RC Pro Am is one of the games I got with my first NES. For whatever reason it never clicked with me that the cars in the game are little radio controlled ones. Probably because there aren’t any objects around the track that really gave a sense of scale.
There’s something distinctly late 80s/early 90s in a brand that features a gorilla and cat that skateboard and surf. T&C is one of those games I heard of back in the day but never gave much thought to.. I’m not sure I remember seeing the clothing brand either.
Yeah, the radio controlled aspect of the cars never occurred to me until years later, either. Then I'm like oh, THAT'S what RC stands for. College graduate, no big deal.
Yeah T&C is very much of its time, for better and for worse. Though I do think 2025 could use more surfing cats in business suits.
This is my first time seeing RC Pro and I'm really impressed by the graphics, looks fun too. Your posts always end up steering me towards more NES hidden gems.
My first reaction is to think about the statement that this the first racing game for NES, which surprised me and got my brain working.
I would say that Rad Racer has you racing against the clock, but the other cars are mere obstacles, not fellow racers. Excitebike wants you to believe you're racing the other bikes. But in practice this is an illusion: you're really racing the clock, same as Rad Racer. But then, I think this description also applies to other early arcade racing games like Pole Position.
I imagine it was a lot harder for early hardware to simulate true AI racing competition in a behind-the-car or first-person driving game, as opposed to an overhead-view racing game like RC Pro Am. The earliest behind-the-car/1st-person racer I can think of meeting this description is Super Monaco GP, in arcades and Genesis. I can't think of any NES game that meets it.
All that said, I've never really liked RC Pro Am! Rented it as a kid and didn't like it. As an adult I still don't like it. I also didn't really like Super Off-Road or Rock and Roll Racing, even though I thought the latter won a lot of points for style. So it's really something about this genre, how it feels, and how it controls that's just never been fun for me. I DID like the Micro Machines games as a kid, mainly for their imaginative and detailed environments. But when I've played them as an adult, I didn't have much fun.
T&C:
For some reason, this game seemed to be everywhere in my childhood. A number of friends owned it. And I seem to feel if you were in some random place, like your mom's hair stylist's waiting room, and they happened to have an NES with 2-4 games for some reason, those would inevitably include T&C.
And yes, it has never been that good, or that bad. It was acceptable. I often ended up playing it in these environments because the other games would either be awful or something I already owned.
Why was it so common? Maybe it's just that it was an early skateboarding game, and skateboarding was super hip in those days.
Other note: there have been some very good skateboarding games, but has there ever been a good surfing game?
I've never been surfing, but it seems like it's the sort of thing that's hard to simulate the fun of. Like a game where you ride rollercoasters and that's it, that's the game. I do enjoy boogie boarding at the beach, but I don't think it's possible to create a good boogie boarding video game.
Yeah, earlier NES games featured racing against the clock or faux "racing" against other drivers. RC Pro-Am took it to the next level with actual opponents.
I get not liking this game. I didn't like it when I first played it years ago pre-Questicle. Didn't see what all the hype was about. But I don't know, its fast, intense races really grew on me.
As for T&C, that's fascinating that you used to see it everywhere. I think by the time my friends and I owned NESes its time had passed. I definitely saw it for rent at Blockbuster, but never rented it myself. Cool mascot designs aside, the thought of playing any sort of sports or sports-related game really turned me off.
Supposedly, decent surfing games exist, but they are few and far between. The wave physics alone must be really challenging to replicate.
As a non-surfer, I would say it's tough to make surfing into a good game because I think the main point of surfing is, "Look, I'm doing it!"
Tricks/maneuvers don't play nearly as large a role as skateboarding. The most famous surfing expression is "Hang ten!" And I can fully believe that hanging ten feels awesome. But it's hard to imagine it translating to good gameplay in a video game.
RC Pro Am is one of the games I got with my first NES. For whatever reason it never clicked with me that the cars in the game are little radio controlled ones. Probably because there aren’t any objects around the track that really gave a sense of scale.
There’s something distinctly late 80s/early 90s in a brand that features a gorilla and cat that skateboard and surf. T&C is one of those games I heard of back in the day but never gave much thought to.. I’m not sure I remember seeing the clothing brand either.
Yeah, the radio controlled aspect of the cars never occurred to me until years later, either. Then I'm like oh, THAT'S what RC stands for. College graduate, no big deal.
Yeah T&C is very much of its time, for better and for worse. Though I do think 2025 could use more surfing cats in business suits.
This is my first time seeing RC Pro and I'm really impressed by the graphics, looks fun too. Your posts always end up steering me towards more NES hidden gems.
If you do pick it up, let me know what you think!
RC Pro AM:
My first reaction is to think about the statement that this the first racing game for NES, which surprised me and got my brain working.
I would say that Rad Racer has you racing against the clock, but the other cars are mere obstacles, not fellow racers. Excitebike wants you to believe you're racing the other bikes. But in practice this is an illusion: you're really racing the clock, same as Rad Racer. But then, I think this description also applies to other early arcade racing games like Pole Position.
I imagine it was a lot harder for early hardware to simulate true AI racing competition in a behind-the-car or first-person driving game, as opposed to an overhead-view racing game like RC Pro Am. The earliest behind-the-car/1st-person racer I can think of meeting this description is Super Monaco GP, in arcades and Genesis. I can't think of any NES game that meets it.
All that said, I've never really liked RC Pro Am! Rented it as a kid and didn't like it. As an adult I still don't like it. I also didn't really like Super Off-Road or Rock and Roll Racing, even though I thought the latter won a lot of points for style. So it's really something about this genre, how it feels, and how it controls that's just never been fun for me. I DID like the Micro Machines games as a kid, mainly for their imaginative and detailed environments. But when I've played them as an adult, I didn't have much fun.
T&C:
For some reason, this game seemed to be everywhere in my childhood. A number of friends owned it. And I seem to feel if you were in some random place, like your mom's hair stylist's waiting room, and they happened to have an NES with 2-4 games for some reason, those would inevitably include T&C.
And yes, it has never been that good, or that bad. It was acceptable. I often ended up playing it in these environments because the other games would either be awful or something I already owned.
Why was it so common? Maybe it's just that it was an early skateboarding game, and skateboarding was super hip in those days.
Other note: there have been some very good skateboarding games, but has there ever been a good surfing game?
I've never been surfing, but it seems like it's the sort of thing that's hard to simulate the fun of. Like a game where you ride rollercoasters and that's it, that's the game. I do enjoy boogie boarding at the beach, but I don't think it's possible to create a good boogie boarding video game.
Yeah, earlier NES games featured racing against the clock or faux "racing" against other drivers. RC Pro-Am took it to the next level with actual opponents.
I get not liking this game. I didn't like it when I first played it years ago pre-Questicle. Didn't see what all the hype was about. But I don't know, its fast, intense races really grew on me.
As for T&C, that's fascinating that you used to see it everywhere. I think by the time my friends and I owned NESes its time had passed. I definitely saw it for rent at Blockbuster, but never rented it myself. Cool mascot designs aside, the thought of playing any sort of sports or sports-related game really turned me off.
Supposedly, decent surfing games exist, but they are few and far between. The wave physics alone must be really challenging to replicate.
As a non-surfer, I would say it's tough to make surfing into a good game because I think the main point of surfing is, "Look, I'm doing it!"
Tricks/maneuvers don't play nearly as large a role as skateboarding. The most famous surfing expression is "Hang ten!" And I can fully believe that hanging ten feels awesome. But it's hard to imagine it translating to good gameplay in a video game.
100% agree.