R.C. Pro-Am

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One of the most beloved racing games on the NES, thanks to its smooth controls and very unique (for the time) pickup weapon system. Given how close Rare and Nintendo's relationship was back in the day, it's not hard to imagine that elements of this game might have at least partially inspired a certain other racing game.

Revisional Differences#

Aside from the more noticeable changes listed below, the game had many internal changes made to it between the original and revised version, such as eliminating CHR-RAM from the cartridge and changing the mapper to MMC1. The version used on Rare Replay, as well as the build included in the "Rare Collection 1" Evercade cartridge, are based on the original release, with only some minor edits.

Title Screen#

Original	Revision

The revised version has a minor change to the attribute data used to color the title screen, which fixes a handful of gray pixels on the blue car's right wheel. Unfortunately, this led to an off-by-one error, which pushed a single byte of attribute data ($0F, rendered as the letter "B") into the top of the area reserved for graphical tiles. Fortunately, this is usually cut off by a CRT's overscan area and is not visible.

Gameplay & Pause Screen#

Original	Revision

The main gameplay and pause screen had a few changes between the original and revised version:

• Most notably, the main play area was extended in the revised version, done by getting rid of most of the big black border separating it and the HUD alongside making the HUD itself a bit shorter.
• The revised version makes the pause text smaller and brighter, along with a green dropshadow. Additionally, there is a 1/3 second delay between pausing the game in the original version and the pause text appearing, while in the revised version it appears instantly.
• While the game is paused, the radar still shows the positions of each racer in the original version, but not in the revised version.
• The original versions have hidden copyright texts: "Copyright 1987 RARE LTD." twice at the end of the ROMs and "COPYRIGHT 1987 RARE LTD." once at the beginning of the ROM. The revised version has no such strings at all.

Rare Replay/Evercade changes#

Original	Re-Release

The Nintendo copyright info has been removed from the "PUSH START FOR 1 PLAYER" screen as expected.

This needs some investigation. Discuss ideas and findings on the talk page. Specifically: Figure out how to get a native-res screen of Rare Replay's pickups.

Original	Evercade

This also applies to the collectable text, which have been changed to spell "CHAMPION" in Rare Replay and.... "CHCMPCON" in the Evercade release?

Original	Evercade

The pickups are also unusual: they display the correct letter in the original version and Rare Replay, and are completely blank on the Evercade.

The reason for these discrepancies is because Rare Replay uses an external graphical patch, adding "A" and "I" (despite the fact that the original word already had an I) font characters to the HUD, as well as the pickup letter tiles. The Evercade version uses the same ROM, but doesn't implement the patch for whatever reason.

References#