Excitebike
Platform played: NES Classic Mini
Played on Sep 29, 2023
I marked it as complete on Backloggd a while ago, I guess due to having played all the tracks. But you get a "game over" and kicked back to level select if you come in anything after 3rd place, so I'd technically consider it "beaten" if/when I get at least 3rd place on each track. Getting 1st place on all of them would count as 100% completion. Took me way too long to realize you could hold down the B button to go faster lol. As of Sep 29, 2023, I've completed (placed in at least 3rd) all but the final track. I used to play this in Animal Crossing all the time. It's a unique racer due being on bikes instead of cars so you can actually see the racers, and it's in a sidescrolling view rather than the more common top-down or behind the car view of most racing games.
Game of the year: Excitebike wins by default as there weren't any other games from this year that I completed, lol. It is definitely a fun game, though it lacks the bells and whistles of modern racers.