You might have heard that Nintendo is doing some downloadable content for Mario Kart 8, the Wii U entry in its series of party-friendly racing games. You might also have heard that Link, of the Zelda games, is featuring as a character for the first time. However, up above you can see that Excitebike is going to be represented in a track for the very first time, which is really very cool.
This isn’t the first time that Nintendo has sent Mario and his mates out to battle through the mud on dirtbikes, but you’d be hard pressed to remember the last time. BS Excitebike: Bun Bun Mario Battle Stadium was made available exclusively through the Satellaview service, which only operated in Japan. The service allowed players to download SNES games through their satellite TV service, in a manner not dissimilar to that of the Intellivision Playcable or Sega Channel services. We’ve put a video below for you to watch.
If you’re curious about the Satellaview and want to know more, we’d suggest a digital copy of Retro Gamer 87, which included an Obscura Machina feature on the machine.