RC de Go! Now Featuring Industry Anecdotes & Screen Chat

[Nathan Wind]

I spotted this in a box of games for sale on a Faceface group and since I'm a sucker for RC games and isometric racers, took a punt.  Never heard of it before, but apparently it was a Japanese arcade game which saw a PS1 budget conversion in the year 2000.  Unlike in its contemporaries such as Re-volt, races take place from a fixed perspective and use the dual shock analog controls to superb effect. It does a really good job of feeling as though you're controlling an RC car, with some genuine weight and heft to it.  There are a couple of throwaway modes like practice and quick race, but the real gem for me has been the championship mode.  The customisation options are nuts, which I suppose isn't that much of a shock (absorber) given the official Kyosho sponsorship.  You can change engines, tyres, bearing sets, driveshafts, shocks, suspension struts...you name it, you can customise it, and in my experience so far you can feel the difference.  The idea seems to be to grind out the early races earning credits in order to buy and fit upgrades until you become competitive enough to take on the next couple of tracks, rinse and repeat until you become THE RC CHAMPION.

 

Throw in some wicked, colourful graphics, an uplifting guitar wailing soundtrack and a soundbite spitting commentator and you're on to a proper winner.

 

To my great surprise I've been lost in it for a couple of hours tonight and I expect to be sinking a lot more time into it so that I too might one day become THE RC CHAMPION.

 

 

[Camel]

That looks great. I like how it got a PAL release with the name intact.

[wev]

I picked this up so many times when browsing in Gamestation in my teens and always put it back as I'd never heard anything about it. Ive often considered tracking down a copy and giving it a go.

[Dudley]

I've owned a PAL copy since it was new and it's one of my fondest Playstation memories.  Should go back and give it another punt really.

[Nathan Wind]

It's ace, I just played a little bit more.  There are some really neat touches like the subtle time of day light changes, or weather conditions changing during a race.  I wouldn't really expect to see things like that in PS1 generation games at all, let alone a budget title.

[amc]

I do remember it around release, from magazine exposure and perhaps clocking it in a shop. I can't believe I've never sought it out for either my BC PS3 or my "I've blown the bloody doors off" Vita. To google.

[Nathan Wind]

Interesting.  The only mention in the manual is that it's compatible with that weird Namco Negcon thing.  I just ordered this off eBay -

 

[Rex Grossman]

This needs a Switch remake.

[CrashedAlex]

Here's a bit of backstory to how that game happened for PAL territories.

 

I worked at Acclaim in London 1995-1999. The company had a historically close relationship with Taito since the NES era. Taito had lots of releases for their home market. They used to ask us if we wanted distribution of these. Some of them were quite niche and many had specific controllers - I remember the train game and a Breakout clone each had peripherals. There was no social media back then. So no way of doing a limited run of a special edition etc.

 

I was a big fan of Rare's "RC Pro Am" on NES and played it through. I remember the Taito RC game comingi in and knew we should do it within about five minutes of playing it. To my eyes I was a polygonal version of "RC Pro Am" but on the PSX and that was good enough for me.

 

I went to see my Boss Rod Cousens and the deal was agreed in around 24hrs. The game did well in the UK and Germany IIRC. The US office hated the game, and hated the name. As the trend in the US market was based around licensing sports stars - they were a bit stumped as they struggled to find an edgy, goth styled US radio controlled car racer - which would have suited them perfectly. They never considered the game to be any good because to them, without some form of licensing endorsement the game would have no chance in their market. And they were firming in the camp of 'we sell what is ON the box, not what is IN the box.'

 

We did well in Europe with many Taito games. The biggest one of course was "Puzzle Bobble 2" aka "Bust A Move 2" - that one was instantly dismissed by name first and then seeing a poor quality NTSC video of the game running. That was put down as 'ship it and forget it' according the Euro head of marketing. I'd been playing the game regularly in a local pub so I was able to point out that it already had a small following in the UK and that the game was really strong.

 

It went into the Dixons bundle early on, and that deal alone accounted for over a million sales of the game in the UK alone.

 

I did pass on the traffic light city planning traffic game though. I think localised instructions would have helped at the time...

[Rex Grossman]

20 minutes ago, CrashedAlex said:

Here's a bit of backstory to how that game happened for PAL territories.

 

I worked at Acclaim in London 1995-1999. The company had a historically close relationship with Taito since the NES era. Taito had lots of releases for their home market. They used to ask us if we wanted distribution of these. Some of them were quite niche and many had specific controllers - I remember the train game and a Breakout clone each had peripherals. There was no social media back then. So no way of doing a limited run of a special edition etc.

 

I was a big fan of Rare's "RC Pro Am" on NES and played it through. I remember the Taito RC game comingi in and knew we should do it within about five minutes of playing it. To my eyes I was a polygonal version of "RC Pro Am" but on the PSX and that was good enough for me.

 

I went to see my Boss Rod Cousens and the deal was agreed in around 24hrs. The game did well in the UK and Germany IIRC. The US office hated the game, and hated the name. As the trend in the US market was based around licensing sports stars - they were a bit stumped as they struggled to find an edgy, goth styled US radio controlled car racer - which would have suited them perfectly. They never considered the game to be any good because to them, without some form of licensing endorsement the game would have no chance in their market. And they were firming in the camp of 'we sell what is ON the box, not what is IN the box.'

 

We did well in Europe with many Taito games. The biggest one of course was "Puzzle Bobble 2" aka "Bust A Move 2" - that one was instantly dismissed by name first and then seeing a poor quality NTSC video of the game running. That was put down as 'ship it and forget it' according the Euro head of marketing. I'd been playing the game regularly in a local pub so I was able to point out that it already had a small following in the UK and that the game was really strong.

 

It went into the Dixons bundle early on, and that deal alone accounted for over a million sales of the game in the UK alone.

 

I did pass on the traffic light city planning traffic game though. I think localised instructions would have helped at the time...

 

Nice stuff.

 

Was there any discussion about changing the name over here?

[Nathan Wind]

1 hour ago, CrashedAlex said:

Here's a bit of backstory to how that game happened for PAL territories.

Nice one, thanks! 

 

Can you recall if there was an 'official' RC handset type controller released in PAL regions to go with the game? 

 

I've found a couple. The one Rac-con one I ordered, by a company called Innovation, and a similar one by Mad Katz (surprise surprise) which I think looks more PS2 era.  There was another I spotted yesterday on eBay which you hold like a remote control (Wii style) with the steering wheel on top, but I can't find it now.

 

Edit - Ah, found it.  This thing -

 

[CrashedAlex]

@Rex Grossman No. I actually liked the name. I can rarely think of an example where a name change works well across territories. That sort of stuff always annoyed me. Decisions and rulings like that were normally always made by non-gamers to a tee. I dread to think how "Puzzle Bobble 2" became "Bust A Move in the States. But we can all sort of guess around the timeframe it happened as the name gives it away.

 

@Nathan Wind Nope, I don't think it came to the office. We had the pre production code before the game was out in Japan. I think, can't be 100%. Maybe it did and we thought it was a bit toss. As I said before, going to UK retail with a Japanese game at a high price because of a controller in a big box would have made the game dead a non starter. Big boxes were a no no at retail unless you were paying them handsomely.

[Nathan Wind]

1 minute ago, CrashedAlex said:

going to UK retail with a Japanese game at a high price because of a controller in a big box would have made the game dead a non starter.

Yeah, makes sense.

[CrashedAlex]

There are many stories I could tell about my early experiences with retail. If you're really into games, then joining the industry and going behind the scenes of it all can be a bit soul destroying. Trust me, it was shocking.

There were many good times and many bad times. I used to get annoyed seeing good games fail and good people quit after being mistreated one time too many.

 

I remember working all weekend to attend one of the 'store managers conferences' (or 'supplier show' depending on which side of the fence you sat) and waking up on the day to find our room had been burgled in the night. All the games we had to show were gone as well as the development hardware to show them on. Cue all day spend giving statements to the police.

We'd really had enough and could not wait to leave town. As the Police drove off we headed downstairs to the car. Brand new motor as well.

Window was smashed in and the stereo nicked. Cue waiting for Police. It was the same Officer who attended the scene. I even think he said 'ello ello ello again' to us as well.

Oh what fun.

[Parappa]

2 hours ago, Rex Grossman said:

I remember the train game

So good - and a great controller that I picked up with it the Another World in Hanley - good times.

[CrashedAlex]

I didn't know Fantasy World sold import games? Mind you, the last time I went in there was 1988!

 

We had ALL the big controllers for Desha De Go! - IIRC they all went into a big skip one day! Desperate times do call for desperate measures sometimes!

[bplus]

6 hours ago, CrashedAlex said:

There are many stories I could tell about my early experiences with retail. If you're really into games, then joining the industry and going behind the scenes of it all can be a bit soul destroying. Trust me, it was shocking.

There were many good times and many bad times. I used to get annoyed seeing good games fail and good people quit after being mistreated one time too many.

 

I remember working all weekend to attend one of the 'store managers conferences' (or 'supplier show' depending on which side of the fence you sat) and waking up on the day to find our room had been burgled in the night. All the games we had to show were gone as well as the development hardware to show them on. Cue all day spend giving statements to the police.

We'd really had enough and could not wait to leave town. As the Police drove off we headed downstairs to the car. Brand new motor as well.

Window was smashed in and the stereo nicked. Cue waiting for Police. It was the same Officer who attended the scene. I even think he said 'ello ello ello again' to us as well.

Oh what fun.

What good games did you see fail? Pretty interested in good games I never played first time around.

[Ninja Doctor]

I’ve put this on my ps classic on your recommendation. It is jolly good fun. Only had a quick play, very much in the vein of micro machines. I shall have to grab a copy for my brother in law. 

[Nathan Wind]

I've got upgrades across the board now and the little fucker is so quick and lively to control on twin sticks.  I'm hoping that RC handset is halfway decent.

[wev]

How would it play on PSP, does it definetly need the analogue sticks or would play a little like the Skidmarks era isometric racers?

 

Also, I do love it when @CrashedAlexpops into racing game threads.

[CrashedAlex]

@wev That's very kind of you. Remember though, this IS the internet so do try to be as angry and rude as you can though, right?

 

It's a good little game and I'm going to have to take another look at it I think..

[wev]

16 minutes ago, CrashedAlex said:

@wev That's very kind of you. Remember though, this IS the internet so do try to be as angry and rude as you can though, right?

 

It's a good little game and I'm going to have to take another look at it I think..

Oh I've not got time for that kind of bitterness, there's more important things in life, besides i think if you have to be critical of something then at least make it constructive.

 

Plus I just enjoy a good story

[Nathan Wind]

3 hours ago, wev said:

How would it play on PSP, does it definetly need the analogue sticks or would play a little like the Skidmarks era isometric racers?

 

Also, I do love it when @CrashedAlexpops into racing game threads.

It'd probably play alright with the slider for steering and right shoulder to accelerate, left to boost.  Something like that.  I tried it on the d-pad last night and it was a bit easier if anything.

 

It's going to lose a little of the feeling, obviously.

[CrashedAlex]

@wev That's wonderful to hear. I must say, coming here has been nothing but positive from me. Every other place has always descended into some odd argument. I guess as a developer you've always doing something 'wrong' somehow to some complete stranger.

 

I had a great few years in Publishing. I'd completely forgotten about the RC game.

[wev]

1 hour ago, Nathan Wind said:

It'd probably play alright with the slider for steering and right shoulder to accelerate, left to boost.  Something like that.  I tried it on the d-pad last night and it was a bit easier if anything.

 

It's going to lose a little of the feeling, obviously.

It's just occured to me I have a modded PS3 gathering dust, I can stick it on that and I don't have to mess about making eboots. Then if I like it keep an eye out for a cheap copy on ebay. Win win.

[partious]

I quite like this game too. It's a lot of fun and it has a really unique feel. My second favourite Taito arcade racer on PS1 (Side By Side Special 2000 is the king).

 

I'm tempted by that gimmick controller. I wonder if it adds anything to the experience.. The dual analogues work really well though.

[Parappa]

22 hours ago, CrashedAlex said:

I didn't know Fantasy World sold import games? Mind you, the last time I went in there was 1988!

 

We had ALL the big controllers for Desha De Go! - IIRC they all went into a big skip one day! Desperate times do call for desperate measures sometimes!

Yeah the one in Hanley was my go to place for Japanese stuff I had heard about during the PS1 /  DC days.  Great times in that shop. 

[amc]

Yeah, I'm enjoying it too. It took a few races to get with the static player position but I like it that way, it gives the game an extra bit of authenticity of being an RC car sim. You don't fly around or behind your real RC cars so yup, I really like it.

[CrashedAlex]

@Parappa Next door to Fantasy World was the Hanley branch of Stafford based Computerama. Before that it was a Hepworth's menswear shop. That is really going back.

 

The Hanley computer show was Town Computer Store which was up past WH Smith's at the top of the High Street. Way before the Potteries Centre was built. You'd go to Smith's for mags and games - was a good selection in the early microcomputer era. Then up to Town Computers - they'd have C64 disks and Beeb stuff. You could load any game up before you bought it. It was also the first place I saw running Compunet demos as well. They used to have "Aztec Challenge" on C64 on in there a lot. Think it was a cart version as well. They were good for US imports as well before US Gold got going.

[Parappa]

32 minutes ago, CrashedAlex said:

@Parappa Next door to Fantasy World was the Hanley branch of Stafford based Computerama. Before that it was a Hepworth's menswear shop. That is really going back.

 

The Hanley computer show was Town Computer Store which was up past WH Smith's at the top of the High Street. Way before the Potteries Centre was built. You'd go to Smith's for mags and games - was a good selection in the early microcomputer era. Then up to Town Computers - they'd have C64 disks and Beeb stuff. You could load any game up before you bought it. It was also the first place I saw running Compunet demos as well. They used to have "Aztec Challenge" on C64 on in there a lot. Think it was a cart version as well. They were good for US imports as well before US Gold got going.

Wow there used to be a lot there then! - I think we found out about Fantasy World from some Edge magazines around 1998 and as I had just passed my test drove over there most weekends coming back with all sorts of stuff.  Such a shame none of this exists anymore.