For a game that was released as a launch title for the PlayStation, it still amazes me that Ridge Racer still holds up today since its release back in 1995. Ridge Racer was once an arcade game that was in certain arcades but later got ported to the PlayStation, yet the graphics and visuals look crystal clear on a home console.
It might not have as much content in the original game but in the later games in the series more content was added including tracks and cars. Before the likes of Gran Turismo you can really how much detail was added in for a driving game, you only had four cars to choose from with acceleration, handing, traction and maximum speed. Using the directional pad to steer and the X button to accelerate its really easy to get use to the controls within a few minutes after one lap or half way through the lap.
The main challenge goal in Ridge Racer you are allocated a certain amount of time in which to complete each race depending on what difficulty setting you have it on. Each time you pass a checkpoint you get a time extension, but if you don't finish the race before the time runs out it's game over. Simple enough and really does feel like an actual arcade game, with their only being one track in the entire game depending on what difficulty you had the game one the track will get bigger and bigger making it more challenging which is a nice touch to add in.
Other than that there isn't else much to say yet the graphics and visuals are very well detailed for a launch title from the layout track to the detailed cars. If you compare this to Daytona USA on the Sega Saturn both games look a little similar when you compare the graphics and layout designs, but Ridge Racer was still considered checking out during the time of 1995.
Another thing that was added in before you start playing Ridge Racer during the loading stage you can play Galaga which is one of Namco's earliest games that was released in arcades but later got ported into other games and collections. This is still a neat feature to added in and helped pass the time and few seconds while waiting for the game to load up if you manage to get a decent high score you can unlock some Galaga skins for each of the four cars in Ridge Racer.
You can save your replays on a memory card, apart from that there isn't else much to save about Ridge Racer there isn't any real challenge expect for trying to get the fastest time. If you are a retro gamer or collector like myself it’s still worth checking out if you manage to see this game anywhere either on the PS1 or even on the PlayStation Store which you can download it either your PS3, PSP or PS Vita. I would still be surprised within the next twenty or thirty years later people would still talk about Ridge Racer and how it made a massive impact on the launch of the PlayStation but also hard to put the game down after going around a few laps.