| Ridge Racer | |
|---|---|
| Genres | Auto racing |
| Developers | Namco |
| Publishers | Namco |
| Platforms | Arcade, PlayStation, PlayStation 2, PlayStation 3, PSP, PlayStation Vita, Nintendo 64, GameCube, Nintendo DS, Nintendo 3DS, Xbox, Xbox 360, Mobile phones |
| Platform of origin | Arcade |
| Year of inception | 1993 |
| First release | Ridge Racer October 7, 1993 |
| Latest release | Ridge Racer Unbounded March 2, 2012 |
| Official website | www.ridgeracer.com/ |
Ridge Racer is a series of arcade racing games developed and published by Namco for both the arcade and various gaming systems. In each of the games, players race on courses set in and around the fictional Ridge City while utilizing the concepts of drift racing to quickly traverse corners.
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While there are differences amongst the various games, the basic gameplay in the Ridge Racer series has remained relatively consistent. Races take place on tracks laid out on city streets and other public roads. Starting in last place, players have a limited number of laps in which they can overtake opponents and ultimately win the race. As many of the turns on the course were not intended to be taken at race speeds, players drift through the corners, attempting to maintain as much speed as possible.
In the arcade games (and the home versions based on those games), the players also race against a timer, with time extended for each successfully-completed lap of the course. The race will end if the timer expires or the player completes the final lap of the race, whichever occurs first. In the console-exclusive versions, players must finish the race in a minimum assigned place in order to advance through the game.
Later games in the series expanded these basics by introducing cars with different drifting characteristics; some cars could be made to drift quite easily, but were more challenging to control, while other cars were harder to initiate drift yet easier to control. Another recent addition was "nitrous", which would give the player's car a short burst of additional speed and could be replenished by drifting through corners at high speeds.
The tracks in the Ridge Racer series are located in and around Ridge City, a fictional coastal metropolis. Ridge City's environs are geographically diverse, including beaches, forests, grasslands and mountains. The actual scope of Ridge City has changed over the series, with new regions and new tracks added continually. Most versions of the game incorporate the original courses from the Ridge Racer and Ridge Racer 2 arcade games. Many of the tracks in a given game share components, with sections added or removed to alter the course layout, and some games allow the courses to be run in the opposite direction.
The Ridge Racer games generally use fictional cars with styling inspired by real-life cars of the day. Later games introduced fictional auto companies that offer multiple vehicles; for example, "Kamata" is a Japanese manufacturer specializing in sport compacts, while the Italian "Assoluto" produces high-performance supercars and the American "Danver" marque makes muscle cars, trucks and SUVs. Cars in the series have taken their names and sponsors from various Namco-produced video games.
Reiko Nagase (永瀬麗子 Nagase Reiko) is the name of the series' most prominent race queen mascot. Initially appearing as an unnamed grid girl, and later in a full motion video intro for Rave Racer directed by Kei Yoshimizu from Keica,[1] the character was named officially in Rage Racer.[2][3]
In 1998's R4: Ridge Racer Type 4, she was given more prominence, as the opening animation, which used a Kimara Lovelace song, was a short story starring her,[4] and introduced a redesign to her 3D model by Kei Yoshimizu.[5] This is when Namco started giving more exposure to the character, heavily using her image to promote the game.[6][7] In the same game, she is identified as the sender of a fax mail to Pac Racing Club, an Easter egg triggered by completing a specific in-game task.
Due to her newfound popularity she went to make many appearances in games outside of the Ridge Racer series (see list below), most of them featuring her white and red outfit from the R4: Ridge Racer Type 4 promotional artwork.[8] In the year 2000 she also appeared in the Nintendo-developed Ridge Racer 64.
Namco decided to replace Reiko in 2000's Ridge Racer V with newcomer Ai Fukami (深水 藍).[9] In 2001, Namco created an image girl for their Namco Sports line named Hitomi Yoshino (吉乃ひとみ),[10] and while the Ridge Racer series doesn't belong to that line she was featured in a Ridge Racer trailer shown in the 2002 edition of the E3.[11]
Since her popularity with fans still was strong,[12] Namco decided to bring back Reiko Nagase for 2004's Ridge Racers.[13] Featuring a revamped 3D model for the introductory animation, again by Kei Yoshimizu,[5] who would also provide the reference for Reiko's appearances in Ridge Racer 6 (as shown at left), Ridge Racer 7, Ridge Racers 2 and Ridge Racer Accelerated.
Reiko is prominently featured in a Ridge Racer-themed pachislot,[14] along with a PlayStation 2 port of that machine.[15] She has also been featured in other products licensed by Namco,[16] including the first and sixth wave of Namco Gals gashapon.[17] A character named Kei Nagase, with a notable resemblance to Reiko and identified as Reiko's sister, plays a role in games in Namco's Ace Combat series.
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