Ridge Racer was a massive success on PlayStation, and Namco were not very interested in the N64. Instead of working on an N64 version of Ridge Racer, they allowed Nintendo to develop and publish their own Ridge Racer game, a task handed to one of Nintendo’s new American teams, Nintendo Software Technology, known for Mario Vs Donkey Kong, Wave Race: Blue Storm, and the cancelled Project H.A.M.M.E.R.

One thing the team nailed was the feeling and aesthetics of Ridge Racer. There’s no attempt to put a Nintendo flair or spin, no use of Nintendo’s character. Instead, there’s a load of Namco easter eggs, and overall a game that you would never guess that Nintendo made themselves. It works extremely well for this game, something that was clearly the plan, as the box downplays Nintendo’s involvement.

Ridge Racer 64 is heavily based on the first two games in the series (the popular Ridge Racer Type 4 was already out on PlayStation). The one thing I really dislike is the style of game this is, with it being a “enemies are ahead and you have to catch up”. This one is especially odd as all the racers start at the start line, they just impossibly zoom off to get into position. I managed to win some races easily, while others I was stuck in 12th the whole time, I could never figure out why this happened.

That said, the actual racing feels amazing. The cars are incredibly smooth to control, and drifting – which is something I understand to be an important part of the franchise – is an absolute joy. While you can pick drifting methods from Ridge Racer or Ridge Racer Revolution, the default is its own drifting method. You can drift for an immensely long time, doing 360 degree spins as you do. It plays wonderfully.

But Ridge Racer 64 has another big weakness: the tracks. The three tracks are great, but there are only three. There are slight variations, but they don’t feel different enough. To make matters worse, two of the tracks are from previous games, so there’s only one new track in the game. They do look amazing, and free from fog and pop-in, it just isn’t enough.

With the options to have regular races and some more tracks, I would love this. The actual racing is amazing, it’s just a shame there’s not a lot around it.

Fun

All that really matters is that Ridge Racer 64 is one of the fastest, most technically accomplished and downright gorgeous racers ever to grace the N64. Fledgling codeshop NSTC can be chalked up next to Acclaim, Rare and Nintendo themselves on the list of developers who can delve into the N64’s innards, poke about with their special programming contraptions, and produce some truly staggering results.

Mark Green, N64 Magazine #40. Review Score: 91%

Remake or remaster?

The game got a remake on DS, but a remaster/sequel with some additional racing modes and tracks would be lovely to see.

Official ways to get the game.

There’s no official way to get Ridge Racer 64.