Ridge Racer

Ridge Racer was among the launch titles of the European and North American PlayStation and became one of the key proofs that the new console could bring arcade racing home in almost arcade-level quality. It's a direct port of Namco's successful arcade cabinet, in which the player races on closed, looping tracks inspired by coastal landscapes and tries to master the signature drifting driving style that became characteristic of the series. Rather than a simulation, the game offered a purely arcade experience built on speed, flashy drifting, and easy-to-grasp controls, with the gradual unlocking of faster cars for race wins giving the player a clear sense of progress.

Technically, at the time of release it was one of the most impressive showcases of the PlayStation's graphical power — smooth 3D graphics, textured tracks, and speed rarely seen before on home consoles, bringing home play far closer to the arcade experience than anything on the previous generation of systems. The soundtrack combined electronic and dance music, which became an inseparable part of the atmosphere of the entire series. By today's standards, the game's content was modest, with a small number of tracks and cars, but its replayability rested on the pursuit of better times and unlocking faster cars, which kept motivating players to come back again and again.

Contemporary critics received the game enthusiastically, and Ridge Racer became one of the titles that, in the eyes of the public, defined the early PlayStation as a platform capable of competing with arcade cabinets. It launched a long series of sequels spanning several console generations, and its influence on nineties arcade racing games was significant. Even today it is remembered as a symbol of the technological leap the PlayStation brought compared to the previous console generation, and as a game that made many players buy the new system in the first place.

Why play it: For its arcade pacing and the technological leap that made many players buy the new system in the first place — a title that defined the early PlayStation.