Ridge Racer (1993 - arcade version) by Namco - Time Trial

[theelostriots9999]

I remember the days when Arcades where the test beds for cutting edge tech. Now home consoles are pretty much more powerful than high end gaming PCs when it comes to raw graphics processing. How things have changed.

[indydaisy1]

@theelostriots9999 thats true, but now we mainly sit on our own playing the shit, the arcade community died a terrible death imo.

[relicz1]

best ridge racer ever made in my oppinion

[TheJacklopz]

where did you download this game??' only i ahve RR2 and Rave racer, so i'd like to download this game.

[msimplay]

Dead or Alive 2, Virtua Fighter 3 Soul Calibur all Dreamcast games for me.

The one thing I loved about it was that it delivered on it's promise of arcade perfection but sadly this happened at a time when the industry was moving towards deeper home experiences and possibly a subconcious thing I don't think I've ever forgiven the PS2 for killing the Dreamcast lol.

[ojideagu]

@msimplay haha the Dreamcast past me by because I was in the N64 PS1 period and couldn't afford it.

So the PS2 was my saviour lol The Ps2 had Sega games and Sony games which made it very attractive.

You have to Admire Nintendo though, my dad always hated me playing games too much

and looked down on my Gameboy and Atari Lynx. Now he has a fucking Nintendo DS and plays the Wii!!!!!!!!!

IF you could pick the last man on earth to own those my its DAD, Nintendo cracked him!! Incredible marketing.

[msimplay]

@ojideagu Yeah I agree Nintendo is is shrewd at business and to be honest they did what it took to survive in the industry I mean look at them this is a company that held the monoply in the gaming industry and despite losing last generation still made the most money out of all three consoles of the last gen and single handedly won this gen by default due to over the top sales and all this when no one likes them =P

[ojideagu]

@msimplay Yes! it was always going to happen and Nintendo did it first. Games were always going to become mass market in addition to hardcore. Sony and Microsoft didn't try and tap that mainstream granny market, and only now are trying. There will always be a place for both.

It's a bit annoying though when we were there from the start before it was cool, now everyone

is on the bandwagon!

[msimplay]

@ojideagu All I can think is great shit games for everyone.

I have a Wii and I like the Virtual console stuff and the what they call the "core gamer" stuff but all of their out of the market stuff is all shovel ware to me and all the stuff I traditionally stay clear of.

[msimplay]

@ojideagu Even most of their wiiware stuff is shovelshit although to be honest am glad as I have way too many games.

I prefer the simpler days when could only afford a little bit of games and you could only buy the best.

Heck i had 8 games for the whole of the Snes era =P rest were rented

[ojideagu]

@msimplay Haha yes, I only ever had about 8 games max per system. Especially the cartridge era they were way too expensive!!

Nintendo are sooo fucking smart when it comes to money. Even though most of it is junk, they knew the mainstream market would be the one that makes you mega rich and wins the race, not the tech geek market, even though it meant selling out on raw power and hardcore gaming.

It's a shame Nintendo won't marry raw technology power with the family shit though.

[ojideagu]

@msimplay In one way I admire Nintendo for fully understanding how to exploit the largest market. On the other I'm very angry that they have dumbed down their hardcore gaming to get that market and slowed down the advance of technology. Although they HAVE pioneered interactivity.

The N64 and SNES showed they can do both to a decent level.

[msimplay]

@ojideagu 100% agree to this but what can you say Nintendo made Sony and Microsoft alter their gameplan this gen and at the end of the day they run a business it's all about the money

[ojideagu]

@msimplay Yes! Well I mean as far back as the NES/Famicom which of course means "Family-Computer". They always knew the family is the holy grail market since 1980. Amazing vision.

Even though the Snes/N64/Gamecube went more with the hardcore and worked well. They have gone right back to their original blueprint and finally cracked it!

I agree it has made Sony and Microsoft alter their plan, hopefully for the better. Interactivity + Hardcore power.

[msimplay]

@ojideagu The only thing I like about these days is everyones insistance on backwards compatability.

Retro gaming has become main stream and new versions of old games have come out plus many that never made it to the UK where I live.

Btw I have a new found respect for Sony after reading some Edge articles it seems as though Sega has always been struggling and have made poor business decisions a lot they got lucky with the Megadrive.

[ojideagu]

@msimplay Yes! And even the Megadrive was far bigger in Europe then Japan. In Japan

Nintendo crushed it with the NES and SNES. Horrible marketing and business despite always having powerful technology. The NES should never have lasted as long as it did. Nintendo held back technology once again because they had the market. The PC Engine and Megadrive were amazing machines for 1988.

The same with the Atari Lynx, it destroyed the Gameboy technology wise, But Nintendo understood the market.

[ojideagu]

@msimplay I agree I'm glad the retro stuff is even getting more mainstream and available. It should be for everyone to enjoy the past great games.

[ojideagu]

@msimplay Sony were fantastic for the Industry, they took Nintendo some serious lessons and shock everything up! Thank god Nintendo split from them.

[ojideagu]

@msimplay When it comes to marketing to the general public Nintendo are fucking GENIUSES!!!!! I'm gobsmacked. Grannies, Aunts, Uncles, Mothers and dads now want their stuff.

My dad is the last man on earth I thought would want a console and DS.

[msimplay]

Don't know why but when the PS2 came in only a few games held my attention off the top of my head I can only remember Soul Calibur 2 after the Dreamcast era as being an all time great lol I think I was a bit of a Sega casualty for a generation & now things have just come full circle as new games are just old games refined and a new lick of paint plus retrogaming is meaning that there's actually not a lot out there that's new with some exceptions such as Mario Galaxy 1/2 which itself a refinment

[ojideagu]

@msimplay I always enjoyed the Ps2! Because it had most of my favourite games from the PS1.

Grand theft Auto 3, Pro Evolution Soccer, Gran Turismo, Dead or Alive 2. Virtua Fighter, Tekken.

I never got into the Gamecube or Xbox. I think it's one of my favourite consoles of all time!

[msimplay]

It's plain to see the Arcades were always better than home ports at the time however the home ports were better games because they often had more content compared to their Arcade counterparts. I would even go as far as to say that the PS1 version of Ridge Racer is a much better game than the Arcade version because of the expanded content. PS1 had a lot of success this way Take Tekken 1 2 3 as examples the Arcades had better graphics but the home versions had FMV endings.

[ojideagu]

@msimplay I don't get why people compare ports considering how expensive the arcade machines were. We are talking $30,000 for ridge race. Virtua Fighter was $25,000+.

Compare a PS3 to a $30,000 computer system today and the difference would be the same.

[msimplay]

@ojideagu Sometimes you do get great ports I mean even in the early the Megadrive was marketed to have Arcade perfect ports I guess it's what started the whole trend of comparing the ports to some extent.

It's something consumers had wanted ever since playing their favorite games in the Arcades.

However I 100% agree with you how can you compare a multipurpose gaming machine to a dedicated Arcade machine most likely custom built for just that one game.

[ojideagu]

@msimplay Yeh everyone was obsessed with that growing up (i'm 30) EVERYONE wanted arcade perfect ports, Even Namco were hoping the PS1 would be powerful enough to do a perfect port of Ridge Racer lol I have an article on it. Either they were stupid or lying. These days it's not so difficult.

But yeh how "arcade perfect" a Megadrive or Snes game was was the biggest selling point of conversions.

The phrase "Arcade Perfect" was the holy grail!!

[msimplay]

@ojideagu ps where is the Article I'd be interested in reading it ?

[ojideagu]

@msimplay there is a copy of the mag on ebay uk only 0.50 pence start bid I really suggest u try and get it. May 1994 issue 3 edge magazine. Its got loads on namco and their history with interviews and ps1 plans

[ojideagu]

@msimplay these days it's the Arcades trying to catch up! Most gaming PC's are more powerful then any arcade too. Could you imagine that in 1995!!

[msimplay]

@ojideagu That's true however in those days Arcades were pushing the envelope to deliver new gaming experiences. However the technology is there for Arcades to be potentially better than PC's but the difference is why would they since the market really isn't the same as it used to be.

Perfect home conversions are expected now however in a sense the Arcades are still more powerful just see Sega Rally3 Arcade vs Sega Rally 360/PS3 versions.

I guess dedicated hardware will always have the advantage

[ojideagu]

@msimplay oh sorry mate it was in an old copy of edge magazine in the uk I have from may 1994 try ebay or there might be an online archive! I have hundreds of old mags I have kept its facinating reading the past and how things changed!

[msimplay]

@ojideagu u sure it's issue 3 may 1994 ? Only issue 3 I found was in December

[ojideagu]

@msimplay Oh yes, it's issue 8! Sorry, 3 was the cost ha ha £3

[msimplay]

@ojideagu I managed to get me issue 8 along with a few other issues for £8 I'm quite happy with that.

Btw I forgot to say I'm also from the same era arcade perfect = the holy grail and still is in many ways =P

[ojideagu]

@msimplay Nice one mate! I really wanted you to get it lol There is a great Issue on Atari too. It also has an article on the value of retro stuff. I'm interesting in retro games as a possible investment. I'm always scanning ebay for deals.

[msimplay]

@ojideagu Near enough all I play is retro even on the new consoles.

I keep the 360 around to play newer versions of old games like Super Street Fighter 2 turbo HD.

There's also Radiant Silvergun being remade into HD and most recently I got myself a modified Snes so can play games from all regions.

Also I recommend the Gameboy Player for the Gamecube the GBA is like a true update to Snes days you see all the details when it's up there on the big screen.

[msimplay]

@ojideagu Wow Sony really changed the game I just read a feature on Sony Playstation in Edge issue 11.

I think I was too busy with Super Nintendo games at the time to care about anything else but man I missed completely how important Sony was to that period of time and while Sega and Nintendo lost out it's amazing what Sony bought to the table, they single handedly changed the industry.

If I had read this back then I think PS1 would have been my system of choice.

32bit era was exciting

[ojideagu]

@msimplay Yeh man, that's why I used to buy edge magazine! I was obsessed

with all the new machines coming out lol they had all the best speculation. The PS1, Saturn, Nintendo "Ultra 64", Sega 32x Atari Jaguar, 3DO, Amiga32 etc Ha I was always dreaming of getting one of these consoles each issue. The 32-64bit area was so fascinating and most exciting, it was the battle for the future.

I loved my Snes and Megadrive but I was always after arcade quality stuff lol I also had the first Pentium PC.

[msimplay]

@ojideagu Saturn was my System of choice back then just because Nintendo took too long with the N64 they completely missed the game. Mario 64 and Zelda are cool and everything but it had next to no games that were important to me like Street Fighter , Daytona USA Tekken , Virtua Fighter. I was completely mad on fighters back then and N64 had nothing worth playing on it in fact all fighters 3d or otherwise looked much worse than those on the 32bit systems.

[ojideagu]

@msimplay Funny thing is the PS1 would have been a Nintendo Machine! But they got greedy so Sony said up yours and made the PS1 and Nintendo made the N64 later. The N64 I thought Mario was amazing when it came out, and Golden eye and some sport games. But its 3D fighters were terrible, I don't think I ever got one for it. I also was massive on street fighter so got a cheap Saturn for the best 2D fighting games

and PS1 the best 3D.

The next battle was the "128bit" Era which was also interesting

[msimplay]

@ojideagu Yeah Nintendo being greedy is why I said Sony changed the game single handedly.

32bit era was nice for me as I played a lot of Saturn in the early days and then when the Saturn died in the UK I tried a bit of imports but they were expensive so I moved onto the PS1 where most games that I wanted for Saturn came out on it and then when when PS1 and Saturn were done the N64 came in and I appreciated them all for what they were.

The last great console for me was the Dreamcast

[ojideagu]

@msimplay Yeh Nintendo were famous for being greedy and monopolising in Japan, read that Namco article! Nintendo had 95% market and controlled EVERYTHING made for the NES. Namco were it's biggest partner and Nintendo fucked them over and Namco lost in court, so had to come crawling back on their knees for a shit deal. You can imagine the shame in Japan society.

The Dreamcast was a great console but it came too early and Sega became the next Atari lol

The PS1 and N64 fought it out until the PS2

[msimplay]

@ojideagu am glad I didn't get involved with gaming politics I just played games I liked despite what system they were on =).

Nintendo are shrewd business guys but Nintendo feels nothing like they did in the Snes era which was the last great Nintendo era for me and I've kind of been resistant to Sony despite having great experiences on their consoles.

No wonder the Wii came out they could never outdo Sony in their own turf as they won so many 3rd parties over with fair business.

[msimplay]

@ojideagu Since Arcades have become second fiddle to consoles I've become a little lost =P

[elemix27]

like a g6!

[norm7446]

So you'll watch it later. Eh h.

[ScubaSteveM45]

WINNER , WINNER! (ohh noo!) WINNER , WINNER! (ohh noo!)

Rip this song to a CD for your car, you will drive fast as fuck while this song is playing.

[kinmanyuen]

apart from the horrible looking controls/feel

the graphics is good for its time.

[azshaw123]

Is this on mame and if so what version?

[lethalbullet1]

Wow... now I know the difference between the PSX and Arcade

[GamingPalooza]

I remember going to the arcade we had in my city, around 94 and seeing Ridge Racer and Daytona USA and the shit frickin blew my mind. Then I saw Virtua Cop and holy crap... man.. i loved arcades... now they are all gone.

[Carbon657]

Wow was Ridge Racer really 1993?, damn didnt realize it was quite that long ago, this game still looks really good today.

[gurney37]

Better than SNES Mario Kart?

[HEMIpoweredherochao]

If there's any old school gamers out there, they would have noticed that this track is exactly like the pole position track.

[gmmatthew1]

@HEMIpoweredherochao Actually, it's not. The Pole Position track is Fuji Speedway, which is hard right, easy left, medium right, hairpin left, long medium right. Very different to the Ridge Racer track.

Both were great games, though.

[alejo070784]

ten years ago i made 1'07" record lap and record track too in manual, lol would like to race again that machine. miss that days

[fandeconsoles]

very good

[ccalvinn27]

did the red car u were in say rave war on the back? ROFL... i have this game for my ps2 ;D its the bomb.

[yotubefan34]

i never did beat the black car but i have a tip, when he passes you and the yellow car \, he will go aroun the track and try to overlap you, but it will say you're in 2nd or 1st place (depending if you're beating the yelow car or not) good luck everyone! ;)

[SPS148669]

Blows away the in-cartridge 3D chips that the SNES/Genesis systems had at the time.

[ojideagu]

@SPS148669 Let's compare the cost back then.: SNES and SFX chip $250. Ridge Racer arcade machine $30,000

So you'd be pretty worried if it WASN'T a lot better then home consoles.

[darknight068]

@SPS148669 Of course it did, it's an arcade machine.

[s1bz3r0]

Omg i remember this!!!

I remember my brother racing to beat the black car.

He did it once,

And said he would never do it again.

Took him weeks.

[kinmanyuen]

ey pretty nice for 1993 (yeh house pumpin music :-p)

[supercoolstartrek]

i still havent seen anyone beat the black car

[yunova]

i did and i hit the helicopter in the air while doing it

[supercoolstartrek]

lmao

[nooblet911]

are those textures filtered? arcade games were really sooo much better than console ports in those times!

[skeleton081983]

No textures filtered! Arcade version of Ridge Racer working @ 640x480 resolution with 60fps with higher resolution textures as PSX version working @ 320x240 resolution with 30fps and lower resolution textures!

[nooblet911]

so no bilinear filtering? well, it was impressive anyway

[YuzoTibi]

Sega Model 2 was the first arcade hardware which offered texture filtering. I remember playing Daytona USA and Sega Rally 1. Very impressive for it's time. Especially with the solid 60 FPS! :-)

[porcorosso81]

Model 2 didn't have any texture filtering. Must be a figment of your imagination.

[ojideagu]

@skeleton081983 Yes but how much was this Arcade compared to a PS1? This machine when it first came out was about $15,000 compared to $500 for a PS1.

[ojideagu]

@nooblet911 That's because the arcades cost about 20 times as much as the console back then! These days arcade hardware is pretty much the same as your home pc.

[blakegriplingph]

@nooblet911 - And they're not affine either, the PSX version suffered from texture warping as it doesn't have the hardware to straighten the textures up.

[lalagabor]

I have the emulator but where cna i get th rom???

[cirssdj]

fuuu las musicas del ridge racer, vaya tela, la medre k lo pario

[Trance88]

I've never played this racing game but it does look really good for 1993.

[mvbl]

what version of vivanonno are you using ? I thought RR1 wasn't emulated on it. and seeing on yout video, there's not any glitch or flaw.

[asasega]

you must rename the files from RR rom to match the names requierd by vivanono

[MaesterNekron]

I never played this in the arcade, but watching this brought back so many good memories! This was my first PSOne game!

[YouFucked2]

thaught this game came out in 1994 0r 95

[skeleton081983]

This game came out in late 1994 (Japan) and 1995 (US & Europe) for home console Sony Playstation.

The original arcade version came out in October 1993.

[Rosiebabi123]

Do you have both arcade perfect version of Soul Edge & Soul Edge Ver. II?

[auxiliaryoverdrive]

I really want this to go in my Rave Racer cab, such a classic!

[supadupakoopa]

Amazing graphics for 1993

[turbografx]

Yes. Although Namco made the Ridge Racer game, the graphics technology on the System 22 arcade board is from Evans & Sutherland, the company that basicly invented realtime computer graphics in the 1970s. the only company that did the same things in the 1960s was General Electric Aerospace who later helped SEGA on the MODEL 1 board that powered Virtua Racing, and, under Martin Marietta, the MODEL 2 board that powered Daytona USA.

[blakegriplingph]

@supadupakoopa - Ditto on that, considering the fact that Doom and a few other games used 2.5D and various other tricks just to give the impression of a 3D environment, while this one is in full 3D.