The concept of racing games is nothing new. There have been racing games available on every home console ever made. I guess when you consider the popularity of motor sports world wide, this isn't really that big of a surprise.

Whenever I think of racing games on the Nintendo Entertainment System, I always come up with R.C. Pro-Am. This game was a staple of my gaming diet during the heyday of Nintendo. Oh sure, Excitebike is also a racing game from the 8-bit era, and even though it's considered a classic by many, it didn't see nearly as many miles as the R.C. Pro-Am cart.. The only other racing game we ever played that was similar to R.C. Pro-Am was Super Sprint. Granted, we didn't play it a lot, and maybe there's a reason for that. I guess we will find out as I decide between the two. So let's buckle up and get in gear for ...

Before we dive too deep, let's first get the basic game information out of the way for both contenders.

Super Sprint was released in 1986, a full 2 years ahead of R.C. Pro-Am. R.C. Pro-Am was developed by the British video game company Rare, while Super Sprint was developed by the American-based, and already reputable, Atari Games. Rare went on to develope a number of great games, including Battletoads on the NES and the Super NES hit, Donkey Kong Country. Atari Games still developed some good games for Nintendo (under the brand name Tengen), but they eventually were bought out by Midway and Time Warner Interactive. With those details now addressed, we can finally begin to look closer at the similarities and differences between these two.

CONCEPTS: While both games are designed around a lap-based racing formula, each game offers a different perspective from the other.

STYLE: Super Sprint uses the more traditional Formula One-style race car, while R.C. Pro-Am chose to go with the idea of racing with radio controlled ("R.C.") cars. I recall no other games at that time going in that direction. WINNER: R.C. Pro-Am

CHALLENGE: While Atari went with the traditional racing circuit formula, and achieved a great overall game, Rare decided to go with more of a combat-style race, and really took this game up a notch. R.C. Pro-Am allowed you to pick up missiles and bombs, and blast your opponents in to smoldering wreckage whenever they passed you up. WINNER: R.C. Pro-Am

PERSPECTIVE: The overhead view of Super Sprint provides a scroll-free gaming experience, and allows you to see all of your opponents as well as the track layout. On the other hand, R.C. Pro-Am went with an isometric perspective and zoomed in on your car's position on the track, causing the screen scroll as you progressed through the course. Both perspectives have their advantages and disadvantages, and it really comes down to personal preferences, so for this particular measurement. WINNER: Draw

TRACK DESIGN: Let's be honest here; Super Sprint really killed it when it came to track designs. R.C. Pro-Am had some fun courses, but Rare went with what felt like a limited number of designs. Super Sprint courses utilized crossing paths, and bridges to design their racing circuits. WINNER: Super Sprint

GRAPHICS: What Rare lacked in track design, they made up for in graphics. Using the isometric perspective and a closer view of the race they were able to utilize more of the Nintendo's 64 color palette. The results yielded a simple, yet nice looking game. Super Sprint ... well, it looked nice, but it was very simple, and really wasn't anything special. Atari came from an era of simpler graphics with fewer colors, and it shows. WINNER: R.C. Pro-Am

MUSIC & SOUND: Both games have some decent music and sound effects, but neither one of them really sticks out over the other. WINNER: Draw

CONTROLS: Both games use the A button as the gas. Super Sprint uses the B button as a break, but it's just easier to just let go of the gas on those sharp corners. As mentioned above, R.C. Pro-Am allows you to blast your opponents to smithereens using missiles and bombs; the B button is used to conduct this mayhem. Steering in both games is really quite fluid, and once you get the hang of it, you can maneuver your way through most courses with only a modicum of difficulty. WINNER: Draw

LAPS: As discussed already, both of these contenders utilize the lap-based racing concept, so they are similar in that respect. The only real differences between them are the number of laps required for each course. Super Sprint always requires 5 laps, and R.C. Pro-Am varies from course to course, so should you fail to finish in 3rd place or better on a 2 lap race, you lose. At least there is some consistency with Super Sprint. WINNER: Super Sprint

ADVANCING: The main point of any racing game is to win each race and advance to the next event, and both of these games do just that. The only differences are that you MUST finish in first place in Super Sprint in order to advance, while R.C. Pro-Am only requires a top 3 (out of 4) finish in order to move on. So if you really love a challenge then maybe sweating out a first place sprint to the finish then Super Sprint is for you. I prefer to blast my opponents to bits, and then work towards the top 3 finish. But to each their own. WINNER: Draw

UPGRADES: What is the best part of a racing game? The upgrades! There is something satisfying when it comes to upgrading your tires, engine, and torque to improve turning (grip), top speed, and acceleration. Both Super Sprint and R.C. Pro-Am offer these upgrades, but in my opinion RC. Pro-Am did a better job of providing them than Super Sprint. In Super Sprint, you collect wrenches and then use them at the end of the race to buy these upgrades. In R.C. Pro-Am they scattered them along the course, and you simply had to collect them by running over them with your car. WINNER: R.C. Pro-Am

HAZARDS: Besides the other three opponents, the games also yield additional hazards to try and trip you up. Both games have oil and water puddles to slow you down, or send you spinning out of control. But each game also includes their own unique hazard. R.C. Pro-Am has a spring-loaded metal wall that will occasionally obstruct your path, causing you to crash. Super Sprint uses a mini-tornado that wanders aimlessly around the track, causing a major spin-out when you hit it. If it weren't for the fact that the other drivers can shoot missiles at you in R.C. Pro-Am, this would be a draw, but since R.C. Pro-Am adds on one more hazard, WINNER: R.C. Pro-Am

MISCELLANEOUS: Well there really is nothing more to Super Sprint at this point. Everything has pretty much been covered. However, R.C. Pro-Am still has one more trick up its sleeve. On top of collecting missiles/bombs and power-ups, you can also collect letters that spell out N-I-N-T-E-N-D-O. When you have collected all 8 letters, you change to a faster 4-wheeler, and you can do it one more time for the even faster Off Roader. Adding an additional challenge on to an already challenging game really puts this one over the top. WINNER: R.C. Pro-Am

VERDICT: Well there it is, a complete comparison between two popular racing games on the Nintendo Entertainment System. It's clear that R.C. Pro-Am is the winner in this debate. Published reviews from the time also support this claim, by calling it innovative and compelling. It's not uncommon to find that many people have R.C. Pro-Am listed as one of their favorite 8-bit games. Even though the less heralded Super Sprint didn't win this race, it's still a worthy contender. It has a good reputation, and can still give you a good racing fix.

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