If I think back to my youth, like many of you I can remember very fond memories of times spent with my Nintendo Entertainment System. So many great games, so many horrible games, never enough money in my allowance for them all.

But because of the limited funds and only vague warnings of which games were going to be winners, the great ones really stayed with you. For many of us, they’re still there. The classics that we will always use as a reference point for any game remotely similar to it. Games that will always have a spot close to our hearts.

For me, RC Pro Am was one such game. It was a top-down perspective racing game where you drove remote control cars. The game was developed by Rare (makers of so much awesome) and they did what they do best; they took a simple idea and gave it a twist. Borrowing the isometric racing concept from games like Super Sprint, Rare then added in something that would create a sub-genre of racing games; weapons.

Not only are you tossing your little RC car around the track, dodging rain and oil slicks as you go, you also have to worry about three other cars trying to take you down. There were only a couple weapons to choose from, bombs to drop behind you and rockets to fire strait on, but that was all you needed. There was already enough to worry about from the obstacles, trying to hit the speed boosts, and attempting to collect vehicle upgrades.

If I had to pick one thing I didn’t enjoy about the game it would be the upgrade system. Unlike more current games, it didn’t have a money or point system with which you’d buy the upgrades between races. Instead you had to pick up the items by driving over them on the track. With most races only being a couple laps, it often came down to either sheer luck, or good memory of where items would be placed to be able to pick them up. But even this is really stretching for a complaint on the game because if anything, it added yet another element to what was already a hectic race.

Now, how or why they came up with the idea to add weapons to remote control cars is a mystery to me, but I’m glad they did. As far as I can tell, it is the genesis of automotive combat games. Games like Mario Kart, Blur, and Wipeout, all games that I’m quite fond of, owe their existence to RC Pro Am.