Ridge Racer/Gameplay

Ridge Racer | Table of Contents | Gameplay | Walkthrough

Table of Contents

Controls

Steering Wheel: Use the joystick to steer your car just as you would with any real car; in MAME, the equivalent for it is the left and right arrow keys.
Gas Pedal: Step on the gas pedal to accelerate your car; in MAME, the equivalent is the left Ctrl key, but you may wish to change it to the up arrow.
Break Pedal: Step on the break pedal to decelerate your car; in MAME, the equivalent is the left Alt but you may wish to change to the down arrow.
Clutch Pedal: Step on this pedal to let the clutch in (or out); in MAME, the equivalent is the space bar, but you may wish to change it to the left Ctrl.
Gear Shifter: Use the gear shifter to change the gear your car is driving in; in MAME, the equivalent is the "Stick Shift" option in the "Dip Switches".

Characters

The Player's Car

This red car, which is affiliated with "Team F/A" (1992) and also sports the name "Galaxian³" (1990) on its sides, is the protagonist of the game; once the camera zooms in on it at the start of the game and changes to a first-person view, you shall not see it again until the ending sequence, given that you will be in control of it. It will always start the race in last place (as indicated by the position at the top of the screen being "13/13" until you pass one CPU-controlled opponent) - but can you drive skilfully enough to make it cross the finishing line first? There are a total of seven different CPU-controlled cars you will be racing against and they are all depicted below.

CPU-Controlled Cars

These multicoloured cars are affiliated up with "Team Gaplus" (yellow, 1984), "Team Project Dragoon" (white/orange, 1990), "Team Ridge Racer" (dark blue, 1993), "Team Cyberstation" (red/white/green), "Team Dig Dug" (light blue, 1982), "Team Mappy" (pink, 1983), and "Team Rally-X" (orange, 1980); "Cyberstation" was also not a game, but an arcade in Middletown, New York that was operated by Namco at the time (and has now been closed down).