Hello ExciteBike 64,

I am learning this game a bit and wondering about version differences, the list of versions, and the best one(s) for speedrunning. Please let me know if you have additional information on versions and the differences. Looking at the list of versions I don't have, the IQue version should retain it's load time/console slowdown advantage over N64 just like other games. (I own: NTSC-U and NTSC-J on cart, NTSC-U/J and PAL on everdrive, VC-U on Wii U)

Cutting Room Floor Version Differences: https://tcrf.net/Excitebike_64

Found this version list website without the VC releases; claims there are 2 versions of NTSC-U https://www.nintendo64ever.com/Details,101,Excitebike-64.html

IQue Differences website: http://www.iquebrew.org/index.php?title=Excitebike_64

Demo Version: https://hiddenpalace.org/Excitebike_64_(Demo)

WIP Version List

N64 NTSC-U V1.0 NTSC-U V1.1 NTSC-J PAL

IQue

Wii U VC VC-U VC-J VC-PAL

Differences to Test (Not Done): Music on/off SFX on/off Voice on/off Camera Positions HiRes on/off

JP vs U PAL vs U IQue vs U N64 vs VC Confirm/Deny 1.0/1.1, test differences

Version Differences Reporting for Compilation: Japanese Version has many of the options taken out of the pause menu; only able to be accessed through main options menu. The cheat menu is accessible through the main options menu without a shortcut in place of the HD mode(japanese doesn't have expansion pack support). In addition all of the special events are unlocked by default and instead of unlocking them the tournament modes give you cheat codes to put in.

Japanese controller pak game files show you not only the level but the time of the ghost saved rounded to the second

Japanese Version has a modified UI with all 3 laps being displayed at the top left instead of bottom left; added map in bottom left. If you crash the last laps are wiped from the screen interestingly.

In the Tournament Mode of the Japanese version the names of the competitors are different colors instead of all white like the other versions.

The Japanese Challenge Round features 3 Laps of the selected courses compared to the 1 of the NTSC-U Releases

The Virtual Console(U) version appears to be a direct port of NTSC-U(presumably they would port 1.1 if that exists). The game runs noticeably smoother with presumably faster loads as well but has not been tested. There is no ability to load ghosts unfortunately on the Wii U version it appears.

The Wii U VC version seems to have much more sensitive joystick due to bad input conversion; yet to try GC controller but will always come short of n64 precision. I don't think it's viable to use compared to n64 in time trial but depending on how much lag save is possible in RTA it might be useful in the rounds categories.

The Wii U VC version has a save state function that can be used for routing; be aware it only has one save state at a time so it's not as good as emulator with TAS tools like frame advance for testing routes

One additional important difference between JP and others not mentioned here - in Time Trials, JP has ghosts start overlapping the player, where USA/PAL/iQue has the player and the ghosts offset from each other, alternating left/right with each successive ghost raced and saved. This does have some parity implications, as using the "correct" offset makes the opening turn faster - which offset is correct will vary by course and may require some testing to confirm. This generally means that JP will have a (slight) disadvantage in Time Trials, as you cannot get either a left or a right offset. On the upside, you don't have to worry about getting the "wrong" offset like you do in the other versions.

In the JP version, the credits roll after completing Platinum Round on the Pro difficulty. In all other versions, credits don't roll until after the Challenge Round is complete.

I don't have an iQue, but there's a file floating around on the internet that will boot on an Everdrive-64 X7, and it works very well. Unlikely that any load time or lag reductions could be observed in this way (iQue hardware differs from stock N64 hardware, and is generally a bit more powerful), but other differences are observable.

iQue has the same scenario as the JP version in that the Hi-Res option has been replaced with a directly-accessible Cheats code entry in the options menu - this is expected since there is no Expansion Pak for the iQue.

For ghosts, iQue can save 123 blocks to the internal memory. Nice that they supported this feature.

The in-race UI for iQue is a bit different than the other versions, but most similar to NTSC-U:

Interestingly, the speedometer indicates km/h but the readings are still in MPH, unchanged from NTSC-U. NTSC-J actually converted the speedometer values to kilometers, but they didn't bother with that here. Pretty sure the iQue version is based on USA Rev. A (1.1).

The following Special Tracks are locked by default on iQue: Excitebike Classic, Soccer, Hill Climb, Excitebike 3D. Presumably unlock conditions are the same as USA.

I haven't looked into PAL much, but from a quick assessment PAL times seem more or less comparable to NTSC - a very strong conversion was done which allows times set on either version to be compared with apparent parity.

In the Japanese version, after pressing Start on the podium cutscene, you are taken back to the round selection screen, with your previously selected difficulty and round already highlighted. In other versions, you are returned to the main menu instead.

The Japanese version also uses an unusual display mode when viewing a replay after a race. It seems to be something like the "Hi-Res" mode from the USA version of the game, with the letterboxed view and lower framerate, but I'm not sure if it is actually using the Expansion Pak here, or what. Needs some more investigation probably.

https://twitter.com/NintendoAmerica/status/1569729045067186181

Excitebike 64 coming to Nintendo Switch Online service in 2023.

Should have 1080p-upscaled 3D content (sprites and textures are unchanged), rewind, and save state NSO enhancements like the other N64 games on the service.

Does the Hi-Res mode work in the Wii U VC version of the game? If so, are the framerate issues eliminated by the emulator?

Remains to be seen if/how ghosts will be handled.

Will PAL regions get the PAL version of the game? Apparently that's the case with Wave Race 64 on NSO, at least.

Also curious how Rainforest Run's flashing and strobing will be handled. Need to see if anything other than the dark VC filter was done for the Wii U version.

Very important: JP transitions between races in Season mode are about 3/4 of a second slower than USA. Therefore, it is highly recommended to run on NTSC-U for region-agnostic categories.

I've done some testing with turning down Music, SFX, and Voices, as this helps with framerate in other N64 games - in my experience, turning them down doesn't have any performance benefit here.

However, toggling the audio to Mono does seem to improve performance, albeit just a bit!

Excitebike 64 NSO version releases in a few days. I've gone ahead and added the version to the supported categories.