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[IbizaPocholo]

Ridge Racer is one of the best arcade racing game franchises of all time and Ridge Racer and Ridge Racer 2 are some of the best racing games for arcade gaming IMO....but so is Rave Racer! It’s retro games royalty and rivals what Sega did with Daytona USA. It’s one of the best arcade games of all time! and you gotta love the Namco System 22 arcade hardware as well. Retro games never looked so good (for a bit)

and before you comment Ridge Racer V Arcade Battle was just a port of the PS2 version and NOT a proper arcade release

It's high time we talked about the Ridge Racer franchise on the channel, as its basically one of the most successful video game franchises ever made! But this is Video Game Esoterica...so we are going to be talking about this Ridge Racer retrospective a bit differently. From Ridge Racer to R4: Ridge Racer Type 4 to Rave Racer and Rage Racer with stops along the way for the PSP Ridge Racer Games, the Xbox 360 Ridge Racer 6 and of course Ridge Racer 7 on PS3! Plus more!
PS1 was my first 3D console ever and I still fondly remember it as being one of the best pieces of retro gaming hardware around!

Up Next: Rave Racer on the Namco System 22. Sure the arcades had a ton of awesome racing games and some would even be considered arcade hidden gems but IMO Rave Racer and is one of the best racing games ever made!

Namco had a TON of awesome arcade games in the Ridge Racer franchise but Rave Racer is probably the most impressive of them all! Sadly it was supposed to get a port on PS1 but that was cancelled in favor of Rage Racer!

 

[Preseznik]

My favorite time in gaming.
My sim racing rig has a special "mode" for teknparrot/supermodel etc. for when I'm feeling nostalgic.
Stuff like this was what got me into racing games to begin with.

 

[RetroGamingUK]

Did Namco ever explain why this was left in the arcades and PlayStation owners got Ridge Racer Revolution instead?

 

[Drew1440]

Did Namco ever explain why this was left in the arcades and PlayStation owners got Ridge Racer Revolution instead?

There was a PC port in the works for the PowerVR video card, which Namco were going to use for their future arcade hardware but it never came out.

 

[RCX]

Waiting patiently for the R4 decompilation project to be completed.

That game in widescreen and 120fps is going to be perfect.

 

[RetroGamingUK]

Waiting patiently for the R4 decompilation project to be completed.

That game in widescreen and 120fps is going to be perfect.

Best looking racing games from that generation by a long shot. Gran Turismo 2 doesn’t come close.

I’d love Namco to bring the series back and use that art style and vibe on modern hardware.

 

[RJMacready73]

My mates and I would play this endlessly taking turns on the PS1 to shave seconds of our laptimes, good simpler times

 

[King Dazzar]

I still miss the gameplay today. Amazing on PS1. And even up to the one on PS3 too. Shame they had to mess it all up before the series died.

 

[Judge Magister]

Ridge Racer style / soundtracks are awesome but i'm bad at drifting. Always preferred Gran Turismo.

 

[The ninja farmer]

My mates and I would play this endlessly taking turns on the PS1 to shave seconds of our laptimes, good simpler times

So with you there on ridge racer on the ps1

Would say it got down to shaving hundredths of a second and taking on the devil and angel cars …

 

[Holammer]

I only ever played RR once in the arcade.
R4 is rightfully celebrated, but my preferred version is Ridge Racer 2 on the PSP. It just feels right and there are maps from all over the series in it.
If you want to spice it up, there is a HD texture pack which makes it look like an early PS3 era game. Fixes all the text, speedometers and tons of textures. The skybox was pretty terri-bad in the original PSP, here it is immaculate.

GitHub - jcchikikomori/RidgeRacer2-HD-repacked: Combined High Definition HUD's & UI textures from Abbanon & R-Type Leo's packages

Combined High Definition HUD's & UI textures from Abbanon & R-Type Leo's packages - jcchikikomori/RidgeRacer2-HD-repacked

github.com