Ridge Racer V: The Ultimate Christmas Wish
One gamer reflects on his desire for the ultimate car racing game.
As the Christmas season rapidly approaches, many are making their wish lists and dreaming of the perfect gifts to receive. However, for some, the gift-receiving aspect of Christmas is not what it used to be. Such is the case for one individual who feels that he has everything he could reasonably want. However, there is still one thing that he would ask Santa for if he could make his wildest dreams come true: a new Ridge Racer game.
This plea comes from an individual who has been yearning for a new Ridge Racer game for more than a decade. The last main entry in the Namco arcade racing franchise was released in 2011 for the PlayStation Vita, which was personally a devastating loss. The individual reminisces over the days when playing Ridge Racer on his favorite system, the PlayStation Vita, which has since been retired but never forgotten.
Having contemplated the idea of a new Ridge Racer for years, the individual has even gone as far as creating UI mockups and artistic box designs for an audience of no one. Recently, while reflecting on his desires for the perfect Ridge Racer game, the individual turned on his PS3 for the first time in months and reached for Ridge Racer V, a game that he considers “perfect.”
For those unfamiliar with the series, Ridge Racer is centered around sanctioned street racing that is far from realistic, based on drifting across wide roads over cities and scenic mountain passes. The franchise is known for its technical feats, especially during its prime, which the individual defines as the late PS1 to PS2 era. The launch title for the original PlayStation offered an experience that, at least at the time, was considered close enough to arcade perfection that it dominated the competition.
As the Ridge Racer series evolved with each new installment, the ambition of its game design grew. The individual reflects on the evolution of the series over the years, emphasizing that Ridge Racer V was arguably the zenith of the arcade racing genre. Although it may have felt smaller than its predecessor, Ridge Racer V made up for it with a massive investment in detail, developing a fictional location that revealed new paths, took players up mountains, across rivers, and roads with unparalleled enthusiasm and attention to detail.
The individual also praises Ridge Racer V for the way it handles. Featuring a main roster of just six cars, each with unique characteristics and handling, the game offered an experience that was unmatched by its predecessors and successors. The variety and personality of Ridge Racer V’s cars added a layer of authenticity to the game that the individual found to be immensely enjoyable.
The individual goes on to critique the subsequent portable entries of the Ridge Racer series, which reused a lot of content from previous games and failed to improve on their shortcomings. It became clear that as arcade racing fell out of favor with mainstream gamers, publishers like Namco saw diminishing returns from investing in these types of games. However, the individual remains hopeful for the return of Ridge Racer, emphasizing the need for a new installment that draws inspiration from the right places and truly captures what made the original games special.
In conclusion, the individual acknowledges that in a gaming landscape saturated with derivative titles, open-world experiences, and an emphasis on maintaining high monthly active users, the need for a new Ridge Racer game feels more urgent than ever. He ends his call with a plea to whoever has the ultimate task of bringing Ridge Racer back to life, hoping it will be a true return to form that captures the essence of what made the series so unique.
The individual’s plea for a new Ridge Racer game is one shared by many retro game fans and enthusiasts of the arcade racing genre. As we enter the Christmas season, it’s a reminder of the power of nostalgia and the impact that beloved games can have on our lives. For this individual, a new Ridge Racer game would be the ultimate Christmas gift, a chance to relive the excitement of arcade racing and experience the thrill of the series once again. Whether or not his wish will come true remains to be seen, but one thing is for certain: the desire for Ridge Racer lives on, and the hope for a new installment burns brighter than ever.
