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Ridge Racer 2; one part sequel, one part remake, one part arcade exclusive, one part Sega "beating" arcade racing game

VGEsoterica

Member
The 90s, if you weren't there, were an awesome time in gaming. 3D was just hitting its stride and arcade hardware would BLOW console hardware out of the water for years to come. But the best part? Sega and Namco and their war to have the best looking and best selling arcade racing games on the market. It was a rivalry and the ultimate winner were fans of arcade racing games.

Sega has Daytona? Namco goes and makes Ridge Racer! Sega has Daytona 2? Namco has Ridge Racer 2! They volleyed the ball back and forth across the net trying to one up each other with a "better" racing game that looked better than the competition...both using hardware developed by military contractors to push polygons. It was a literal arms race because it was made by arms manufacturers / developers.

Ridge Racer 2 is an interesting one...one part sequel to the OG Ridge Racer and one part remake. But damn is it still one of the best pure arcade racing experiences ever made

But GAF...what is your fav arcade racer? No Gran Turismo either...too sim!

 

ManaByte

Member
ridge-ridge-racer.gif
 

SkylineRKR

Member
Daytona 2 obviously, and here is my best time on Beginner, with USB Saturn pad btw:

nQKxi9c.jpg


I could never best that fucking 16 lap I did.
I always preferred Rave Racer compared to Ridge Racer 2, though it glad it's soundtrack made its way to Ridge Racer Revolution. Still gutted Rave never got a home port but at least we got Rage Racer instead.

Rave Racer is actually the latest Arcade game I have played this year. There was this retro expo going on, with a few dozen classic arcade cabs ranging from Donkey Kong to Daytona and Rave Racer. Daytona P1 was broken (the car was a ghost, lacked graphics) but Rave was fine. I beat the game on manual transmission by powersliding. Others didn't understand what I did.
 
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VGEsoterica

Member
Daytona 2 obviously, and here is my best time on Beginner, with USB Saturn pad btw:

nQKxi9c.jpg


I could never best that fucking 16 lap I did.


Rave Racer is actually the latest Arcade game I have played this year. There was this retro expo going on, with a few dozen classic arcade cabs ranging from Donkey Kong to Daytona and Rave Racer. Daytona P1 was broken (the car was a ghost, lacked graphics) but Rave was fine. I beat the game on manual transmission by powersliding. Others didn't understand what I did.
funny was just playing that yesterday
 

lem0n

Member
Old racing game thread? I've found my home!

My favorite arcade racer from this time is probably Need For Speed II SE. Many, many hours spent on that one.

More recently though I have been playing NTSC-J racers from the same era, and the one that's stuck with me is Touge Max G. If you're at all into 90s JDM tuning car culture this is a MUST play. Doesn't hurt that the controls are hyper arcadey and very slick.

 
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VGEsoterica

Member
Old racing game thread? I've found my home!

My favorite arcade racer from this time is probably Need For Speed II SE. Many, many hours spent on that one.

More recently though I have been playing NTSC-J racers from the same era, and the one that's stuck with me is Togue Max G. If you're at all into 90s JDM tuning car culture this is a MUST play. Doesn't hurt that the controls are hyper arcadey and very slick.


hell yeah!

would you believe in the last week I have played every 3D Sega arcade racing game ever made...just cause? lol
 

coffinbirth

Member
I cut my racing game teeth on Rad Racer, but my favorite arcade(ish) racer from the 90's is probably still Sega Rally Championship for Saturn. Just loved the hell outta that one back in the day. Extreme-G was pretty fun too, though that's kinda a different thing.

I obviously loved the Ridge Racer games back then too, but it's unpopular opinion time...anyone remember Ridge Racer Unbounded? Got shit reviews and everyone seemed to hate it, but I loved it! It was basically Ridge Racer by way of Burnout 3. Developed by Bugbear, the Flatout and Wreckfest guys. Goooood stuff.
Gutted it never made it to BC on Xbox, but I'll probably have to double dip and grab the pc version before too long.
A really fun racer that more people should check out!

 

Esca

Member
One of the local arcades at the time had a 12 machine Daytona setup that was amazing with everyone right there and racing together. Spent lots of time and money lol
 

VGEsoterica

Member
I cut my racing game teeth on Rad Racer, but my favorite arcade(ish) racer from the 90's is probably still Sega Rally Championship for Saturn. Just loved the hell outta that one back in the day. Extreme-G was pretty fun too, though that's kinda a different thing.

I obviously loved the Ridge Racer games back then too, but it's unpopular opinion time...anyone remember Ridge Racer Unbounded? Got shit reviews and everyone seemed to hate it, but I loved it! It was basically Ridge Racer by way of Burnout 3. Developed by Bugbear, the Flatout and Wreckfest guys. Goooood stuff.
Gutted it never made it to BC on Xbox, but I'll probably have to double dip and grab the pc version before too long.
A really fun racer that more people should check out!


There’s a game I’ve never tried. Sounds like I should eh?
 

Caio

Member
I played to death Ridge Racer and RR Revolution in Link with two playstation and two TVs with all my friends, what a memory, some of my best gaming time ever. Same for Tekken and Tekken2, I feel nostalgic...really nostalgic.
 

lem0n

Member
Loved Ridge Racer. Especially Type 4, what an incredible game.

Drifting is fantastic, the most satisfying drifting I remember, and that is partially cause when you drift you have massive turn help based on the circuit shape
On top of how incredibly good the game was, it just had so much style. It still does, really.
 
First of all OP, if you knew your real Japanese history and fought your giant enemy crabs, hitting their weak points for massive damage might I add, you'd know that the race you are referring to was really a race to the bottom which would backfire on Sega and wouldn't have too much impact on nacmo because they didn't overspend as much and their console hardware was much more successful making much more money as a result.

I was impressed by VF3 and Scud Race but knew it would only be a year or two before we saw those graphics on a home device, whether a console or PC, and it ended up being both at the same time in the same year. That couldn't have possibly been worth the investment, and model 3 games were basically pushed to the side for Midway and Namco games, and then later Naomi games by Sega itself.

Daytona 2 is on Steam?!?!?!?!?

Probably an emulator.

Hydro Thunder.

I loved Ridge, Daytona, Super GT, Sega Rally, etc…but Hydro Thunder was the shit.

Artic Thunder was also cool.

San Francisco Rush wouldve bene great if it was 60fps.
 

VGEsoterica

Member
First of all OP, if you knew your real Japanese history and fought your giant enemy crabs, hitting their weak points for massive damage might I add, you'd know that the race you are referring to was really a race to the bottom which would backfire on Sega and wouldn't have too much impact on nacmo because they didn't overspend as much and their console hardware was much more successful making much more money as a result.

I was impressed by VF3 and Scud Race but knew it would only be a year or two before we saw those graphics on a home device, whether a console or PC, and it ended up being both at the same time in the same year. That couldn't have possibly been worth the investment, and model 3 games were basically pushed to the side for Midway and Namco games, and then later Naomi games by Sega itself.



Probably an emulator.



Artic Thunder was also cool.

San Francisco Rush wouldve bene great if it was 60fps.
Crabs?
 
As much as I enjoy the the Ridge Racer series (especially 6/7 on the PS360), my heart and soul belong to Daytona USA 2 and Scud Race/ Sega Super GT.
Drifting around the bio-dome, amusement park, and city with that cheesy yet exhilarating soundtrack thumping in the arcade cab is unforgettable!

 

93xfan

Banned
Loved the first 3 Ridge Racers on PS1. The world felt alive and the music was awesome.

Really want a collection of 90s home and arcade ridge racer games.
 

SkylineRKR

Member
I cut my racing game teeth on Rad Racer, but my favorite arcade(ish) racer from the 90's is probably still Sega Rally Championship for Saturn. Just loved the hell outta that one back in the day. Extreme-G was pretty fun too, though that's kinda a different thing.

I obviously loved the Ridge Racer games back then too, but it's unpopular opinion time...anyone remember Ridge Racer Unbounded? Got shit reviews and everyone seemed to hate it, but I loved it! It was basically Ridge Racer by way of Burnout 3. Developed by Bugbear, the Flatout and Wreckfest guys. Goooood stuff.
Gutted it never made it to BC on Xbox, but I'll probably have to double dip and grab the pc version before too long.
A really fun racer that more people should check out!



The game got slammed for not being a true RR game which is true but Unbounded isn't bad. I would probably buy a 60fps remaster. The music, sense of speed and thrills were pretty good.
 
Besides the ones already named, the ones from the golden age, Burnout 2 is a favorite of mine. It's often overshadowed by 3 and Revenge, but those games became more about aggression and take downs and I didn't like it.
Burnout 2 was all about not crashing, going fast so you can fill a bar to go even faster as long as you can, and drifting around huge bends.

(excuse the potato resolution but this shows how pure the arcade gameplay is)


Daytona 2 obviously, and here is my best time on Beginner, with USB Saturn pad btw:

nQKxi9c.jpg


I could never best that fucking 16 lap I did.


Rave Racer is actually the latest Arcade game I have played this year. There was this retro expo going on, with a few dozen classic arcade cabs ranging from Donkey Kong to Daytona and Rave Racer. Daytona P1 was broken (the car was a ghost, lacked graphics) but Rave was fine. I beat the game on manual transmission by powersliding. Others didn't understand what I did.
As much as I enjoy the the Ridge Racer series (especially 6/7 on the PS360), my heart and soul belong to Daytona USA 2 and Scud Race/ Sega Super GT.
Drifting around the bio-dome, amusement park, and city with that cheesy yet exhilarating soundtrack thumping in the arcade cab is unforgettable!


Same. I love Ridge Racer as well but it's a totally different experience from Sega's Racers. Ridge Racer is ice cool, Sega's Racers are burning hot. There's just this sterility to Ridge Racer that can't match Daytona or Scud Race's high energy feeling from the hype music to the car trunk rumbling to the crazy and color trackside scenery. And the physics are just so much better in Sega's games, especially Daytona 2.
 
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Rat Rage

Member
Old racing game thread? I've found my home!

My favorite arcade racer from this time is probably Need For Speed II SE. Many, many hours spent on that one.

More recently though I have been playing NTSC-J racers from the same era, and the one that's stuck with me is Touge Max G. If you're at all into 90s JDM tuning car culture this is a MUST play. Doesn't hurt that the controls are hyper arcadey and very slick.



Dude thanks. Never heard of that one before. It looks nice.
 

SegaManAU

Gold Member
Daytona USA is my GOAT. So many hours were spent on it and I still love it to this day. So much that I own the arcade cabinet.
 

RAIDEN1

Member
To this day it remains a mystery why Sega never thought about porting Daytona 2 to the home-consoles...by 2005/2006 home console tech could have easily given a good rendition of the 1998 arcade game, but for some reason Sega chose not to bring the battle on the edge home....this also can be filed against why Virtua Fighter 3 remains a Dreamcast exclusive to this day...
 
It's been 15 years since Ridge Racer 7 came out on the PS3.

This was one of my all-time favorite series. Can't believe Namco hasn't done a proper RR8 title yet. What gives?
I remember RR7 was one of the first games on the PS3. Its graphics blew me away at 1080p mode. RR games use to be early graphic showcase for playstation every gen, sad they stopped.

 

Melchiah

Member
Favorite arcade racers:
  • WipEout HD+Fury / Omega Collection
  • SSX (the original; the rest never reached its heights, and missed close-up and bird's-eye views)
  • Driveclub
  • Stunt Car Racer (Amiga)
  • Racing Destruction Set (C64; the track editor was a revelation back then)
 

H4ze

Member
Ridge Racer 1 will always have me nostalgic af. It's such a great game I go back to every once in a while, hiding my manchild tears while feeling like a kid again.
 

Futaleufu

Member
I'm probably the only one who likes Cisco Heat, too bad its still unplayable on MAME.
 
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s-bojan

Banned
I always preferred Rave Racer compared to Ridge Racer 2, though it glad it's soundtrack made its way to Ridge Racer Revolution. Still gutted Rave never got a home port but at least we got Rage Racer instead.
I've been playing Rave Racer for the past few days (played it first in the arcade during a vacation in 96).
65 oled screen + MAME + thrustmaster t300 (force feedback is working via FFB Arcade Plugin) = nirvana
 

Drew1440

Member
I've been playing Rave Racer for the past few days (played it first in the arcade during a vacation in 96).
65 oled screen + MAME + thrustmaster t300 (force feedback is working via FFB Arcade Plugin) = nirvana
There's a build of Mame that's capable of emulating the network link functionality somewhat, in that upto two players can play on one machine.



I believe Ridge Racer 2 link also works, and Ace Driver is being worked on.

More information
 

s-bojan

Banned
I think that FF support is a requirement if you are planning on using a wheel in Rave Racer.
I've spent 2 days trying to setup the wheel and it was just off - even after trying all emu/game control adjustments, deadzones were still wrong.
It all changed after I've started using FFB Arcade Plugin. Just reverted everything to the default and it was behaving as expected.

I am not sure if arcade RR2 had FF support, it also has deadzones issue (which I was unable to fix) on my wheel.
 
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