Pro-Am 64 Scribes Excerpts
The following excerpts detailing the development of Pro-Am 64 was originally published on Rare’s Scribes letter page from 1999-2009. We’ve scoured each edition in order to provide you with every mention of the title to be found in Rare’s posted answers in chronological order below.
We’ve also included a link above each heading which will re-direct to the original letters page that the question was featured in should you wish to view it in the original context – otherwise you’ll find that the entries below only focus on answers related to Pro-Am 64 for a comprehensive listing for any fan wanting further information on pre-release content, hidden easter eggs, abandoned features and development secrets:
Hello Scribey ol’ chep,
It’s me again, Super Markio (from previous Scribes). I have here in my hands a big report stylee thing that we received when we wrote away to you. It is big colourful, full o’ renders and chock full of piddly information. However, one page has a list of your up and coming games… Banjo Kazooie (must’ve been a while ago), Conker’s Quest (still going by its old name) and RC PRO-AM 64…
Now hang on a minute. This is the only source I have seen with this information. Not even your site has this small gem in its collection of soon-to-be-sellers. I am very curious about it, is it one of those games you said you are working on but haven’t told us about yet?
Thank you, and good day.
Super Markio
Yes, it is an old publicity booklet – an old one, which we’ve long since run out of, let me just make that very clear before the whole world decides to write in. As for Pro-Am 64, didn’t the sight of Timber cruising over the logo in his plane tell you anything?
Dear Mr Dinwiddy,
It’s been at least a good two years since I last sent you an email about a Captain Skyhawk or Wizards and Warriors remake, so I thought I’d better not mention it again in the hope that periods of me not asking for a sequel might spark a fire in the mind of a programmer to make these legends in gaming come alive once more. That’s without even me mentioning the fact that RC Pro-Am needs a sequel!
I should, however, move on, forthwith, to the, comma filled, content of my, really stupidly punctuated, email. This is to ask you one simple question. If theoretically, right, Rare managed to ever please the ravening hordes of idiots who complain whenever a new game wasn’t GoldenEye/Killer Instinct/Banjo would it, potentially, make you really fancy a packet of Polos? To be honest it’s something I’ve been giving great thought to for some time, it is even keeping me awake at nights.
Yours,
Mike “MrChom” Chomyk (Liberator of the Free People’s Republic of Botavia, Generallissimo of the United Republic of Lower Lower Volta, currently operating from a secret base overlooking Aberystwyth harbour)
P.S. Your opinion on Trebor mints would not be a suitable substitute for my question on Polos, nor would a musing on any other form of minted goodness, chewy or otherwise.
Polos are good. But as we are doomed to never achieve a perfect idiot satisfaction rating of 100%, I must continue to enjoy the Polos on an illicit basis.
Remakes/sequels… a predictable 3D Wizards & Warriors remake would look like half the games on the market these days, and if we did it in 2D it’d sell 17 copies. Meanwhile, the programmer of Captain Skyhawk – despite stomping up and down the main corridor all day in a Skyhawk-branded sandwich board and comedy jack-in-the-box top hat, parping a pair of klaxons – still fails to achieve management recognition for his tireless sequel campaigning. RC Pro-Am’s already got a sequel: RC Pro-Am II. And I believe Diddy Kong Racing was also tentatively associated with the franchise at a very early stage. True story. Unless I’ve just made it up, or dreamed it.
Hi Rare!
I’m a French guy and I’m doubtless your bigger fan in France! I’ve all your fantastic games since the first Donkey Kong Country (except for the games on Microsoft’s systems. Sorry but I’m a Nintendo fan-boy before!).
I’ve a lot a questions for you and I’m sorry if my English is not good…
– Is it possible to see your Nintendo 64 games on the Wii’s Virtual Console? If no, why the 3 DKC are available?
– Why did you change your logo? Personnaly I prefer the old blue and gold. I think he was more modern than the new…
– Actually, who own the Goldeneye‘s rights? You, Nintendo, EA or Activision?
– Do you work again on Nintendo DS?
– Is right that Diddy Kong Racing began his development as RC Pro Am 64?
– Project Dream… that was the working title for Banjo-Kazooie right? Does the project begin on Super Nintendo or on Nintendo 64?
– Did you keep some ideas of Twelve Tales Conker 64 in the final Bad Fur Day version?
– And finnaly: where are Tim and Chris?
Bests regards from France!
Nicolas
Euro-question onslaught! Let’s see which of these can actually be answered…
Rare games appear on VC when Nintendo request it and usually only when Nintendo own the properties, hence the DKC trilogy – Microsoft own other Rare IP so XBLA is a more likely destination. The logo change was due anyway and the switch to Microsoft seemed like a good time to put it into action. The GoldenEye rights are too tight a knot for me to even attempt to untangle without jeopardising the structural integrity of my fingers. Nothing to say on future DS games right now, but we’ll see. DKR didn’t actually begin as Pro-Am 64, but it did go through that stage. The very first incarnation of Dream (long before it became anything to do with bears) was on the SNES, probably the earliest ‘beta version’ I got the chance to play. BFD inherited quite a lot of content from Twelve Tales, just one of the reasons that a revival of Twelve Tales itself is not really a going concern. And Tim and Chris are still working on their own ventures, which aren’t really for us to discuss. There we go. Did reasonably well with that lot, I thought. Don’t know what came over me, it’s not like me to make such an effort. Bests regards from Twycross!