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[seismologist]

I'm playing RRDS for the past couple days. Once you get past the fact that the analog steering wheel is worthless and start using the d-pad instead, it's a pretty good racing game. I've placed first in the first 4 tracks and beaten 3 of the 1 on 1 races to unlock new cars.

The only Ridge Racer games I've owned are Rage Racer and RR5.
So I never played the N64 version. If I hadn't known ahead of time, I wouldn't even know this one wasn't made by Namco. It plays like classic RR game. No bullshit boost meters involved here . It's all about handling and making the perfect line through the turns. And It's highly satisfying when you do. The announcer says something like "Nice handling!" and you get a big grin on your face cause you know you're just owning the game.

The graphics aren't even a factor. They're not really bad or good. It's somewhere in between. I guess about what the PSX RR games would look like shrunk down to a 3" screen. The game moves so you dont notice those pixelated textures from the screenshots. Framerate is silky smooth.
I guess one neat thing about the giant steering wheel is it changes depending on which car your using. It sort of gives you a sense of actually being inside the new car which is cool I guess...

 

[refreshZ]

Nice impressions. Shouldn't you be trolling the dead pixels PSP thread?

 

[Amir0x]

No bullshit boost meters involved here .

[troll] You say that as if Ridge Racers (PSP) won't rape Ridge Racer DS on every conceivable level. [/troll]

 

[Miburou]

The game moves

Holy shit, the game moves? Next thing you'll tell me the game makes sounds, too.

 

[seismologist]

Nice impressions. Shouldn't you be trolling the dead pixels PSP thread?

That's only my part time gig

Holy shit, the game moves? Next thing you'll tell me the game makes sounds, too.

The game moves fast. Even with the early cars. It almost seems too fast at first until you get used to the handling.

 

[Smiles and Cries]

I need some SPRUNG impressions, got any?

 

[seismologist]

I need some SPRUNG impressions, got any?

I Heard that it sucks. Unfortunately.

 

[Smiles and Cries]

I Heard that it sucks. Unfortunately.

sucks? how do you get the girls in the... umm nevermind

 

[evilromero]

I think RRDS really shines in the wireless domain. Download times are fast and single-cart mode offers a lot of options for players.

 

[seismologist]

yeah I Would imagine this is great in multiplayer. Especially if your playing against people who know how to play. Hopefully this will get tunneled somehow.

 

[seismologist]

[troll] You say that as if Ridge Racers (PSP) won't rape Ridge Racer DS on every conceivable level. [/troll]

I honestly dont know if it will now that I've played this one. If you want classic RR gameplay that's all about driving skill then they need to do away with the boost meter.

 

[dark10x]

I honestly dont know if it will now that I've played this one. If you want classic RR gameplay that's all about driving skill then they need to do away with the boost meter.

It isn't classic Ridge Racer gameplay, though. Unless it is a COMPLETELY different game from RR64, you'd be incorrect.

Oh, and not that it matters, but I don't know about the comment on the visuals...

 

[Amir0x]

I honestly dont know if it will now that I've played this one. If you want classic RR gameplay that's all about driving skill then they need to do away with the boost meter.

Nah. There's no chance.

 

[seismologist]

It isn't classic Ridge Racer gameplay, though. Unless it is a COMPLETELY different game from RR64, you'd be incorrect.

Oh, and not that it matters, but I don't know about the comment on the visuals...

Maybe not classic RR gameplay. The feel is pretty similar to RR5. You need to resize the R4 screenshot to 3" screen and they'd look pretty close.

If I had any complaints about the game, visuals wouldn't be one of them. Actually my biggest complaint it the fact that the touch screen doesn't register inputs very well on the menu screens. The icons are real tiny So you almost need to use the stylus every time to get the game set up.

 

[Shikamaru Ninja]

You purposely chose the worst possible screen of the game. The game looks good man. Doesn't look like a PSP game, especially not RR PSP. But it looks like an N64 game with a really solid framerate.

 

[imastalker co.]

hey guys, i don't remember doing this on the 64 version, but apparently (if it's not already unlocked from the beginning, i can't remember), i just unlocked music from Mario Bros. 2 in the game.

anyone know if you unlock music in the game? if so, what's in there?

 

[evilromero]

hey guys, i don't remember doing this on the 64 version, but apparently (if it's not already unlocked from the beginning, i can't remember), i just unlocked music from Mario Bros. 2 in the game.

anyone know if you unlock music in the game? if so, what's in there?

Can you explain how you did this? And I don't believe this was in the original N64 version.

Also, R4 looks so fucking sexy. I'm going to bust that shit out again.

 

[seismologist]

I dont have any Mario Bros music but the music in this game sounds pretty good. Is this the same as the N64 music?

 

[evilromero]

I dont have any Mario Bros music but the music in this game sounds pretty good. Is this the same as the N64 music?

Yes, with the exception of the Mario tunes. I still think the RR64/DS soundtrack ranks among the best in the series. But R4 and Rage take the cake.

 

[imastalker co.]

i dunno about that. this easily isn't up to par with the music that Namco has put into the series in the past.

it's decent, but not one memorable song on there.

 

[Kai Dracon]

While I do think the game looks okay (and not horrible), I can't see how objectively it can touch the PSX Rage Racer and Ridge Racer Type 4. Technical quality seems about on the level of Ridge Racer Revolutions but with much worse NST design and art. Rage and Type 4 still blow it away.

It's a real shame Namco couldn't be bothered to do an original RR or at least port one of the better PSX games to the DS. I know it could handle them.

 

[imastalker co.]

what the hell are you guys talking about? this looks noticeably nicer than Ridge Racer, and Revolution. granted, the style isn't as nice, but as far as all the shit going (buildings, amounts of cars on the tracks, geometry), this has better graphics.

you guys should totally pop in your Ridge Racer, and Revolution though, and see what im talking about. cause it totally doesn't look nicer than DS.

 

[Salmon]

I´m still surprised every time a see a picture of RR for the NDS. All I ever care about when it comes to graphics, are framerates, but I mean...c´mon does it have to be THIS ugly? Looks to me Nintendo handed over the FX-chip to the NST-team :lol

 

[imastalker co.]

im done trying to defend this game, but i will say that that has to be one of, if not the worse picture of the game i've ever seen.

like every other DS game, pictures don't do it justice.

 

[Hitler Stole My Potato]

seismologist = gigadent


opinions are therefore null and void upon delivery.

 

[snapty00]

I do wish polygons on DS were more "precise," in general. They look so shakey and jittery in motion.

 

[mosaic]

I like the multiplayer functionality, but man, I don't see how anyone could be happy with how the game plays. If an AI car touches your car anywhere--front, back, side--it will bounce ahead. If it's behind you and hits your rear bumper, it will just pass through your car. Sometimes, you'll see two CPU cars riding side by side, and get this crap, if you touch one of them, they'll both bounce ahead in unison. I also love (and by love, I mean detest) how all of the cars in the pack obviously slow down on the final lap to setup a close race against #1. Of course, that car has some magic mojo that keeps it always a few feet behind or in front of my car, even when I'm hearing "nice cornering!" on every corner and run laps without smacking into walls.

My biggest gripe is that this is just a straight up port of the N64 game, albeit with options taken out. NST developed THAT game too, so why they didn't bother to make up more tracks or further improve the visuals or handling is beyond me. Jeff @ GameSpot opined that the game just feels obsolete compared to recent racing games, and that's about right. It also absolutely boggles my mind that they removed the handling and collision options from the game that were in the N64 version, which would've helped lessen the nuisance I mentioned above.

I enjoyed the N64 game quite a bit at the time, while this one is eh.... I feel how I expect I ought to feel having played the original version more than 3 years ago... If you race a good race, forget about the CPU entirely, and get used to those automatic drifts (let go of A and tap A entering a corner and wooooooooooo), it actually is quite a nice "time attack" style racer. Guess I just hoped they'd improve the game.

And yes, I am all agog with thoughts of how the PSP Ridge Racers is turning out. Can you blame me? Or anyone else?! The pics, the track images, the music.... the fact that Namco won't let cars pass through other cars like apparitions....

 

[Salmon]

I do wish polygons on DS were more "precise," in general. They look so shakey and jittery in motion.

They looked "shakey and jittery" on the Playstation too (PSOne, not "two" :lol ). Many developers just did a great work with the second generation of games on the Playstation. Polygons might look better on the NDS in the future as well.

 

[Amir0x]

Polygons might look better on the NDS in the future as well.

Might? I'd say that's pretty much a given. DS visuals will improve as time goes on.

 

[Jr.]

I should have this game tomorrow, I can't wait! I love Ridge Racer games, except RRV and RR64, but I'm still hoping to like this game!

 

[Amir0x]

I love Ridge Racer games, except RRV and RR64, but I'm still hoping to like this game!

Man, haven't you been reading? This is a port of RR64. Not only is a port of RR64, but it does many things worse than even that game.

 

[Jr.]

Man, haven't you been reading? This is a port of RR64. Not only is a port of RR64, but it does many things worse than even that game.

duh, thats why I said, "but I hope to like this game!" Also, have you palyed it?

 

[dark10x]

Maybe not classic RR gameplay. The feel is pretty similar to RR5. You need to resize the R4 screenshot to 3" screen and they'd look pretty close.

If I had any complaints about the game, visuals wouldn't be one of them. Actually my biggest complaint it the fact that the touch screen doesn't register inputs very well on the menu screens. The icons are real tiny So you almost need to use the stylus every time to get the game set up.

RR64 was absolutely horrible in comparison to RRV. There was no similarity. Like I said, unless they made an entirely new game, I disagree.

Regarding screen size; you DO realize that shrinking the PSX shot will actually make it look BETTER right?

That also is far from the worst pic of RRDS...

seismologist = gigadent

That can't be right...

Gigadent always seemed to side with the best technology, which the DS is far from being...

 

[Jr.]

I'm not expecting much from this game. If it plays halfway decent and has a good sense of speed I will be happy, plus its only a $25 game!

 

[Amir0x]

duh, thats why I said, "but I hope to like this game!" Also, have you palyed it?

Of course I played it. That's why I can dismiss it. It's RR64 with an even worse sense of speed and a plethora of collission problems. The steering wheel functionality on the touch screen is horrible for controlling your car; it's a complete waste. And then there's the fact that the visuals clearly aren't up to snuff with what can be done on the DS. And while they're [the visuals] by no means "bad", it simply brings down a product clearly hampered by a shitty development team, short development time and on top of that it's a port of an already shitty game. So pretty much everything conspires against this game to make it less than stellar.

Although, I have not played the multiplayer. And I suspect that the multiplayer might be the games highlight, even if that's not saying much.

Regarding screen size; you DO realize that shrinking the PSX shot will actually make it look BETTER right?

Case-in-point:

 

[Lyte Edge]

Man, haven't you been reading? This is a port of RR64. Not only is a port of RR64, but it does many things worse than even that game.

No, it does not. The stylus/thumb strap control is really stupid, but playing the game with the d-pad is great. Game play IS classic Ridge Racer, and the game basically looks like Ridge Racer Revolution did on the PSX with the added light blur trails on the car backlights from R4.

The game deserves points off the score for being a N64 port with nothing added (And it definitely looks WORSE than RR64 did), but the real reason this game is getting hate is because of the PSP Ridge Racers. On its own, RRDS is a good racing game; it has the sense of speed, enough tracks/cars, and fantastic multiplayer (only one cart needed for up to SIX players to play, and you can even have the AI cars in the race too) to warrant a purchase from DS owners. I'm definitely feeling like I got my $30 worth out of it from the multiplayer alone.

Now back to Sawaru Made In Wario.

 

[mosaic]

Now back to Sawaru Made In Wario.

That line about sums up my Ridge Racer DS thoughts, and more succinctly than I put it.

Ridge Racer DS hasn't got the lasting appeal God gave a bag of chips in my house. I took advantage of the Target sale, and still feel heavy buyer's remorse. I blew through most of the single player and car attack modes the first night, and a friend and I wore out multi's welcome the next day. No desire to play it anymore. :/ It's like I rented it for $26 for 2 days but got to keep the box, manual, and game card.

So now I'm back to futzing around with Feel The Magic, hoping my PSP pre-order comes through, and am absolutely impatient for the DS to get Advance Wars or a Mario Party game ASAP.

 

[Amir0x]

No, it does not. The stylus/thumb strap control is really stupid, but playing the game with the d-pad is great. Game play IS classic Ridge Racer, and the game basically looks like Ridge Racer Revolution did on the PSX with the added light blur trails on the car backlights from R4.

The game deserves points off the score for being a N64 port with nothing added (And it definitely looks WORSE than RR64 did), but the real reason this game is getting hate is because of the PSP Ridge Racers. On its own, RRDS is a good racing game; it has the sense of speed, enough tracks/cars, and fantastic multiplayer (only one cart needed for up to SIX players to play, and you can even have the AI cars in the race too) to warrant a purchase from DS owners. I'm definitely feeling like I got my $30 worth out of it from the multiplayer alone.

See, I haven't played the multiplayer. But let's put that aside for a moment.

a.) I didn't complain about the visuals; I just said it's obvious the DS can do much better. It can.

b.) The gameplay is classic RIDGE RACER 64. Ridge Racer 64 is atrocious. This is a port of said game, and you yourself acknowledge that it should get points taken off for being a port. If you don't like Ridge Racer 64, why would you like RRDS? RRDS is Ridge Racer 64 with a decreased sense of speed and worse collission detection. If you don't think the game has collission problems then you obviously haven't playtested it enough; I encounter such problems all the time. So either you got a "good" copy of RRDS or you're being more forgiving than you should be.

c.) The tracks are designed from RR64. RR64 sucks. The track design and art of RR64 sucks. So by extension, RRDS sucks in this arena. Of course this is personal preference, but I'm fairly confident in my opinion.

d.) I can't even imagine how you think this game has even a "passable" sense of speed. Compared to RR64? Maybe. And it has a been a while since I played RR64. But this game seems much slower at times. That may be my memory playing tricks on me, I admit, but it definitely wasn't conducive to fast adrenaline pumping gameplay, that's for damn sure.

e.) The real reason RRDS is getting all this hate is because it's a port of RR64, and RR64 sucks. We've already established a billion times this is why it's getting all the hate. It doesn't help, of course, that it's getting trumped on every level by Ridge Racers (PSP), but that hardly changes my motivation that this game plays like RR64 and RR64 sucks.

f.) As for the controls, the stylus/thumb strap control is stupid. That's what I said. And the d-pad is competent, I admit. Unfortunately, I hate the gameplay in RR64... so it doesn't help that there's a plethora of other issues hampering it down further.

But, I guess we must agree to disagree... eh? I doubt multiplayer would change my feeling on this game. I don't want to play bad gameplay with 6 friends either.

 

[WhippinSean]

Ridge Racer 64 played just like Ridge Racer... same feeling and everything... the only thing that felt a little off were the messed up blurry graphics and bad sound effects!

 

[Amir0x]

Ridge Racer 1 is an archaic game that frankly does not hold up at all to todays standards set by much better racers.

 

[DDayton]

Yes, I bought this game... mainly for the multiplayer capabilities...

The one thing I am missing is the "Classic Namco" Music mix track... with samples from Galaga, Pac-Man, etc.. Is it in there?

For that matter, wasn't there some sort of unlockable Galaga minigame in RR64?

 

[Doogdogg]

The textures of RR4 is really sharp,realistic looking. Sadly, RR64 looks like sh!t. I really hate n64 textures. :lol

 

[monkeyrun]

the graphics is not a factor when you are actually PLAYING the game, BUT it'll be a factor when it comes to fanboy wars :lol

 

[Lyte Edge]

See, I haven't played the multiplayer. But let's put that aside for a moment.

b.) The gameplay is classic RIDGE RACER 64. Ridge Racer 64 is atrocious. This is a port of said game, and you yourself acknowledge that it should get points taken off for being a port. If you don't like Ridge Racer 64, why would you like RRDS? RRDS is Ridge Racer 64 with a decreased sense of speed and worse collission detection. If you don't think the game has collission problems then you obviously haven't playtested it enough; I encounter such problems all the time. So either you got a "good" copy of RRDS or you're being more forgiving than you should be.

"Decreased sense of speed?" Uh, NO. Did you just play the first track with the first care available and brush off the game after that? It gets plenty fast. I have no problems with the collision detection; it feels exactly like the PSX Ridge Racer games.

c.) The tracks are designed from RR64. RR64 sucks. The track design and art of RR64 sucks. So by extension, RRDS sucks in this arena. Of course this is personal preference, but I'm fairly confident in my opinion.

First of all, let's make sure this is clear: Ridge Racer 64/DS uses tracks from Ridge Racer and Ridge Racer 2/Revolution. Those games had some great tracks, and I like the new tracks NST made as well. The BACKGROUNDS aren't as good as the ones from Namco's games, but that really doesn't bother me enough for it to make a difference,

e.) The real reason RRDS is getting all this hate is because it's a port of RR64, and RR64 sucks. We've already established a billion times this is why it's getting all the hate. It doesn't help, of course, that it's getting trumped on every level by Ridge Racers (PSP), but that hardly changes my motivation that this game plays like RR64 and RR64 sucks.

Getting trumped by RR on the PSP isn't a real reason to put this game down, true as it may be. RR64 is just Ridge Racer and RRR combined with extra tracks. That's not a bad thing. The game play wasn't as polished as R4, but the game still played like Ridge Racer. This is one game where I really do not understand the hate, unless you also hated the first two RR games.

Despite this game's flaws, I'd definitely take it over Asphalt Urban GT; RRDS has much better track design.

 

[ourumov]

As far as I remember RR64 didn't control as RR PSX/arcade games...It was not the same Lyte. On the other hand I have said this 900000 times but the worst problem the game had was the bad collision detection it had: you were far from a wall yet it detected collision, decreasing your speed and screwing your lap.

 

[Amir0x]

"Decreased sense of speed?" Uh, NO. Did you just play the first track with the first care available and brush off the game after that? It gets plenty fast. I have no problems with the collision detection; it feels exactly like the PSX Ridge Racer games.

I'm sorry, but, I played and beat the game and used many cars. None of them made the sense of speed feel anything except sub-par. We're obviously working with two very different set of eyes.

As for the collision detection, if you don't see the problems then you're almost beyond hope. It is horrible by ANY standards.

First of all, let's make sure this is clear: Ridge Racer 64/DS uses tracks from Ridge Racer and Ridge Racer 2/Revolution. Those games had some great tracks, and I like the new tracks NST made as well. The BACKGROUNDS aren't as good as the ones from Namco's games, but that really doesn't bother me enough for it to make a difference,

Dude, Ridge Racer 64 used them tracks alright. With the exception of two tracks, all it did was bastardize those tracks. And what did I tell you? Ridge Racer and Ridge Racer Revolution are archaic games by todays standards and are simply not up to snuff with the many, many better racing games that have since come after it. Ridge Racer 64 is a result of this regressive design, and it simply is sub-standard on every level. And, as always, NST designs are horrible. But, again, different eyes; and, apparantely, different standards.

Getting trumped by RR on the PSP isn't a real reason to put this game down, true as it may be. RR64 is just Ridge Racer and RRR combined with extra tracks. That's not a bad thing. The game play wasn't as polished as R4, but the game still played like Ridge Racer. This is one game where I really do not understand the hate, unless you also hated the first two RR games.

I'm not putting RRDS down because of RR(PSP). I'm putting it down because it sucks, much like RR64 sucks. How many times do I have to tell you that?

Despite this game's flaws, I'd definitely take it over Asphalt Urban GT; RRDS has much better track design.

Frankly I'd take anything over Asphalt Urban GT so that's not exactly my highest reccomendation.

 

[seismologist]

the graphics is not a factor when you are actually PLAYING the game, BUT it'll be a factor when it comes to fanboy wars :lol

You have to remember that most of the people arguing "bad graphics" are basing it totally on screenshots.

I don't see how anyone could be happy with how the game plays. If an AI car touches your car anywhere--front, back, side--it will bounce ahead. If it's behind you and hits your rear bumper, it will just pass through your car.

There's a simple solution to this: dont run into other cars

how all of the cars in the pack obviously slow down on the final lap to setup a close race against #1.

Do good and they wont have to slow down for you. It's all about the time trials anyway. What kind of times are you getting?

And yes, I am all agog with thoughts of how the PSP Ridge Racers is turning out. Can you blame me? Or anyone else?! The pics, the track images, the music.... the fact that Namco won't let cars pass through other cars like apparitions....

No I dont blame anyone for being hyped about the graphics. But stuff like this dont sound too hot:

"Fill up one of the nitros and you can use it with a press of the right trigger to send your car zipping past rivals. We found ourselves purposely slipping and sliding in order to build up the meter faster."

It makes your RRDS complaints seem kind of trivial.

 

[jarrod]

I do wish polygons on DS were more "precise," in general. They look so shakey and jittery in motion.

I dunno, they look solid enough to me on those 3 inch screens. Way better than Saturn or PS1, but then DS again also has a hardware Z-buffer and 4.5MB of RAM.

Putting Ridge Racer DS up against launch games from those platforms like Ridge Racer or Daytona USA, and you'll be really surprised. It's a much larger leap than Ridge Racers is over Ridge Racer V.

 

[Kon Tiki]

Putting Ridge Racer DS up against launch games from those platforms like Ridge Racer or Daytona USA, and you'll be really surprised. It's a much larger leap than Ridge Racers is over Ridge Racer V.

Come on, there is a huge time gap there.

 

[jarrod]

Come on, there is a huge time gap there.

Well, it's a generational comparison. Granted, DS is pretty clearly higher spec than Saturn or PS1 (while PSP is clearly lower spec than PS2, though it does have some effects based advantages over it)* but the comparison holds. Ridge Racers looks better than RRV, but RRDS also looks a whole lot better than Daytona or RR1.


*I'm talking visuals here. In terms of audio, it's the reverse (PSP>PS2, DS<PS1<Saturn).