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A PlayStation 1 arcade racer, supposedly one of the best for the system. The main Grand Prix mode can be beaten in about an hour as it only consists of 8 short races, however the game is replayable due to its... visual novel element? You can pick one of 4 teams to drive for in the tournament, with each one having varying budgets as well as storylines. One tournament can be the story of a low-budget team desperately trying to stay afloat, while another is about a well-established racing team whose owner turns out to have a dark past. I don't think I've played a racing game with a narrative like this before.
Yes, Ridge Racer is short but sweet. I first "completed" it all the way back in October of last year, but I kept coming back to replay it with other teams and car brands. It's just so dang good - the physics are very arcade-y and take some getting used to, but are satisfying when mastered; the graphics are great for the PS1 era, the sound is just amazing. The game clearly had a lot of effort put into it, so every minute of it is designed for maximum fun, like how the music is hand-picked for each race. I swear there is nothing quite like getting to the semi-finals on the hardest track in the game, with Kohta Takahashi's "Move Me" playing.
Video not mine. Timestamp for the semi-final race I mentioned.
The final race is a bit anti-climactic in the sense that it takes place on a much simpler track layout, but the excitement is still there, since canonically it takes place on December 31st, 1999, and upon reaching the final lap, fireworks go off and "HAPPY NEW YEAR" is displayed across all the billboards. Then the announcer has a special message for you depending on which team you pick. Sounds silly, but to me the whole atmosphere of the game felt really special. *8/10*, I'd recommend playing it at least once if you at all like racing games.
My laptop is too weak to fully emulate PS2 games (it can *just about* emulate Gran Turismo 4, but only at ~90% speed...). However, PS1 games are not a problem even for me. I've been playing around with some enhancements, namely the widescreen patch, higher render resolution, as well as PGXP which fixes "wobbliness" of geometry and texture rendering on the PS1. Don't get me wrong, the original PlayStation graphics have their own charm, but the enhancements are nice too. Sadly there is no 60 FPS patch for this game, unlike for Gran Turismo 2 (whoops, spoilers, stay *tuned* for that!)
gardenapple - 2024-02-29