Wednesday, February 24, 2016

RC PRO-AM (NES) Review


RC PRO-AM is a racing video game by Rare and released in 1988 on the Nintendo Entertainment System with a port being released on the Sega Genesis in 1992. This game is also now available on the Rare Replay compilation currently available for the Xbox One. In this game, you control one of four different RC cars and battle it out on your way to the championship.


RC PRO-AM is an over the top three-quarter perspective single player racing game. The premise is simple, you control an RC car against three other computer controlled cars with the goal to make it through 32 24 many different tracks. In order to advance to the next race, you need to finish in the top three.  I'm not sure how many tracks there are because I read on the box that it has 32 and I read on the Internet that it has 24. I was only able to make it to the 18th track.

There are four cars lined up, the fourth car has it's cloaking device apparently.
One of the things that made this game memorable is the stuff you can find and use on the track. You will find upgrades for you RC car called Tune-Up Items that includes super sticky tires which are tires on the track, turbo acceleration which looks like a turbo I guess but looks more like a disk and a higher top speed which looks like an engine. Each time you run over one of these upgrades it fills in a box on the upgrade table, you can use up to four for each different upgrade.


There are also upgrades for your car that grants it a temporary boost including a roll cage that will keep your car immune to damage until it runs out of time and speed arrows on the track that gives you a boost of speed when you hit them. You'll also find letters on the track which spell out Nintendo on the NES version and champion on the Sega Genesis and Rare Replay version.

This game also has weapons for you to collect and use against your opponents. You can collect missiles to fire from the front of your car and bombs that you drop behind to take out your opponents. If they hit their car will be destroyed for a few seconds before they can continue on. You'll find stars on the track that if you collect is used as ammo for your weapons.

Finally, there are obstacles on the track that you'll need to avoid. Water puddles will slow your car down. Oil spills will send your car spinning and if you hit something while spinning your car will be destroyed. There are also barriers that pop up randomly that you'll want to avoid. And there are skulls on the track that will slow your car down.



In order to drive in more than the first few tracks, you'll need to keep your car from hitting the walls as that's the way you'll probably lose. I also find it important to have missiles in your arsenal so other cars to get ahead of you. When racing you'll need to stay at least in third place because the race doesn't end when you cross the finish line it's when the leader crosses the finish line. So be careful to not let the car in last place slip by you as the leader gets close to winning. There are three different RC Cars that you'll be using with each one being unlocked after reaching a certain track I think.

I was a huge fan of this game when I was younger and a kid down the street from my house had it and I would be friendly with him in the hopes I would get to play it some. Now I haven't played all the racing games on the NES but from the ones I've played this one is one of the best. People familiar with this game and with Mario Cart will see a lot of similar things in both games. Car(t) racing against opponents with upgrades and weapons that you need to run over to use.

I do not have this for the NES so I was able to play it on the Rare Replay. I had a lot of fun playing this game as a kid and getting to play it after many years away from it was lots of fun. One of the better games on the NES that I think you'll like if you give it a try. I give RC PRO-AM an 8 out of 10.

All my trophies!

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