Vs. Excitebike

Excitebike is a side-scrolling racing game in which the player takes control of a motocross racer. The two gameplay modes are Selection A as a solo race run, and Selection B against computer-controlled opponents. The objective of the game is to finish in third place or higher in a preliminary race to qualify for the Excitebike championship race. The A button accelerates the bike, and the B button activates a turbo boost that enhances the bike's speed, but overheats the engine if it is used for too long, forcing an immobile cooldown period.

The engine's temperature can be reset by driving over arrows located along the course. The player can use the directional pad to shift between lanes, and to shift the racer's balance midair after a jump. Landing squarely on both wheels allows the racer to maintain momentum, but an uneven landing will result in a loss of speed or a crash. As the game progresses, the player must contend with additional obstacles on the track such as gaps, rough patches that slow the bike if hit, and bottlenecks with only two lanes instead of four.

Design Mode allows players to create tracks using 19 types of hurdles, with options to save and load created tracks for the Famicom Data Recorder tape drive , which was unreleased outside Japan.