Ridge Racer (リッジレーサー?) is a series of racing video games developed by Namco for arcades, home consoles and mobile phones. Since the release of Ridge Racer in 1993, the series has since received numerous sequels and spin-offs, and is regarded as one of the most influential racing game franchises of all time, as the series introduced numerous gameplay mechanics such as drifting.
Gameplay[]
In most games in the series, players take control of a race car, in an attempt to overtake other opponents and win the race. The player can drift around corners to gain as much speed as possible, and to avoid crashing into walls. Most games also have a time limit for how long the player has to win the race, and the race will be over should that timer be up.
The cars are decorated with fictional companies, with names being taken from Namco video games and characters. Additionally, the series features numerous racing teams inspired by other Namco arcade games, such as Dig Dug, Pac-Man, Xevious and Mappy.
The series takes place in the fictional "Ridge City", with courses being set in beaches, mountains, forests and cities. Newer games in the series include many courses from older games, notably Ridge Racer and Ridge Racer 2, albeit with minor changes. The official mascot for the series is Reiko Nagase, who has appeared in nearly every game in the series, starting with the arcade game Rave Racer.
Series[]
Arcade games[]
- Ridge Racer (1993)
- Ridge Racer 2 (1994)
- Rave Racer (1995)
- Pocket Racer (1996)
- Ridge Racer V Arcade Battle (2001)
- Pachi-slot Ridge Racer (2008) - Pachinko game.
- Pachi-slot Ridge Racer 2 (2009) - Pachinko game.
Console games[]
- Ridge Racer Revolution (1995)
- Rage Racer (1996)
- R4: Ridge Racer Type 4 (1998)
- Ridge Racer 64 (2000)
- Ridge Racer V (2000)
- R: Racing Evolution (2003) - First spin-off in the series.
- Critical Velocity (2005) - Second spin-off.
- Ridge Racer 6 (2005)
- Ridge Racer 7 (2006)
- Ridge Racer Unbounded (2012)
Handheld and mobile games[]
- Ridge Racer DS (2004) - Port of Ridge Racer 64.
- Ridge Racer (2004) - PSP game featuring cars and tracks from previous games.
- Ridge Racer Accelerated (2009)
- Yamasa Digi World: Collaboration SP Pachi-Slot Ridge Racer (2009) - Port of the pachinko game Pachi-slot Ridge Racer.
- Ridge Racer Drift (2010)
- Ridge Racer 3D (2011)
- Ridge Racer (2011) - PS Vita game.
- Ridge Racer Slipstream (2013)
- Ridge Racer Draw & Drift (2016)