Ridge Racer Revolution

Ridge Racer Revolution is a direct sequel to the successful launch title Ridge Racer, expanding the original concept with new tracks, cars, and game modes. The game retains the series' characteristic arcade driving style built on long loops and flashy drifting, but adds two-way tracks, night variants of the courses, and a split-screen mode for two players, offering PlayStation owners of the time a noticeably larger portion of content than the more modest first game. It also included a Link Mode allowing two consoles to be connected via cable for real-time duels — a fairly rare and prized feature at the time.

The visuals built on the first game and improved further with smoother frame rates and more detailed environments, keeping the game a showcase for the console's capabilities. The music once again relied on electronic dance music, this time by Namco's composing team, and together with the fast pace of driving completed the signature atmosphere of the series, which became one of the recognizable hallmarks of the Ridge Racer brand as a whole. The controls remained accessible and intuitive, making the game easy to pick up quickly while still leaving room for refining drift technique and finding the fastest line on every track.

Critics praised above all the noticeably greater amount of content compared to its predecessor and the preserved quality of the driving model, which places Ridge Racer Revolution among the best-rated racing titles of the early PlayStation era. The game further cemented the series' position as one of the flagship arcade racers on the console and showed that Namco could build on a successful concept thoughtfully and without unnecessary experimentation. To this day it is regarded as a well-made, fuller expansion of the original, which many series fans rank among the very best titles on the first-generation PlayStation.

Why play it: For a noticeably larger amount of content while keeping the quality of the driving model, it ranks among the very best titles in the series on the first-generation PlayStation.