R.C. Pro-Am (NES) Playthrough
312A playthrough of Nintendo's 1988 racing game for the NES, R.C. Pro-Am.
Since the game has no ending, I played until I got a game over on race twenty-nine.
R.C. Pro-Am wasn't Rare's first contribution to the NES library, but it was a massive success for the Stamper brothers. It sold millions, and in following after Slalom (https://youtu.be/BusR4qdozWM) and Wizards & Warriors (https://youtu.be/ztxwMI2gaIo), it cemented the company's reputation for making quality games.
The game is an isometric racer featuring radio-controlled cars that zoom around twenty-four closed-circuit tracks in hope of taking home the coveted "super trophy."
Cars can be upgraded by collecting items scattered around the tracks, and if you collect the letters that spell out the word Nintendo, you'll be awarded with faster cars that will help you keep up with the competition in the later races.
The upgrades aren't the only thing you'll find out on the asphalt, though. You can collect bombs and rockets to launch at your opponents, but you'll also need to keep an eye out for hazards. Oil slicks will send you spinning out of control and water puddles will slow you down if you drive through them.
There is no ending, and after you've cleared the first twenty-four races, the track layouts repeat, but they'll be loaded up with more hazards. The computer players also become faster with each win and they'll continue to improve even once you've maxxed out your own car, so unless your skill is God-like, you won't likely ever see past the thirty-second race.
R.C. Pro-Am is a game that becomes easier with practice and memorization, but it never stops being challenging, and that's what makes it so much fun. It requires a trance-like level of focus to make those turns consistently while avoiding the other cars, but it's super satisfying when you notice how much you're improving between each game - almost as satisfying as it is to pull off a last-second miracle to steal first by a nose.
It also ended up being one of the most influential games of its era. Pretty much every combat racing game that followed over the next several years, from Super Mario Kart to Rock n' Roll Racing, takes clear inspiration from R.C. Pro-Am's design blueprint.
If you played NES games back in the system's heyday, you undoubtedly know this one well. It's not difficult to see why it was one of the console's best-selling titles.
(Something weird that I always noticed... is it just me, or are the A and M letters on the game over screen flipped around backwards? 28:24)
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No cheats were used during the recording of this video.
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