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Ridge Racer (video game)

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This article is about the original 1993 arcade and PlayStation title. For the PlayStation Portable title, see Ridge Racer (2004 video game). For the PlayStation Vita title, see Ridge Racer (2011 video game).
Ridge Racer
File:Ridge Racer Coverart.png
Developer(s) Namco
Publisher(s) Namco
Distributor(s) EU SCEE
Composer(s) Shinji Hosoe
Series Ridge Racer
Platforms Arcade, PlayStation, PlayStation Portable, mobile phone, Zeebo
Release date(s) Arcade
JPN 19931007October 7, 1993
USA December 31, 1993[1]
PAL 19940426April 26, 1994
PlayStation
JPN 19941203December 3, 1994
USA 19950909September 9, 1995
PAL 19950929September 29, 1995
Genre(s) Racing
Mode(s) Single-player
Cabinet Upright and sitdown
Arcade system Namco System 22
CPU 1x Motorola 68020 @ 24.576 MHz,
2x Texas Instruments TMS32025 @ 49.152 MHz
Sound 1x C352 @ 16.384 MHz
Display Horizontal orientation, Raster, 640 x 480 resolution, 32768 palette colours

Ridge Racer (リッジレーサー Rijji Rēsā?) is a 1993 racing video game developed and published by Namco. It was initially released on the Namco System 22 arcade system board, and was later ported to the PlayStation console in 1994. It is the first title in the long-running Ridge Racer series released for arcades and home consoles. The objective is to finish in first place in a series of races. Ridge Racer was among the first racing games to use polygon graphics to its full potential. The PlayStation version supports the use of Namco's NeGcon controller.

The first home version of Ridge Racer was released in Japan in 1994 as a launch title for the PlayStation; the versions for North America and Europe were released in 1995. The game was re-released in Japan for the PlayStation The Best range in July 1997, and for the Greatest Hits and Platinum ranges in North America and PAL regions respectively the same year. The game played a major role in establishing the new system and in giving it an early edge over its nearest competitor, the Sega Saturn, and was considered a rival to Sega's Daytona USA.

Ridge Racer received a highly positive reception. Reviewers praised the graphics, audio, drifting mechanics, and arcade-like gameplay, although some were critical of the lack of strong artificial intelligence and multiplayer mode. The arcade version was followed by a sequel, Ridge Racer 2, in 1994, whereas the PlayStation sequel, Ridge Racer Revolution, was released in December 1995 in Japan, and in 1996 in North America and PAL regions. The soundtrack was remixed and released on the Namco Game Sound Express Vol. 11 album.

Gameplay

File:PSX Ridge Racer.png
Screenshot of a race in progress, PlayStation version

In the PlayStation version, a mini-game of Galaxian can be played as the game loads. If the player wins before the game loads, eight additional cars become available.[2](p50) The twelve cars are varied in their specifications, with some featuring a high top speed, others excelling at acceleration or turning, and others being more balanced. Certain cars are named after other Namco games such as Solvalou, Mappy, Bosconian, Nebulasray, and Xevious.[2](pp84–90)[3](pp50–51)[4] Once the game has loaded, all the CD is needed for is to play six instrumental music tracks. The player can replace the disc at any time during gameplay, although the game does not update; regardless of what disc is inserted, there will always be six tracks to choose from, corresponding the starting points of the tracks on the game disc.[2](p10)[4]

The player can choose a course, transmission (automatic or six-speed manual),[5] car and song. During the race, the player can observe the racetrack from the first-person perspective (or from the third-person perspective for the PlayStation version).[6] Namco's NeGcon controller can be used to play.[7](p3) Being an arcade racer, collisions do no damage, and merely slow the player down. There is also a time limit, which ends the game if it counts down to zero.[2](p2)

The game features a single course, although it consists of four configurations of increasing difficulty; Novice, Intermediate, Advanced and Time Trial (the latter two are extended).[8] The player races eleven opponents except in Time Trial, where there is only one.[7](pp4–5) The higher the difficulty, the faster the cars run, with Time Trial being the fastest.[2](pp18,24,30,40)[8] Each race consists of three laps (two on the beginner course).[2](pp18,24,30,40)[7](p5) Checkpoints that grant additional time when passed through are present throughout.[2](p2)[3](p4) In the PlayStation version, after every race is won, reversed ones become available, and an additional opponent is encountered in Time Trial; the 13th Racing "Devil", the fastest car.[2](p84)[6] Upon winning, the car is unlocked. In the arcade version, after finishing the game, the winning player's score is saved in action-replay highlights.[4][5]

The PlayStation version features hidden "mirror" version of the tracks. The track becomes a "mirror image" of itself; left turns become right turns and vice-versa, and the surroundings switch sides of the road.[3](p56)[4]

Development and release

At JAMMA's 1992 Amusement Machine Show in Japan, held during 27–19 August 1992,[9](pp78,80) Namco debuted a racing game called Sim Drive,[9](pp78,80)[10] for the Namco System 22 arcade system board.[10] The game was a sequel to Eunos Roadster Driving Simulator, a Mazda MX-5 driving simulation arcade game that Namco developed with Mazda and released in 1990.[11] Its 3D polygon graphics stood out for its use of Gouraud shading and texture mapping.[12] After a location test at the show,[10] where it was previewed by the November 1992 issue of Electronic Gaming Monthly,[9](pp78,80) Sim Drive had a limited Japanese release in December 1992, but did not get a mass-market release.[10] It served as a prototype for Ridge Racer.[10]

Ridge Racer had a development cycle of eight months.[13](p170) The development team was under pressure to complete the game before their rivals, and the designer Fumihiro Tanaka commented that "the other company" was in the same position.[14] Ridge Racer was originally planned to be an F1 racing game, but the concept was replaced with one based on a trend among Japanese car enthusiasts at the time. Namco Bandai's general manager Yozo Sakagami explained that they liked racing on mountain roads and did not want to slow down around corners, so they drifted around them instead. The team therefore decided to create a game which lets the player test his driving skills and experience the car's manipulation at high speeds while mastering drifting.[15](pp169-171)

Development for the PlayStation version began in April 1994. Because of the radical differences, that version essentially had to be done from scratch, and took nearly as long to develop, being completed in November 1994.[13](p170) The PlayStation port was developed by the same team. Due to technical limitations, the PlayStation port was difficult to program and runs at a lower resolution, lower framerate (30 frames per second for NTSC, 25 for PAL), and was less detailed than the arcade original. Specialised graphics libraries had to be developed because it was felt the standard ones provided by Sony were too limited.[16](p121) The game's visual director Yozo Sakagami remarked that the hardest element to port was the experience of driving a car.[17] It was felt that the NeGcon controller would provide a more analogue feel than the standard PlayStation controller.[13](p171) Sakagami was concerned about loading times due to the CD-ROM format; the team countered this by having all the game data loaded into memory by the time the title screen appeared, and having the player play a mini-game of Galaxian while waiting. Sakagami chose Galaxian because he was part of its arcade team, and wanted to honour his former boss.[14] Due to CDs being cheaper to produce, the retail price was cheaper than cartridge games despite an increase in development costs. Ridge Racer sold for under ¥6000 (£37) in Japan.[13](p171)

During release for arcade system board, Ridge Racer was called by Namco "the most realistic driving game ever".[18] The game featured three-dimensional polygon graphics with texture mapping and various types of terrain.[18] The PlayStation version was shown at the 1995 Electronic Entertainment Expo event, and it was an innovation in the use of three-dimensional polygons.[19] Ridge Racer was released in Japan on 3 December 1994,[20] in North America on 9 September 1995,[21][22] and in Europe on 29 September[23][24][25] as a launch title for the PlayStation.

Music

Namco Game Sound Express Vol.11
Ridge Racer
File:RidgeRacer.jpg
Studio album by Namco
Released Japan 21 January 1994
Recorded 1993
Genre Video game music
Techno
Rave
Length 31:14
Label Victor Entertainment

The soundtrack was produced alongside the game itself by Shinji Hosoe,[26] with contributions from Nobuyoshi Sano[27] and Ayako Saso,[28] as the development team didn't have enough time to produce them separately. The team did not initially plan to have music in the game, but ended up producing techno, which Tanaka believed helped players to enjoy a fun feeling while playing.[14][15](p171) Hiroshi Okubo also believed techno would give a feeling of energy, journey, and speed, and commented that the genre was also chosen because it embodied the game's "unrealistic speed and tension".[15](p172) This was commemorated by the release of Namco Game Sound Express Vol. 11, which featured remixed versions of the musical score, on 21 January 1994 in Japan.[29]

Track listing
No. Title Length
1. "Welcome Racer"   0:50
2. "Ridge Racer (Power Remix)"   6:25
3. "Rare Hero (Sanodigy Mix)"   4:49
4. "Feeling Over (Underground)"   5:54
5. "Rotterdam Nation (Foo Mix)"   3:53
6. "Speedster (I Like A.T Mix)"   4:47
7. "Rhythm Shift (12" Version)"   3:38
8. "Win Win Win (Death Mix)"   0:58
Total length:
 31:14

Reception

Reception
Aggregate score
Aggregator Score
GameRankings 81% (PS1)[30]
Review scores
Publication Score
AllGame 4/5 stars (PS1)[31]
CVG 80% (ARC)[32]
Dragon 2/5 stars (PS1)[33](pp115–118)
Edge 9/10 (PS1)[34]
EGM 17.5/20 (PS1)[35](p114)
18/20 (PS1)[36](p74)
Game Informer 8.75/10 (PS1)[39]
GamePro 5/5 (PS1)[37](p37)[38](p42)
IGN 7.5/10 (PS1)[40]
Maximum 4/5 stars (PS1)[41](pp141,151)
Coming Soon Magazine 4.5/5 stars (PS1)[42]
The Electric Playground 10/10 (PS1)[43]
Award
Publication Award
Electronic Gaming Monthly Best Driving Game (1995)[44]

Ridge Racer received critical acclaim. The graphics and sound in particular were praised. In the April 1994 issue of the UK magazine Computer and Video Games, Paul Rand gave high marks, remarking that it was "far and away the most realistic arcade game ever seen" on reviewing the arcade machine (based on the full-scale unit).[32] In a review of its Japanese console release, GamePro called the PlayStation version "a near carbon copy of the original" and praised the graphics, soundtrack, and the entire game being loaded into the PlayStation's RAM, eliminating mid-game loading and giving the option of removing the game disc and using the PlayStation as a music CD player during gameplay. Although they criticised the graphical glitches and slowdown, the game was recommended.[37](p37) Their review of the later North American release judged that the game surpassed competitor Daytona USA in graphics, audio, and control responsiveness, and called it "The best racing game to date for home systems".[38](p42) Commenting on the realism, Game Informer remarked that Ridge Racer "does a better job of capturing the feel of high performance car racing than any existing driving game".[39]

The two sports reviewers of Electronic Gaming Monthly praised the gameplay and music.[35](p114) Maximum commented that "Ridge Racer isn't without its bad points - basically, there is only one track and the game lacks the awesome crash sequences of Daytona USA, but everything else in the title is sheer class". They commented positively on the "feeling of smoothness and speed", the "distinctly European" dance music, the engine sounds, and the unrealistically exaggerated driving manoeuvres.[41](pp150,151) In 1996, IGN commented that despite two years of release the game "has definitely stood the test of time", but complained that "there is no two-player mode" and that "the cars don't really vary in performance that much".[40] AllGame's Shawn Sackenheim praised the game, particularly the graphics and audio, and concluded that it "is a fun title that racing fans will love".[31] Coming Soon Magazine praised its "ultra fluid and very realistic" graphics, but criticised the game for being too short.[42] The Electric Playground's Victor Lucas gave top marks, remarking "The experience of playing RR supersedes the thrills generally attributed to playing other racing video games", and further commented "I really can't stress enough how deserving of your video game dollars Ridge Racer is".[43] Edge praised the "dazzling" graphics and "arcade-perfect" music.[34]

Despite positive reviews, the game was criticised by 1UP.com for the arcade style of gameplay. The lack of artificial intelligence has received criticism—the movement of the computer-controlled cars is restricted to predetermined waypoints.[6] The game was reviewed in 1995 in Dragon No. 221 by Jay & Dee in the "Eye of the Monitor" column, where Dee called it "just another racing game".[33](pp115–118)

Ridge Racer was awarded Best Driving Game of 1995 by Electronic Gaming Monthly.[44] It was listed as one of the best games of all time by Game Informer in 2001,[45] Yahoo in 2005,[46] Electronic Gaming Monthly in 2006,[47] Guinness World Records in 2008[48](p234) and 2009,[49] NowGamer in 2010,[50] and FHM in 2012.[51]

Legacy

Ridge Racer has been followed by many sequels and helped establish the position of the PlayStation console. IGN stated that Ridge Racer had been "one of PlayStation's first big system pushers" and "an excellent port of the arcade version that showed the true potential of Sony's 32-bit wonder".[52] UGO Networks's Michael Hess and Chris Plante said that the game had "set the stage for Gran Turismo by adding an option to choose between automatic and manual transmission".[19] John Davison of 1UP.com said that Ridge Racer was an "unbelievable demonstration of what the PlayStation could do".[6]

Ridge Racer is mentioned in the song My Console (1999) from the Italian electronic dance group Eiffel 65.[53]

Other releases

The PlayStation version was re-released for The Best, Greatest Hits, and Platinum ranges in 1997.[20] Ridge Racer also received a number of ports and spin-offs:

Ridge Racer Full Scale

File:Ridge racer full scale stockton.jpg
Ridge Racer Full Scale. The player uses the car's controls to race.

A Full Scale arcade version was released alongside the standard arcade version in 1993. This version was designed to give the player a more realistic driving experience. Players (a passenger could sit in the car next to the driver) sat inside an adapted red Eunos Roadster,[54] the Japanese right-hand-drive version of the Mazda MX-5 Miata, and controlled the same car on-screen. The game was played in front of a 10 feet (3.0 m) wide, front-projected triple screen (which benefited from dimmed ambient lighting), with the wheel, gear stick and pedals functioning as the controls. The ignition key was used to start, the speed and RPM gauges were functional, and fans blew wind on the player from inside the air vents. Speakers concealed inside the car provided realistic engine and tyre sounds; overhead speakers provided surround music. The P.C.B. was located under the bonnet of the car.[11]

Ridge Racer: 3 Screen Edition

A version with three screens was released in arcades to give a peripheral vision effect. The machine used multiple System 22 arcade boards to drive the additional monitors and was only available in the sit down version.[10]

Pocket Racer

File:Pocket Racer.png
Pocket Racer; a version of Ridge Racer featuring buggies.

Pocket Racer (ポケットレーサー Poketto Rēsā?) is a super deformed version with cars that resemble Choro-Q model cars, and is aimed towards children. It was released in 1996 in Japan. The game was only available in upright cabinet version, and uses Namco System 11 hardware.[55] A similar game is included in Ridge Racer Revolution using the same cars under the name Pretty Racer (also known as buggy mode), which was the inspiration for this game.[15](p171)[56](p94)[57](p5)

Ridge Racer Turbo

File:Ridge Racer Hi Spec.jpg
Ridge Racer Turbo. The game features updated graphics and a higher frame rate.

R4: Ridge Racer Type 4 (released on 3 December 1998 in Japan,[58] 1 May 1999 in North America,[59] and on 1 September 1999 in Europe[60]) includes a bonus disc containing a new version of the original Ridge Racer, called Ridge Racer Turbo in North America, Ridge Racer Hi-Spec Demo in Europe,[61] and Ridge Racer Hi Spec Version (リッジレーサーハイスペックバージョン Rijji Rēsā Hai Supekku Bājon?) in Japan.[62] It featured improved graphics, runs at 60 frames per second (50 for PAL), as opposed to the original 30, and supports vibration feedback and the Jogcon controller.[63][64] There is only one opponent (two in time trial boss races), and the White Angel from Ridge Racer Revolution appears in addition to the 13th Racing as a boss and unlockable car.[65](p139) The game also adds a Time Attack mode, in which the player attempts to beat the time record without any opponent cars. This is distinct from Time Trial, where there are opponent cars.[66](p54)

Mobile versions

On 31 December 2005, a version for mobile phones was released.[67][68] It received mixed reviews. GameSpot's Jeff Gerstmann gave the game 6.1/10. He praised graphics as "somewhat impressive for a mobile game", but he criticised the steering, saying that "it doesn't take long to master the game."[69] Levi Buchanan of IGN gave Ridge Racer 6.2/10, complaining about the problematic controls and saying that the game without the analogue control "feels really lacking".[67] Also in 2005, a version of Ridge Racer was released for mobile phones under the name Ridge Racer 3D[70][71] (not to be confused with the later Ridge Racer 3D for the Nintendo 3DS). On 11 August 2009, this version was ported to Zeebo.[72][73]

References

  1. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 2.5 2.6 2.7 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 4.3 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
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  9. ↑ 9.0 9.1 9.2 Electronic Gaming Monthly, issue 40, November 1992,
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  49. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
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  51. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  52. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
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  56. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
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  61. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  62. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  63. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
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  65. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  66. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  67. ↑ 67.0 67.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  68. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  69. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  70. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
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External links

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