| Excitebike is a motocross race in Nintendo's Programmable Series: the player races one of five tracks Nintendo designed, alone or against other riders, or builds a course in Design mode. | p. 2, Object of the Gamep. 2, Object of the Game | Manual |
| The menu offers Selection A, a solo run, Selection B, a race with competing motocross riders, and Design mode; the NES game is for one player, on controller 1, and doesn't use controller 2. | p. 4, SELECT buttonp. 4, SELECT buttonp. 4, SELECT buttonp. 3, Names of Controller Partsp. 3, Names of Controller Parts | Manual |
| A is the throttle: held, the bike accelerates, and let go, it brakes. B is a turbo that accelerates fast but overheats the engine if held too long, and an overheated bike can't be ridden until it cools. | p. 4, A Buttonp. 4, B Button | Manual |
| A TEMP meter at the bottom of the screen shows the engine's heat, and riding through a cool zone on the track brings it down. | p. 6, How to Playp. 6, How to Playp. 6, How to Play | Manual |
| The control pad steers the bike and tilts it: the speed and angle at take-off decide how far a jump carries, a bike that lands on both wheels pulls away quickly, and one that lands unevenly falls. A wheelie gets the bike over small obstacles. | p. 3, Names of Controller Partsp. 3, Names of Controller Partsp. 3, Names of Controller Partsp. 7, Jumpingp. 7, Jumpingp. 7, Wheelies | Manual |
| Each track has a qualifying challenge race: third place or better there leads to the main race on the same track, and third or better in a main race leads to the next one. In Selection B some riders run normally and others chase the player; a rider who runs into another from behind falls. | p. 5, How to Playp. 5, How to Playp. 5, How to Playp. 6, How to Play | Manual |
| Design mode builds a track from 19 kinds of hurdles, about 50 of them in all, raced for up to 9 laps. | p. 10, Design Modep. 10, Design Modep. 11, Design Mode | Manual |
| The NES cartridge can't keep a designed track: its Save and Load menu entries don't work. In Japan the Famicom booklet has the track saved to cassette tape through the keyboard and data recorder sold for Family BASIC. | p. 9, Note | Manual |