You know a couple of weeks back when I first started this blog I was asked if I was going to do any reviews. I said “well I might”, but I was non-committal since reviews aren’t really my thing, but I realized that occasionaly the mood would strike me and I would just have to.
My first subject is RC Pro Am. I don’t know if you remember this or not but RC Pro Am was always one of those titles you where told you had to own on the NES. The weird thing is I was always told I had to get it, but no one I knew had it.
I bought Super RC Pro Am on Game Boy in the Fall on 1991, and at that point it was a new release. For me the game would always have good memories since I bought it the weekend after being in the hospital for two weeks as a kid. And then later in January of 1992, I remember playing it on my 8th grade trip as we made the long drive to Northern Wisconsin with a friend of mine playing Nirvana in the background. So Super RC Pro Am was my only connection to the RC Pro Am franchise for a number of years. I loved the game not only because of the memories that went with it but the gameplay as well.
Last month well picking up new games for my old systems I finally bought the original RC Pro Am on NES. It was interesting to play this game on the big screen but I have to say I was a little let down. I don’t know what it is but it doesn’t seem as if RC Pro Am has the same kick to it as Super RC Pro Am on the little classic Game Boy screen.
With Super RC Pro Am you are constantly upgrading, the music is exciting, and you get into the car combat elements early. RC Pro Am on the other hand seems to take a while to get going. I mean don’t get me wrong it’s worth playing now and again, but it just seems to lack those elements of Super RC Pro Am.
To give RC Pro Am its props though the concept was new to gamer’s at the time. Racing RC cars in a top down perspective, that was really unique. That and those colors too, the game was vibrant and really a pleasure to play because of that.
That’s the other thing, game play and control aren’t too bad. I mean your playing a car game with an NES controller, so you have to expect movement to be angular. But you are playing with RC cars and you have to consider with a real RC controller motion would be the same. The same can be said about the Super RC Pro Am as well since Game Boy control is a lot like NES.
Of course both games are missing the realistic momentum factors you see in modern games. So you aren’t going to see momentum at the wheel here as much as you might in later games like F-zero, and of course further down the line Gran Turismo.
Overall, I do believe Super RC Pro Am is the better of the two games. However, they are both worth having in your collection if you have both an NES and Game Boy.