It's Ridge Racer!

[Spunky Monkey]

"Alright everyone, one minute to go, are you ready? The engins now locked and ready to go, are you all set?"

You sit down, 30p in hand or psx controller in hand. You start up Ridge racer. You are met instantly with the car select screen (unless you are playing the psx version in which case you get a delightful shoot em up to play whilst it loads - Bonus points for guessing the game).

You pick your car, you choose the beginner course, fter you go, 'oh only one proper track in the game'. But dont worry it is a goodie! The screen flashes away and you're greeted with the starting line and a lovely woman walking towards you with a card that basically says 'Your shit'. 'Can you hear it right' whines the commentator as you listen to rotterdam nation, one of the many brilliant music tracks on the game, that certainly get you in the mood. I suggest playing this song backwards for a hidden message.

"3 laps to go!"

You screech slowly off the starting line, just missing the woman, your foot is to the flaw as the tires screech. You scream at the other cars who managed to get off the line perfectly and disappear into the distance. You finally make it up the hill and onto the race course where by you gain your first glimpse of the Ridge Racer building playing that game i mentioned earlier. You zoom into the first corner in the dimly lit tunnel, you mis judge, hit the side and smash over a load of warning hazards. Never mind theres sunlight ahead, and ANOTHER CORNER!

In front of you is a huge bridge and behind it a waterfall, but theres no time to look at the scenery because not only is there a helicopter dangerously close to the bridge but theres also a wall of solid rock in front of you and your rival, the yellow car behind.

"Whoo! That was a great counter. You must be one genius of a driver. You gotta teach me!

You come down the side of the hill, in front of you this glorius beach scene explodes into view, houses, the beach, a plane flying over head, if you lived in Ridge City, this was be it. But no time to day dream the checkpoint is up ahead as it bleeps at you. You powerslide around the next corner just scraping the wall and the helicopter comes flying down to your bonnet just to get a view of your face as you hit the bump in the road and fly through the air straight into the tunnel ahead.

You make your way through it safely, your on the final stretch, hang in there! You do, you can see the finish line, you make it!

"Great job, I got everything on camera so you can watch it later huh? You're the greatest!" the announcer moans as if being rodgered by dale winton.

More pounding music finishes off the replay and the high scores. And thats it, game over, you just wasted 30p or £430 if you bought the console and game on import. Whoops. But wait, if you insert another 30p or press start again you can play again, and again and again, you can play the altered versions of the original track, you can play in mirror mode (if you know how to access it that is "HEY! You're trying for a goal by going the other way around, huh? You're crazy!") and you can face off against the BLACK CAR who has a super top speed and will do anything to win. But wait theres still time trials to be done, with only one course you can practise and practise and practise some more, your times are good but they could be so much better, especially as everyone else is learning the same course.

Graphically ridge racer still stands up today, its bright, its sharp, its clean and theres something about it which makes it a lot more fun to play than its recent updates. Its as if the announcer is screaming 'Play me, play me, play me' every time you look at the box. So go on, crack open that dusty old box or find a disused arcade machine hidden in your local pub, give it a whirl and get back to playing RIIDDDDGGGEEE RACCCCEEEERRRRRR where there was no flashy gimmicks or multiple tracks or cars. Its just pure, unadulterated fun.

"Incredible! No one can catch you! You're the real Ridge Racer!"

Oh and one last thing, pick up the RR demo disc that came with RR - Type 4, for some 60fps and hi res graphics. And if your also wondering where i took some of these screen shots from, i screen captured them from the arcade game played through vivanonno.

Common, cheer up, you can try again, you'll do it next time

The shoot-em-up you play on the psone version is called Galaxian if you didnt know

[kamrantaz]

[moosegrinder]

I was never a RR fan until Type 4. I always preferred the chunky feedback of Daytona.

[Tequila]

The Devil car, sitting arrogantly by the side of the road, waiting for you to overtake him.

Motherfucker, it took me many, many hours, but I beat him. Sheer elation.

[trickytree]

Giant Enemy Crab! Massive damage! etc. etc...

The first Ridge is still the best, Time Attack on the 60fps PSOne version is ace.

For some reason the 360 version bores the hell out of me.

[chris on the moon]

You are sitting in an arcade, at a ridge racer machine. You put a coin in the slot but the machine does not respond. A zombie hand reaches out and grabs your shoulder! If you ignore it and repeatedly insert the same coin again, go to page 43

If you want to see what the deal is with the zombie hand go to page 8.

[TheSlugFormerlyKnownAsNap]

Good post, average game.

[lau]

I was never a RR fan until Type 4. I always preferred the chunky feedback of Daytona.

This, but beginning with Rage Racer for me.

[Gwynster]

You are sitting in an arcade, at a ridge racer machine. You put a coin in the slot but the machine does not respond. A zombie hand reaches out and grabs your shoulder! If you ignore it and repeatedly insert the same coin again, go to page 43

If you want to see what the deal is with the zombie hand go to page 8.

43! 43!

[pretentious_helvetica]

I was never a RR fan until Type 4.

I think it "clicked" for me with R4 - I have nice memories of some of the lush courses and - yes - that great 60fps demo which came with it. I still have the R4 keyring I got free with it from Game too hanging from ma keys.

The announcer in Ridge 6 does a great job of informing you of what's happening around you and complimenting you, but I prefer the unlockable announcer who goes by the name of...

Tekken's Heihachi Mishima.

[Popo]

My shit! I don't remember that at all.

I also prefered RR Type 4. It was the dogs danglies - when Ridge Racer came out I was still playing Sega Rally.

Now there's a game that deserves a thread

[Cyhwuhx]

.::: Probably the only game of which seeing the minimap gives me goosebumps.

[Dimahoo]

Type 4 was the beginning of the end for Ridge Racer in my opinion. The design was clearly affected by Gran Turismo's popularity and removed the outlandishness of the courses

Surely that would be evolution?

Its got to be said though that of all the games that attempted to "capture" the euphoric arcade spirit in the home of the massmarket - few came close.

[englishbob]

Ah, memory lane! 

 

http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/digitalfoundry-2016-introducing-df-retro

 

However, as much as we love Ridge Racer 5, it's Type 4 on the original PlayStation that may well be the most beloved of the old-school Ridge titles, so we also return to that title too, concentrating on its superb art direction, its beautiful lighting, plus the techniques Namco used to sidestep some of the original PlayStation's most glaring deficiencies in 3D rendering. Oh, and remember the old 60fps Ridge Racer Turbo edition included with Type 4? We've got that covered too. We loved putting this video together - not just for the gameplay but for revisiting some of gaming's best soundtracks.

 

 

[joffocakes]

Oh man, I thought a new Ridge Racer had leaked ahead of tomorrow's Playstation Meeting.

Still, it's a good video.

[englishbob]

Yeah, always a risk when bumping an old thread, so apologies for that, but worthy of a post.

 

I would like a new Ridge, or maybe even some old ones again, but if it was new, then it would need to be a good old Japanese developed properly optimised game, not some western developed crap like last time.

[Hello Goaty ♥]

The big problem. ( which of course is not a problem  )  is that the Playstation conversion

was just TOO GOOD

 

Muggins here, bought a Sega Saturn on import instead of a Playstation on day one.  Trying to face-off the Saturn Version of Daytona USA against Ridge Racer  [ as Us young uns used to do ]  was a complete non-starter.  

 

Do do not try and tell me that the Saturn version of Daytona was any good. it was horrible. 

 

 

[DC Lemon]

Ridge Racer VR to be announced by Kaz tomorrow.

 

I have to believe.

[McSpeed]

Watched that DF Retro video as well yesterday and came close to tearing up at times. The R4 intro video is one of my favorite video game FMV's of all time - I remember taping it from a television show (didn't have a PS1) and rewatching it over and over

 

 

[gingerling]

Type 4 is only $5.99 on PSN. Tempting!

[gingerling]

Is RR7 any good on PS3?

[The Mighty Ash]

I've been playing type 4 on my vita recently. Holds up really well.

[McSpeed]

8 minutes ago, gingerling said:

Is RR7 any good on PS3?

 

Considering you get basically get it for free (or 3 pounds), yes. Not the best Ridge but it does offers quite enjoyable, fast arcade racing - the kind that doesn't really exist anymore...

[gingerling]

10 minutes ago, McSpeed said:

 

Considering you get basically get it for free (or 3 pounds), yes. Not the best Ridge but it does offers quite enjoyable, fast arcade racing - the kind that doesn't really exist anymore...

£2.79! Bought

[PK]

My biggest gaming regret is never beating the black car in the original

[Yoshimax]

Played this on the ridiculous setup at Blackpool Pleasure Beach back in the day and I t was good but something wasn't right. Then at Coral Island that night we found the "standard" sitdown model but this had dirty big speakers built into the seat behind your head. Rare Hero at extreme volume (and maybe some Bolivian marching powder who knows) turned it into something akin to being touched by God.

 

[T Pot]

That's still there now. I mean, it's fucked and falling apart, but it's still there!

[Bojangle]

10 minutes ago, King A said:

That's still there now. I mean, it's fucked and falling apart, but it's still there!

Pretty good description of Blackpool in general, tbh.

[Parappa]

Looks alright ? 

 

 

 

[englishbob]

I have always been cautious about buying old PS1/PS2 titles on PSN on the UK store, in-case they are the shit 50htz bordered versions. 

 

I bought Street Fighter Alpha on PSN for my PS3 a few years back and it was the shit UK conversion. 

 

Ridge Racer V on the PS2 blew me away technically. It was a bit bare bones, but loved the replays. The fact you could turn the in-car camera sideways, and look down all the side-streets and parts of the track you couldn't drive on. Outstanding.