How RIDGE RACER Redefined Racing Games: From Arcade to PlayStation (Vol. 1)
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- Опубликовано: 21 июл 2024
- An in-depth retrospective look at Ridge Racer, the legendary racing game series from Namco, delving into the pivotal moments that defined the franchise during the 1990s.
As part of an upcoming documentary series, this video examines the Arcade roots of the original Ridge Racer released in 1993 along with the story behind its conception, its monumental release, updates, and the resounding success that paved the way for its transition to the PlayStation console.
The PS1 version of Ridge Racer would be released as one of the console's launch titles in 1994 and become one of its first hit games, captivating players globally not only with its addictive gameplay and graphics but also with its memorable soundtrack.
Afterward, three more PlayStation games would be made for the series but Namco's road to success wouldn't be without its twists and turns. They would eventually face the challenges of creating an Arcade-style racing experience built for the Home console audience. And while other racing franchises like Gran Turismo and Need for Speed were venturing more toward realism and simulation, Ridge Racer would seek to carve its own unique identity.
All trademarks, logos, music and namesakes belong to Bandai Namco Entertainment or unless stated towards their respective holders.
~ SPECIAL THANKS ~
A Special Thanks goes out to all of the dedicated Development Teams, Composers, and Staff who brought these timeless Ridge Racer games to life!
Plus a big shoutout to these articles, photos, videos & websites for helping in the making of this video (Google Doc):
docs.google.com/document/d/13...
~ FEATURED MUSIC IN ORDER ~
「Lucid Rhythms」- Tetsukazu Nakanishi (RRT4)
「Ridge Racer (Power Remix)」- Shinji Hosoe (RR)
「It's A New Record」- Hiroshi Okubo (RRR)
「Welcome Racer」- Hiroshi Okubo (RR)
「Speedster (I Like A.T mix)」- Hiroshi Okubo (RR)
「Maximum Zone」- Takayuki Aihara (RR2/RRR)
「Attract」- Super Sweep (RR, PS1)
「Rhythm Shift」- Super Sweep (RR, PS1)
「High Score Screen」- Super Sweep (RR, PS1)
「Linx On」- Megaten (RVR)
「We're Ready And Waiting For You」- SamplingMasters MEGA (RRR)
「Over The Highway」- SamplingMasters MEGA (RR2/RRR)
「Water Front (Ambient Mix)」- J99 (RVR)
「FMV Opening」- Tetsukazu Nakanishi & Hiroshi Okubo (RGR)
「Silver Stream」- Tetsukazu Nakanishi & Hiroshi Okubo (RGR)
「Introduction」- Tetsukazu Nakanishi & Hiroshi Okubo (RGR)
「Rage Racer」- Tetsukazu Nakanishi & Hiroshi Okubo (RGR)
「Urban Fragments」- Kohta Takahashi (RRT4)
「Pearl Blue Soul」- Hiroshi Okubo (RRT4)
「Turn The Page」- Hiroshi Okubo (RRT4)
「Motor Species」- Tetsukazu Nakanishi (RRT4)
「Euphoria」- Tetsukazu Nakanishi (RRV)
~ ABOUT ME ~
Hey yo I'm Daz, from New Zealand. I'm a variety streamer who loves to play TEKKEN, FINAL FANTASY & Retro games. Join my adventures or misadventures through video games, travel & music!
►Watch me LIVE on Twitch: / dazstanford
🔴 Follow Daz
►Twitter: / dazstanford90
►Discord: / discord
Video produced & edited by DazStanford
~ TIMESTAMPS ~
0:00 Intro
0:24 Prologue
3:00 Origins of Ridge Racer
5:07 Ridge Racer - Arcade (1993)
8:44 Ridge Racer 2 (1994)
9:43 A Groundbreaking Partnership
10:39 Ridge Racer - PS1 (1994)
13:56 Ridge Racer Revolution (1995)
18:12 Crossroads
18:52 Rage Racer (1996)
23:56 A New Contender
25:01 Ridge Racer Type 4 (1998)
30:54 Epilogue & Legacy 
Игры
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Thanks for the support and for watching!! Ridge Racer games have introduced a lot of great music throughout the years - but which of them had the best music in your opinion? 💬
This video will be part of an upcoming series, exploring more of Namco's Arcade games making the transition to PlayStation. The next one will be Starblade & Cyber Sled, so stay tuned!
Update:
20 Jul '23 - 1K!! Thank you all greatly! 🎉
I bought and downloaded Ridge Racer Redux for my Xbox One X. I tried to play this game, but it did not work is that this already put me back at the Xbox One X home part. What went wrong here? I felt this ripped me off. I am trying my best to get down to this underlining cause.
Time Crisis would deffo be great to include next in the Starblade/Cyber Sled line up.
I'm still stunned by the fact that all NAMCO games share a universe. It's cool to think that Richard Miller and Dig Dug might hop in a Solvalou to go catch a Ridge Race! Thanks again for the education!
@@VicsFlix-RUclips Time Crisis is definitely on the list, stay tuned!
almost 30 years later and no racing game can match the style of ridge racer type 4's music
TYPE 4 had the best soundtrack in my opinion 😊
I had the pleasure of playing the original RR1 Full Scale coin op back when I was 13 years old. In the Mazda Miata. Truly amazing experience at the time that I wish I could relive one more time. Great retrospective of this series that has been missing the love for too long!
I remember getting Ridge Racer way back in the early 2000s in my youth, the very original PS1 Version. Because I, being young at the time, thought Grand Theft Auto 2 was a different game, my mum looked at the "18" rating of GTA 2 and said "Let's get Ridge Racer instead", and that was when I got hooked on the series.
There will never be games quite like Ridge Racer, and my journey also involved me becoming an extremely enthusiastic arcade racing fan, so much that I managed to speak to the Ridge Racer Announcer himself, Michael Guinn, who was also Harry Mason in Silent Hill and worked with Jarion Monroe in that game.
If rumours are to be believed, they were working on Ridge Racer 8 but it got cancelled, I wish Namco would still make Ridge Racer, that being said, Kazutoki Kono, the director of R4 and the Ace Combat series, might retire after AC8. I'm hoping Namco still sees the demand for the Ridge Racer series as I have created many concepts regarding sequels to the game.
I'm pretty certain Namco understands that the die-hard fans of Ridge Racer want a new game.
Hopefully they will release one.
This game definetly redefined my admiration of amazing arcade racing with banging tunes for 30 years, wouldn't be nice if Ridge Racer return nowadays
Agreed. Namco should remake this game with same vehicles and today's graphics.
Nice video. The Ridge Racer games have been by far my favourites amongst all the games that i played. You managed to highlight the features of them with an on point edit and a selection of soundtracks amongst the most popular ones. Thank you for giving the series the credits it deserves, hoping for a new release on newer generation consoles.
Only missing game is Ridge Racer 64.
RIGE RACER.😂
Well, the focus of this video was on the PS1 games…
RR64 was made by nintendo software technology
I think the video was focusing on titles made by namco
Although that doesn’t explain the mention of Unbounded at the end
From huge fan and holder of some World Records: Thank you for your great work with this video!❤
Also WORLD REALLY IS READY FOR BOTH NEW RR GAME AND REMAKE!
Excellent video and brought back some memories too. Bought the original PlayStation on release with Ridge Racer, loved it and absolutely mind-blowing at the time, never got boring. You could play in the arcade and at home. There was a cabinet at local bowling alley and Meadowhall had the full car setup in the centre arcade, now that was an experience!
Glad you enjoyed it, I can imagine how cool it must've been to try those Ridge Racer cabinets during that time especially the Full Scale one. Thanks for sharing!
I was really hooked on Ridge Racer 7 about 18 years ago. For me, Ridge Racer 6 & 7 were the two best games in the series by far. In fact, those games turned me into an RR fan!
I hope we'll get a new game on the PS4/5, as opposed to more pachinko titles or re-releases of past games on the PS Store. This is one of the few remaining arcade racing game series not named Need for Speed that seems to be at least somewhat relevant. The rest of them like Burnout and Daytona USA are long gone.
Great work with this video regarding transitions, overlays, and pacing! Ridge Racer on the PS1 had a huge impact on my younger years. I bought the wheel (Made by Madkatz) and listened to the soundtrack religiously. Didn't help that I got my drivers license and my first car was a 85 Supra. I would listen to the Ridge Racer and RR Revolution soundtrack on full blast as I raced the highways at night. What an amazing time to grow up and see the series mature as well.
I don't see another classic RR title ever coming out but I hope they release another mobile game like the for iOS. Those were fun and similar to the PSP titles. It was F2P however, you could buy extra credits to reduce the grind and unlock certain tracks faster which IMO is the best way to introduce paid content.
Thank you so much! Yeah, a lot of great music came out of those RIdge Racer games. Unfortunately, never played the phone versions but heard they were on par with the proper games!
Nice video, but you actually missed something. Ridge Racer V got its own Full Scale arcade release with a full size car. But the rest of your video was cool.
I hope you are able to go more in depth with the arcade cabinets with future videos. I fond memories of playing these cabinets and love seeing lots of pictures of them. I played all arcade cabinets of Ridge Racer 1 and Ridge Racer 2.
I even played the original Full Scale. That thing was a beast.
Thanks, searching through the often obscure history of arcades so far has been fun and will try to find all the interesting bits for the next videos. But with that, there's a chance significant stuff could be left out - that'll be the biggest challenge for sure.
Man I wasn't aware about a Full Scale version of Ridge Racer V, that's cool! Is there info on the web where I can find more about these cabinets?
Ridge Racer was the first game I played in my Ps1. just because it came with the console. i still have it today in its big plastic case. i played this weekend in a native ps1 I purchased years ago. I also have played other ridge racer games in a raspberry pi emulator. Brings me back good memories from when i was just a teenager mesmerized with the graphics difference between my new ps1 and my old snes. In videogames history we never saw that graphics and sounds revolution before. And probably will never see it again. What a time!
Incredible editing. This channel is too underrated. This is like, exactly what I've always wanted to make, but I'm missing a microphone and a good recording studio. Great job!
Outstanding presentation, truly well done ✅
The first Ridge Racer and Revolution games should be remade with Today's graphics. That'd be amazing. There's no better way of celebrating its 30th anniversary than that.
I never miss a Ridge Racer game, I have them all!
Amazing series, fantastic video, waiting for volume 2 !
Thanks for the kind words! Stay tuned for Vol. 2! 🙏
Wow amazing, sweet memories.
Great tunes in the background
Indeed, RR tracks always bring the good vibes and energy!
Enjoyed watching this! 😊🙌🏾
Lovely overview, I was totally obsessed with SEGA games and thanks to your video I can start to appreciate everything Ridge Racer has achieved
Glad you enjoyed the video! 🙏
I love anything Ridge Racer related so thank you.
This is a great retrospective of Ridge Racer which I was obsessed with back when I got my PlayStation in 1997 which came with Ridge Revolution although I would buy the original Ridge Racer shortly afterwards and Ridge Racer would be one of my most played PlayStation games early on.
I still have the High Spec demo disc which has a hi def version of the Original Ridge Racer Game.
We Need Ridge Racer Back.
Make it Happen Namco.
Amen, fingers crossed 🤞
Amazing video 👍
Thank you 👍
I miss how good I was with these games...360 Drifting around corners to beat angel and devil or 180 to 180 drifting that I later saw in the movie Baby Driver!
Awesome video, great job on the documentation!
Appreciate the kinds words 🙏
i really enjoyed this video. good job, keep it up.
Fantastic video mate 🤟🏽
Fantastic video!
Glad you liked it!
great video!
it's GouraUd Shading ;)
developped by Henri Gouraud
Great video!
I done of my first videos was on the evolution of ridge racer. Great video mate and I subscribed
Cool, thanks! I'll definitely check out your channel aswell
I remember this cabine with miata, i lived my childhood in Japan and there was a mall with this machine. I am very small but my father helps a to play it. Nice memories, I grow up with franchise e would like a new game or remaster abouut ps1 era.
Thank you for sharing your story!
RAGE RACER sound track was pure 90s beats 👌 still listen to silver stream
great video subed
great video bud
cant wait for the 2nd volume of ridge racer
Great video would have liked a mention of the negecon and jogcon controllers and ridge racer hi spec demo
Yeah I regret not including the controllers but in an update somehow will find a way to include them. The Hi Spec Demo will be covered in a future video aswell 🤞
Good review. My guy....
R4 also supports system link.
Awesome video, man! Huge RR fan here. When you see the PS1 beginnings it feels like a crime that there wasn´t a new Ridge Racer on PS4 and 5. RR 6 is one of the best and it´s on a freaking xbox only. I played it, finished it, sold it and that was a mistake. I also love RR on Vita after buying all the extra stuff. It was rushed but the driving physics are evolved there. RR 3D on Nintendo 3DS is also fire, packed with content and huge Grand Prix. And did you hear about RR 8 on Switch which then got canceled? Crazy world, my friend.
Glad you enjoyed it from one RR fan to another! No wasn't aware of a new RR title for Switch, imagine if it was released - I think it would've done really well on the platform.
@@DazStanford It would be great. Try google it, it wasn´t officialy announced so we can say it was a rumor but I read multiple times from o.k. sources that RR title was in the works exclusively for a Switch for a while, then got canceled for unknown reasons, I bet it was about banco and money.
Kind of wish you talked about Rave Racer more but overall good video!
30:28 there is a reason people made this comparison, on the back of the box it deliberately avertises and I quote :”R4 has to be the best-looking
PlayStation racer ever (yes, edging out even Gran Turismo)." Whether or not that is what critics meant by level of quality is beyond me.
Grazie infinite per il tuo Docuvideo, davvero denso di contenuti e pieno di ricordi!
Anche io sono cresciuto negli anni '90, e per me Ridge Racer è stato la realizzazione di quello che credevo essere solo un sogno irrealizzabile, diventato poi realtà grazie a Namco, Sony e la sua incredibile PlayStation!!!
Da qualche giorno sto ragionando Ridge Racer sulla PS3, con i miglioramenti grafici che riesce ad apportare, davvero un gioco eterno ed immortale!!!!
Spero arrivi presto la possibilità di scaricare una riedizione per Ps5, in modo da estendere la possibilità a tutti coloro che lo hanno sempre amato, ma che non hanno più le vecchie console e vorrebbero scaricarlo, come successo con Type 4 e Ridge Racer 2 PSP.
Sarebbe davvero stupendo...
Non hai però parlato di Ridge Racer Turbo Mode incluso nella confezione di Type 4, con un disco a parte!!!!
Lo sai che ci sono degli sbloccabili anche lì?
Oltre alle 10vetture attraverso il Bonus Game, c'è anche la Angel Car di Ridge Racer Revolution!!!
Che però ancora non riesco a sbloccare....
Thank you for that video im gonna get from namco ridge racer remake with ports from arcade what gives with tekken 5 and soul calibur 7 with arcade ports etc soul blade sega gives good ways to play arcade versions giving arcade level from yakuza to judgement on like a dragon ends
RIDGE RACER 8 PS5 !!!
Yes agreed!
ngl to me the last RR will be RRV, after they introduced the nitro it loses the charm of it being chill and arcadey. if I were to bring RR to today and age, i wouldn't introduce it as a major AAA game, instead I'll bring it back as a indie level of the OG RR game with a passion of reboot
say it with me boys:
RRRRRRRIIIIDDDDGGGEEE RRRAAAAACCCCCEEERRRRR!!!
Missed game in the video: Ridge Racer 64
The commentator is really annoying! Besides that, RR '94 is still an absolute blast in the arcade.
You ignored Ridge Racer Hi Spec...
Yeah I know, it's only a demo but an interesting one. I plan to maybe cover it in a future video! 👍
It's a shame Namco isn't interested in Ridge Racer. What's annoying is Namco did not announce a new Ridge Racer, but personified it. Sigh...
For god's sake, Ridge Racer's rival, Cruis'n returned in 2017(Console is 2021), Hot Wheels console racing game returned in 2021, and LEGO racing game and F-Zero returned this year. Even Top Gear returns next year.
I hate to say it, but Japanese people don't seem to be interested in arcade racing games. Most spiritual successors to Japanese arcade racing games are overseas.
Slipstream, the spiritual successor to Outrun, is from Brazil, Daytona USA, Hotshot Racing, the spiritual successor to Virtua Racing, is from the UK, Gravel, the spiritual successor to Sega Rally, is from Italy, Woden GP is from Spain, and Inertial Drift, inspired by Ridge Racer R4, is from Northern Ireland.
If I were Japanese, I would be embarrassed.
If they saw there was a large collective interest, Bandai Namco would definitely bring it back
Flag ue no Europa
good vid but it's not spelled gouraund shading nor is it pronounced that way
Ahhh thanks for noting that! Honest mistake, been reading it with n instead of u at the end 😥
@@DazStanford no biggie! foreign names can get tricky
Well, how is it spelled then?