyed the insight on Japanese day-to-day life/culture.
My main motivation is: I'd really like to go there someday, but not without at least knowing the language a bit (I always feel stupid or almost ashamed for not knowing the local language).
So last year I bought a book to learn Japanese and familiarised myself with Hiragana and Katakana and where it all comes from. But again I didn't see it through and stopped for a while, only to pick it up again recently.
BTW Do you know the game Hiragana Pixel Party on Switch? It actually helps learning the Hiragana! After immediately seeing its effect the next day (had already learned four of them after a short midnight session) I'm intent on finishing every level of the game.
@10-zx Thanks for the tips!
I brought this just after launch to go with my Zelda twilight princess and Rayman Raving Rabbids. I really enjoyed it (especially the MP3 option - so I could charge around the track with megadeth and metallica blasting away merrily) its a shame that excitebots never came to the UK otherwise I would have had that too.
@LinktotheFuture
Anytime man.
Let me know how it goes.
I have never even heard of it, and I am not remotely at a loss of games to play right now. But I will remember this in the future whenever I feel like playing the Wii again.
This was always one of my go-to Wii titles. Loved it. Adding our own tunes was a stroke of genius that the sequel abandoned.
@shani No, I don't know that game. But it certainly sounds like one of the more obscure ones, and since I don't have a Switch yet, I'm not really as invested into reading about its games as when I would have had one, and of course I hang around here, so most games that I see are the ones that they re- or preview.
@Heavyarms55 If you ever come across this game for say, a buck or 10 - 15, then it is definitely well worth it to pick it up, especially if you like over the top arcade racers.
It got the GameCritics award for best racing game of E3 2006, and was the 9th bestselling overall title on the Wii.
And Need for Speed Nitro is another good one, but maybe that's one title that you actually DO know. If not, there's a video of that game in comment #59, and if you want to know a bit more about Excite Truck, you can check out the video I posted in comment #30, and the video that @Shiryu posted in comment #51.
@Nico07
yes!!! I raced to TV on the radio and blonde red head
@LinktotheFuture
Wait, hold on.
After following my own suggestions, I still did not see Excite Truck recognize my SD Card. ...Until I realized, Excite Truck only reads regular SD Cards. No SDHC, no SDXC, and probably no Micro SD.
So yeah, forgot to include that little detail. Sorry.
@10-zx I am good there, I have a regular SD card. Now I just need time and effort.
Excite Truck is a great game and quite unique! It's a great feeling when you jump long distances! I agree that the motion controls work unlike the damn motion controls in Mario Kart Wii!
@Robotron2084 Ah, lucky man, you...
But why just Microsoft? Because they're less successful than Sony? Either way, whatever they'll do, will probably also be what Sony will do, since they more or less do the same every time.
My suspicion is that (and not depending on the final sales of the X) there's simply going to be another console. It's either that or Microsoft is going to entirely dismantle the Xbox department, but I honestly don't see that happening.
In any case, their next console is not going to be an Xbox One model, because more X than the X isn't possible for a reasonable price, but they probably will try again, and take into account what they've learned from the Xbox One's launch fiasco.
Funny thing is that almost nobody knows, or cares to remember, that Sony had the EXACT same DRM/online restrictions, AND a motion camera contraption ready for their launch, but when they saw the backlash that Microsoft got, they quickly decided to not apply those rules, and they removed the camera from the starter pack, which subsequently enabled them to cut the price with a $100.
So basically, they have Microsoft to thank for their current success. And the rest, as they say, is history...
Just imagine what could have happened, if Sony would have been the first to launch their new console, with all the things in the box that they initially intended to sell. They would have fallen as hard as Microsoft, if not harder. Oh, the joy... a man can only dream about that...
So, in short, I expect there to be announcements (or leaks) somewhere between mid 2018 to mid 2019, of there being completely new consoles in development from both parties.
Sony's will of course just be called the PS5, and Microsoft's will be called an Xbox something-something, but what exactly is anyone's guess, since someone inside the team kind of screwed up the numbering...
@Robotron2084 No, I don't. Won't go so far as to use the word hate, but emphasis on REALLY is quite appropriate in my case.
As a company, Sony massively screwed me over three times, with several devices I had bought from them over more than a decade, and as the time-honored tradition goes in the old US of A, it's three strikes, you're out.
I may not be living in the States anymore, but the three strike rule is still applied on anything and anyone that disadvantages or hurts me.
@Robotron2084 Well, I wouldn't know either, since I've largely ignored them ever since then, although obviously you can't ignore their success stories once they're mentioned here or there.
But in all honesty it also isn't really about them being a bad company in and of itself, it's more about them treating me bad. And if we're totally honest, we all know that to large companies, we're just numbers, so in 9 out of 10 cases it isn't even personal.
But I sure did experience it as such, but as a sales & marketing man myself, regardless of my personal feelings, I can still somewhat appreciate their skill and pro-activeness in the video game market. But that will be about the only compliment I'll probably ever give them.
As for their consoles: there actually are a few of their exclusive games that I would like to play, but not enough to warrant buying yet another device from them, let alone break my promise to myself that no Sony device would ever cross this doorstep again.
I'll share a little secret with you, though: I do still have a Sony radio alarm clock that just won't die on me, and I'm also not the kind of person to throw things out for the sake of principles, so it's still here. And it's already more than 20 years old, but it still works, so it's what wakes me up every morning...
@Robotron2084 Haha, indeed. So, good at holding grudges as well, aye? Is that also an Irish thing, or is your star sign by any chance perhaps something with horns? Taurus myself, and I'm VERY good at holding grudges and remembering wrongs done to me. My star sign should actually be elephant...
@Robotron2084 Only once? So, you're actually even more "grudgier" than me!
@Robotron2084 Ouch! That's indeed something that should never have happened, so completely understandable. And as I was typing my cheeky response, I actually thought of how few people I would allow to "three strike" me, so in actuality, I also hand out one timers as well.
Just imagine otherwise: letting a person cheat on you three times, before you finally kick them to the curb...
@Robotron2084 My thoughts exactly, so I already thought about bringing things back on topic, but then I remembered that our conversation actually already WAS off-topic, seeing as we had gone from Excite Truck into naming other Wii games still worth playing.
I've been trying to hunt down my digitally stored Wii games list, but for the life of me, I can't remember on which hard disk or USB stick I put it, but as soon as I've found it, I'll make a recommended list for you.
@Robotron2084 Oh, that's more than enough time for me, I'll have that list, with names linking to videos for easy reference, ready for you by then.
As for Excite Truck and Need for Speed Nitro: neither should cost you more than 14 pounds/15 euros a piece. I've seen second-hand offerings online starting from 7 euros, and going up to around 15, so you shouldn't have to pay more than that.
EDIT:
Found the list! A 14-page word document filled to the brim with Wii goodness...
Oh, and the same price point I mentioned earlier applies to that Speed Racer game as well.
@Robotron2084 Five euros? Ah, even better! Friday night beers, huh? Well, cheers then.
@holchasaur Must check out Rush 2 aswell. Back in the day 4 player Rush 2049 on N64 stole the show for a long time.
The series was severely underrated!
@ThanosReXXX Hey! Wanted to drop by and say thanks for sharing my vids! Nice to see my footage actually being passed around, really appreciate it!
Also, don't forget to check out my 2nd Excite Truck vid, this time recorded with Elgato HD60 (the first was on Hauppauge).
@GoldMetalSonic Haha, no problem, man. I honestly didn't even realize I posted multiple videos from the same uploader. I was just looking for some footage of decent quality. A lot of Wii videos are of decidedly low quality, that is: if you want native footage.
I always try to stay clear from Dolphin emulator videos, because they're not representative and might give people the wrong idea of what to expect when booting up these games in their actual Wii/Wii U...
As for embedding videos: use square brackets, and in between them, type youtube, then a colon and finally the video code, which is everything that comes after the "=" sign.
So, in the case of your video, that would look like this:
(I added spaces to make it visible, so you'll need to remove these to actually see the embedded video)
[ youtube : TulxMOWlqx0 ]
If it doesn't show up immediately, just click on "edit" your comment, but don't change anything, simply save and return to the thread and then it should be there.
@ThanosReXXX Ahh! Thanks! And yeah, 100% agreed, I really don't like Dolphin videos, it's always gotta be on real hardware for me.
Also, here's a Wii U example in a 1080p 60fps recording with Tropical Freeze (well it runs in 720p but the system was in 1080p, you get the idea lol!):
@GoldMetalSonic Well, for me, it's not so much that I don't like Dolphin, but if you want to show people how certain Wii games look and play, it's just not a good example, unless you add the disclaimer that it won't look as good on a real Wii, so I'd rather just stick to real Wii videos for that purpose.
I would like to see something like Dolphin on the Switch, though. Would be nice to play Wii games in HD on that system. Would make a great dedicated Virtual Console for Wii and GameCube titles...
One of the greatest of all time! Just an amazing, well balanced game.
Downhill Domination (PS2) is the only thing that comes close to Excite Truck.
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