Nerdicus NES Review #85 : Bill Elliott's NASCAR Challenge

Title : Bill Elliott's NASCAR Challenge

Publisher : Konami

Genre : Racing

Players : 1 Player

Release Date : 1990

Estimated Value (as of today's date) : $3-$5

Oh, boy. Another racing game. I don't usually look forward to racing games, and I especially don't like NASCAR racing. So, I apologize in advance if this is a somewhat biased review, but you know what, I'm going to toss all subjectivity aside! After all this is THE first licensed NASCAR game released, so I am going to play this racing game as I would any other game; with an open mind.

Um, so who the hell is Bill Elliott anyway?

No really, I'm clueless when it comes to cars and racing. Luckily, I don't need to know any back story. All I need to know, is that it's going to be me crossing that checkered flag first. THOSE WHO DEFY ME WILL PAY! BUHAHAHAHAHA!!

Ahem, so what car am I driving?

You've got two choices in this game. You can either play individual races, or try your luck in a season championship (where you race each track twice for a total of 8 races). Here's the thing, you're basically ALWAYS racing against Bill Elliot, as he's the one who's going to give you the biggest challenge. In fact, if you don't win, Bill Elliot is going to win.

It's sort of like in Mario Kart, where there's always 2 NPC's that come in 2nd and 3rd behind you and are always riding up your arse. That's Bill Elliot in this game.

So for this little review, we'll try for the championship in a few races, but I doubt I'll have the patience to finish it. The only thing entertaining me so far in this game is the amazing names of the fictional racers.

Come on, Tranie Blue, Kent Steer, Iggy Nition. THESE ARE CLASSIC!!

Before you even race you have the opportunity to tune up your car a bit to get a little bit of an edge. It all depends on the course your racing, and you should adjust accordingly. Since I know nothing about cars, I just leave em all as default. After all, I was probably going to suck it up anyway.

Racing in this game is done through the perspective of the driver, and I have to say it's not badly done for an NES game. It's just a shame that the graphics couldn't be a little bit better than what they are. All the cars look like flattened pick up trucks, and the scenery looks like a pixelated mess. You do get a rear view mirror though. I suppose that's helpful.

And don't even get me started on the sound. Do all NES racing games have same irritating tire squeal?? At least the music was semi-decent. Gives the game a nice late 80's techno vibe lol.

If you know more about cars than I do, you'll probably perform a lot better in the races. I was skidding out non stop, and could barely ever get a decent position. This game definitely took a more realistic approach to racing, so the more you know about it the better. I guess a better statement would be, if you even enjoy racing you'd do better. I can't really admit that I was trying hard. The game just didn't do it for me.

It's by no means terrible. But it's nothing stand-out in terms of racing. Just a generic racer. I think the one thing this game had going for it was the fact that they had a competition for the highest scorers in this game could enter a contest to attend an actual DAYTONA 500 and meet up with Bill Elliot.

Wonder who won that.....

Final Score (out of 5) :

Until next time. Keep on gaming!