I got my first NES when I was 6 years old – my brother and I got it for Christmas. My parents bought it from one of their friend’s kids, and it came with a whole bunch of games. It was one of the best Christmases I can remember! One of the games that it came with was RC Pro-AM. My dad didn’t really play a lot of games with us, but he played this one with us on a number of occasions (and was actually quite good). I remember these times fondly – which gives this game a bit of a special meaning for me.
The game is a straight-up arcade racing game. You take control of one of a few different vehicles and race around a track (hitting power-up arrows and avoiding oil spills and other obstacles). The goal is to finish the race against 4 cars in the top three to move on to the next race. If you fail, you loose – but continues can sometimes be used to continue playing! The game is simple in design, but over time it becomes much more challenging!
There are 24 tracks total – I have played roughly half of them (this game is hard!) While the first few tracks are simple with few obstacles, the game slowly becomes more complicated both because the courses are more complicated and the drivers appears to become more aggressive! As you play, you also unlock upgrades for the cars so that you can go faster and have better grip! The controls were tight but took a little time to get use to. Apart from its simple (but fun) design, the only downside of the game was that there was no multiplayer option (which was common in NES games at the time).
The music in the game at the start of the game is awesome, but apart from that, the music isn’t that great. The sounds effects are super simple and primarily are composed of “blips” and “boops” that while don’t really sound like cars, give the game a nice 8-bit arcade sound. The graphics are also super simple, but again fit the simple and fun gameplay. Each course looks more or less the same (i.e., race track around green area) apart from different layouts and obstacles.
In summary, RC Pro-AM is a simple but fun arcade racing games that still is fun to play in short bursts now. While it is simple to learn, you will be playing for a while to fully master the courses and finally finish the game on-top! Overall, I give this game a final score of 7/10.
Final Score: 7/10
Go on.... treat yourself to a new game.
