Ridge Racer Type 4 (Now on PS+ Classics)

[wev]

In the spirit of this "lets make new threads instead of bumping old ones" and because I cant be arsed to search and bump an old thread (thats also probably in retro anyway, and probably even made by myself...) here's a new thread on R4.

 

Probably one of my favourite racing games, it's still utterly sublime. 

 

Visually, yeah its a late PS1 game with jaggies etc, but the actual visual design/direction? just, yes, that black on yellow user interface, the circuits that blend green filtered tunnels with sepia toned mountain ranges or blue tinted coast/night sections, the rear lights trailing around corners like the bike scene in Akira. Just so, so many excellent decisions went into it that helps it be a standout title even now and despite it being over 20 years old.

 

I've completed two play throughs of the Grand Prix mode so far, the first with Dig and Lizard, the second with Mappy and Terrazi. Cant really say much about the first combo other than the drifting is simple but fun, the latter combo I'm not sold on the Grip style cars and the less said about the Mappy Team managers story the better really. But that aside, and the lack of an autosave feature even after finishing a season in Grand Prix mode, theres still so much to love here and its just perfect for a quick blitz through Grand Prix (takes less than an hour)

[Spacehost]

The demo of RRT4 was one of my favourite racing games on the PS1, but I didn't get the full game until much later. I really must get fired into it.

[Unofficial Who]

1 hour ago, wev said:

Visually, yeah its a late PS1 game with jaggies etc, but the actual visual design/direction? just, yes, that black on yellow user interface, the circuits that blend green filtered tunnels with sepia toned mountain ranges or blue tinted coast/night sections, the rear lights trailing around corners like the bike scene in Akira. Just so, so many excellent decisions went into it that helps it be a standout title even now and despite it being over 20 years old.

 

It's amazing just how good this looks running despite how basic the scenery is if you look at it closely. It's incredibly clever design wise and in a better world we'd have a complete remaster.

 

[wev]

My thoughts exactly. They'd obviously hit the limitations of the hardware but they did what any great dev team does and used that to their advantage.

[Qazimod]

Any excuse to post its menu music again  

 

 

[Fletch]

RRT4 is an absolutely incredible game and I can only echo the above sentiments. I think I have an old PS3 in the loft with it on my account, so I might have to dig it out and have a play. (I won’t because I’m lazy and I’ll get the “what are doing making all that mess?” speech but it’s a nice thought, I think I’ll just watch a YouTube play through instead).

[cassidy]

Downloaded this via psplus this week. 

 

Amazing game amazing soundtrack. One of the ps1 highlights imo. 

[Mars]

33 minutes ago, Qazimod said:

Any excuse to post its menu music again  

 

 

[wev]

34 minutes ago, Qazimod said:

Any excuse to post its menu music again  

 

 

That's from one of the races, still, great piece of music

[Mars]

It’s such a good game and the visuals are classic, so damn satisfying. Anyone who hasn’t played Ridge Racer 2 on PSP/emulation needs to get on it!

[Parappa]

Yeah Ridge 2 via emulation is amazing. Although this also is on duckstation

[gossi the dog]

Can this be purchased or is it only available via the top tier of PSPlus?

[wev]

I don't think so, no ☹️

[Sarlaccfood]

So annoying. especially as I bought it already on the Vita.

[g wings]

11 hours ago, Mars said:

It’s such a good game and the visuals are classic, so damn satisfying. Anyone who hasn’t played Ridge Racer 2 on PSP/emulation needs to get on it!

Yep, I’m playing this for the first time on Steam Deck. So good. 

[wev]

2 hours ago, Sarlaccfood said:

So annoying. especially as I bought it already on the Vita.

Same, I bought the PSN version (as well as having the original disc with the 60fps Ridge Racer demo too). This seems to be the latest model of getting people to subscribe to a service, much like Nintendo locking away N64 and GBA games behind their premium sub.

[Major Britten]

Whats the emulation like on the PS5? Is it running at 4K?

[wev]

It runs nicely as far as I can tell, not sure what resolution it's in but I was expecting it to be a bit messier than it is 

[CrichStand]

Just got around to giving this a go. The original Ridge Racer is one of my all time fav games, got it with my PS and was over the moon with how good it was compared to the coin-op. I also bought this when it first came out. Main memory of it is feeling like I’d been mugged. 😂 Played the Grand Prix and finished it on my first go and found the story snippets to be annoying fluff. It wasn’t really anything like Ridge Racer. Same has happened this time. Is there more to it to unlock or is that it? I can’t remember.
 

The other Ridge Racer that was released as part of the classic games on PS Premium is more like the real deal. It looks more like Ridge (graphics are great, nice and hi-res), handles more like Ridge and it’s got the proper Ridge tracks and music. The drifting on this just doesn’t feel right at all. The music is total pants. The main song sounds like fucking Jamiroquai! 🤮 Plus grip cars.......on Ridge Racer. No.

[Quest]

1 hour ago, CrichStand said:

The music is total pants. 

 

[Lyrical Donut]

2 hours ago, CrichStand said:

Just got around to giving this a go. The original Ridge Racer is one of my all time fav games, got it with my PS and was over the moon with how good it was compared to the coin-op. I also bought this when it first came out. Main memory of it is feeling like I’d been mugged. 😂 Played the Grand Prix and finished it on my first go and found the story snippets to be annoying fluff. It wasn’t really anything like Ridge Racer. Same has happened this time. Is there more to it to unlock or is that it? I can’t remember.
 

The other Ridge Racer that was released as part of the classic games on PS Premium is more like the real deal. It looks more like Ridge (graphics are great, nice and hi-res), handles more like Ridge and it’s got the proper Ridge tracks and music. The drifting on this just doesn’t feel right at all. The music is total pants. The main song sounds like fucking Jamiroquai! 🤮 Plus grip cars.......on Ridge Racer. No.

 

 

[CrichStand]

I can’t believe there are folk who think Ridge Racer Type 4 is better than the original Ridge coin-op. That’s some Bizarro World shit right there. 🤣  

 

Suppose Type 4 is better than Outrun and Daytona as well yeah? 😂 Okaaaaay then! 👍🏻 I’ll leave you to ya sedate Dad-Funk, slow grippy cars, wonky drifting and 20min talking head Story mode, that’s more of a challenge to fail at than actually win. 😁

 

Oh and ya can clean ya ears out with this. Proper Ridge music! None of ya Jamiraquai funk-balls shite. 😂

 

 

[wev]

There's something like 320 cars to unlock. If the cars are "slow and grippy" then you're probably using one of the two grip manufacturers.

 

The idea is you go through grand Prix mode with each of the teams and manufacturers multiple times, different results in the heats result in different upgrades for the next heat.

[Phantoon]

On 25/03/2023 at 23:30, wev said:

Same, I bought the PSN version (as well as having the original disc with the 60fps Ridge Racer demo too). This seems to be the latest model of getting people to subscribe to a service, much like Nintendo locking away N64 and GBA games behind their premium sub.

It's made more annoying by the fact that other publishers’ PlayStation games have become available to non - PS Plus subscribers. Makes Namco look a bit money-grubbing. Still, it's an amazing game, possibly the best Ridge Racer.

[Hanzo the Razor]

I preferred Rage Racer.

[Count Buffalos]

I’d actually argue that the first game is the best. None of the sequels captured the same handling magic that game had. The drifting became more unpredictable in the immediate sequels and then totally on rails with later games. RRV is another highlight of the series, super stylish with another great, if somewhat grounded, handling mode. I don’t think that the PSP games  or RR6/7 are very good, nor do I enjoy the nitro mechanic of those games.
 

Despite rinsing a Japanese copy RR4 on release, I always thought that the game was ultimately stylish but somewhat lacking. 
 

Rotterdam Nation 4eva

[Kevvy Metal]

6 hours ago, Quest said:

 

 

rllmuk should come with a "nuke CrichStand's nonsense" theme set as default. 

[Nobuo's Organ]

On 25/03/2023 at 09:53, Unofficial Who said:

 

It's amazing just how good this looks running despite how basic the scenery is if you look at it closely. It's incredibly clever design wise and in a better world we'd have a complete remaster.

 

It's worth setting up a PlayStation emulator for this alone. Widescreen, upscaling and in particular fixing the PS1's wobbly texture problem make it feel like a solid visual remaster:

 

 

[moosegrinder]

I could've swore I owned this on vita but it's not there 😕

[Unofficial Who]

6 minutes ago, Nobuo's Organ said:

 

It's worth setting up a PlayStation emulator for this alone. Widescreen, upscaling and in particular fixing the PS1's wobbly texture problem make it feel like a solid visual remaster:

 

 

 

See this is frustrating. Why isn't Sony doing this instead of offering just the barest of bare emulation?