Ridge Racer (1993 video game)
Ridge Racer is a 1993 racing video game developed and published by Namco. It was released initially on the Namco System 22 arcade system board and ported to the PlayStation console in 1994. It is the first title in the Ridge Racer series released for arcades and home consoles. The aim is to finish in first place in a series of races. The PlayStation version supports Namco's NeGcon controller.
Development took eight months, and the game is based on a trend among Japanese car enthusiasts. The first home version was released in Japan in 1994 as a launch title for the PlayStation; the versions for North America and Europe were released in 1995, also as a launch title for both regions. It was re-released in Japan for the PlayStation The Best range in 1997, and for the Greatest Hits and Platinum ranges in North America and PAL regions respectively the same year. Ridge Racer played a major role in establishing the new system and gave it an early edge over its nearest competitor, the Sega Saturn; it 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 a multiplayer mode. The arcade version was followed in 1994 by a sequel, Ridge Racer 2, whereas the PlayStation sequel, Ridge Racer Revolution, was released in 1995 in Japan, and in 1996 in North America and PAL regions. The soundtrack was remixed and released on the :ja:ナムコ・ゲームサウンド・エクスプレス|Namco Game Sound Express Vol. 11 album.
Gameplay
Players choose a course, a car, a transmission, and a song. The cars' specifications vary: some have a high top speed, others excel at acceleration or turning, and some present a balance of the three. Certain cars are named after other Namco games such as Solvalou, Mappy, Bosconian, Nebulasray, and Xevious. The racetrack can be observed from a first-person perspective or, for the PlayStation version, from a third-person perspective. Namco's NeGcon controller can be used to play the game. Because Ridge Racer is an arcade-style racing game, collisions cause no damage, and merely slow the player down. There is a time limit, which ends the race if counted down to zero.A single course is featured comprising four configurations of increasing difficulty: Novice, Intermediate, Advanced and Time Trial. The player races eleven opponents except in Time Trial, where there is only one. The greater the difficulty, the faster the cars run; Time Trial is the fastest. Each race consists of three laps. Checkpoints that grant additional time when passed through are present throughout. 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, the fastest car. On winning, the car is unlocked. The PlayStation version features a hidden "mirror" version of the tracks. It becomes a "mirror image" of itself; left turns become right turns and vice versa, and the surroundings switch sides of the road. In the arcade version, the winning player's score is saved in action-replay highlights after finishing the game.
In the PlayStation version, a mini-game of Galaxian can be played as the game loads. If won, eight additional cars become available. Once the game has loaded, the CD is only needed to play six music tracks. The disc can be replaced during gameplay, although the game does not update; regardless of what disc is inserted, there will always be six tracks, corresponding to the starting points of the tracks on the game disc.
Development and release
At the Japan Amusement Machinery Manufacturers Association 1992 Amusement Machine Show in Japan, held during 27–19 August 1992, Namco debuted a racing game called Sim Drive for the Namco System 22 arcade system board. It 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. Its 3D polygon graphics stood out for the use of Gouraud shading and texture mapping. After a location test at the show, where it was previewed in the November 1992 issue of Electronic Gaming Monthly, Sim Drive had a limited Japanese release in December 1992, but did not get a mass-market release. It served as a prototype for Ridge Racer.Ridge Racer had a development cycle of eight months. The development team was under pressure to complete it before their rivals, and designer Fumihiro Tanaka commented that "the other company" was in the same position. 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 drifted around them instead. Therefore, the team decided to create a game which allowed players to test their driving skills and experience cars' manipulation at high speeds while mastering drifting. The team did not worry about how Ridge Racer would be received outside Japan: Tanaka explained that it was a naïve time when Japanese developers could develop games for players in general, rather than for specific markets.
Development of the PlayStation version began in April 1994. Because of the differences, it had to be produced essentially from scratch, and took nearly as long to develop as the arcade version, being half-complete in November 1994. It was mostly complete by December, with the graphics 70 per cent finished. This version was developed by the same team. Because of technical limitations, it was difficult to program and run at a lower resolution, lower framerate, and was less detailed. Specialised graphics libraries were developed because it was felt the standard ones provided by Sony were too limited. Visual director Yozo Sakagami remarked that the hardest element to port was the experience of driving a car. It was felt that the NeGcon controller would provide a more analogue feel than the standard PlayStation controller. Sakagami was concerned about loading times because of the CD-ROM format; the team countered this by having all the 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 to include Galaxian because he was part of its arcade team and wanted to honour his former boss. Because CDs were cheaper to produce, the retail price was less than cartridge games despite an increase in development costs. 13th Racing's design was meant to be futuristic, according to Tanaka, because the team was considering the future of sports cars. The team settled on a black car "no-one had ever driven before", and at one point it was known as "The Cockroach" because of its performance. There was a rumour that the PlayStation version would include Ridge Racer 2s link-up mode, which Namco denied.
During the release for arcade system board, Namco described Ridge Racer as "the most realistic driving game ever". It featured three-dimensional polygon graphics with texture mapping. The PlayStation version was shown at the 1995 Electronic Entertainment Expo event and was an innovation in the use of three-dimensional polygons. Ridge Racer was released in Japan on 3 December 1994, in North America on 9 September 1995, and in Europe on 29 September as a launch title for the PlayStation.
Music
The soundtrack was produced at the same time as the game by Shinji Hosoe, with contributions from Nobuyoshi Sano and Ayako Saso, as the development team did not have enough time to produce them separately. Initially, the team did not plan to have music, but ended up producing techno, which Tanaka believed helped players to enjoy a fun feeling while playing. Later Ridge Racer series composer Hiroshi Okubo believed techno would give a feeling of energy, journey, and speed, and commented that the genre was chosen because it embodied the game's "unrealistic speed and tension". This was commemorated by the release of Namco Game Sound Express Vol. 11 by Victor Entertainment on 21 January 1994 in Japan, which features remixed versions of the themes.Reception
Ridge Racer received critical acclaim, particularly for its graphics and sound. In Japan, Game Machine listed it on their 1 December 1993 issue as being the most-successful upright arcade game of the year. 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. 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. Next Generation applauded the conversion's faithful recreation of the arcade version, smooth graphics, and additional cars. Although they noted the lack of variety in the different cars' performance and the absence of a multiplayer mode as downsides, they found the game remarkable overall and commented that Ridge Racer was an early game for the PlayStation, and a rushed project at that, making it "an excellent harbinger of what's to come". GamePros 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". 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".Electronic Gaming Monthlys two sports reviewers praised the gameplay and music. 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. In 1996, two years after its release, IGN commented that 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". 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". Coming Soon Magazine praised its "ultra fluid and very realistic" graphics, but criticised the game for being too short. The Electric Playgrounds 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". Edge praised the "dazzling" graphics and "arcade-perfect" music.
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. 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".
Ridge Racer was awarded Best Driving Game of 1995 by Electronic Gaming Monthly. It was listed as one of the best games of all time by Game Informer in 2001, Yahoo in 2005,
Electronic Gaming Monthly in 2006,
Guinness World Records in 2008 and 2009, NowGamer in 2010,
and FHM in 2012.