| Ridge Racer V | |
|---|---|
 North American version cover art featuring race queen Ai Fukami and the Rivelta Mercurio car | |
| Developer(s) | Namco |
| Publisher(s) | Namco PlayStation 2 |
| Director(s) | Eiichi Saita |
| Producer(s) | Noriko Wada, Paul Guirao |
| Designer(s) | Eiichi Saita |
| Programmer(s) | Jun Nakagawa |
| Composer(s) | Kohta Takahashi Yuu Miyake Nobuyoshi Sano Mijk van Dijk |
| Series | Ridge Racer |
| Platform(s) | PlayStation 2 Arcade |
| Release | PlayStation 2 Arcade |
| Genre(s) | Racing |
| Mode(s) | Single-player,multiplayer |
| Arcade system | Namco System 246 |
Ridge Racer V[a] is a 2000racingvideo game developed and published byNamco for thePlayStation 2. It was released as alaunch title for the console and later followed by anarcade version subtitledArcade Battle.[2]Ridge Racer V is the fifth main title of theRidge Racer series followingR4: Ridge Racer Type 4 and the only one to be released on PlayStation 2 (excluding the spin-offR: Racing Evolution).
Moving away fromRidge Racer Type 4's approach,Ridge Racer V streamlined back to a simple racer without a story mode, set in fictional Ridge City based on circuits in and around the very first course introduced inRidge Racer.[3] Its licensed soundtrack also returns to a heavier sound, including featuringBoom Boom Satellites andMijk van Dijk alongside Namco's composerKohta Takahashi. The game also introduced a newrace queen mascot, Ai Fukami, replacing Reiko Nagase.
Ridge Racer V was the highlight of PlayStation 2's original March 2000 launch.[4] It received a positive reception for its visuals and speedy driving experience, but there was critique that it fell below expectations relative to the console's graphical assumptions, and divided critics for some elements such as its lack of content compared to its predecessor and noticeablejaggies.[5][6] However, in retrospect, it has been considered one of the greatest arcade-style racers of all time, with praise given to its handling, environments, and challenge.[3][7][8]
InRidge Racer V the player is a racing driver taking part in events across Ridge City in a variety of fictional cars. As with previousRidge Racer games, the focus is on accessible and fundrift racing rather than simulating how a car behaves in the real world; as such the player is encouraged to powerslide around most corners by tapping the brake when entering the turn. There are a total of fourteen courses in Ridge City, and visual filters can be applied to change the appearance.[9] Sunny Beach and Green Field are the new names for Seaside Route 765 and Ridge City Highway respectively from the firstRidge Racer game.Ridge Racer V introduces five all new fictional vehicle manufactuers: Kamata, Danver, Rivelta, Himmel, and Soldat.[10]
Racing onRRV is divided into different race formats. The primary mode is Grand Prix, a series of structured championships where the player races against 14 rivals across three laps in every track, including reversed courses. The completion of every Grand Prix which rewards the player with new cars.[11] Other modes includeTime Attack, a long distanceendurance race called the 99 Trial, consisting of ninety-nine laps in the Sunny Beach course, and free runs on any of the unlocked courses. Two players can also take part in a split-screen race against one another. The time of day can also be chosen for most courses outside of the Grand Prix.
A special race is unlocked after the player fulfills certain requirements: it features the arcade game charactersPac-Man in aroadster andBlinky, Pinky, Inky and Clyde onscooters. Winning this race unlocks special duel class cars for use in other game modes. Duel class cars can be won by defeating bosses in the game's Duel mode after fulfilling certain requirements. After all four bosses are defeated in Duel mode, Battle Royale is unlocked, allow the player to choose any duel class cars and challenge all four bosses in a boss rush race (including ones the player have selected).[12]
Ai Fukami[13] serves as the game's mascot girl, replacingReiko Nagase.[9] The game features a fictitious radio station, Ridge City FM (frequency76.5 MHz), providing music and commentary.[14]
WithRidge Racer V, Namco went back to basics like the originalRidge Racer,Ridge Racer 2 andRave Racer were. The decision for the single city setting was taken near the beginning of development. The member in charge has cited the 1959 filmJazz on a Summer's Day as a sort of inspiration for the in-game starting camera, as well as the direction that would lead to the fictional Ridge City FM. He created it this way so that players would also be "buying the city".[15] Ridge City's design elements consist of road tunnels and overpasses,monorail overpasses, intersections, views of the sea beyond the buildings, a setting sun during dusk, and reflecting lights during nighttime.[16] Some parts of the city have a more foresty environment. The appearance and sounds of airplanes andseagulls were also added to create the city's "atmosphere" on a human level.[17] The car engine sounds were recorded on a real circuit, including some of the development staff's own vehicles.[11] Ken Ayugai provided the voiceover for Ridge City FM which is entirely in English.[18]
The opening intro movie, featuring Ai Fukami, is generated in real-time rather than the pre-renderedFMV in previousRidge Racer titles. It was designed to have "wild" or "edgy" connotations and it was at this stage where the Ai character was developed.[19]Ridge Racer V was the first home console game in the series to run at 60frames per second.[20] The game's lead programmer commented that the team wanted to utiliseanti-aliasing "but due to various contraints we weren't able to do it as we had hoped." He further stated that designing the game was a challenge, partly due to Sony's development tools not having been completed whileRidge Racer V was in production.[11] One staff member commented that the game had constant problems and bugs during development and that pressure was high to finish the game in time. By the end of development there had been 55 members working on it.[21]
The game was conceived in 1999 with the aim to launch together with Sony's next generation system. Because the team did not know when the PlayStation 2 was going to come out, the schedule was changed numerous times and there were doubts that they could complete the game in time. Proposed names includedRidge Racer 2000 andR5.[22] Core development started around May 1999.[23]Ridge Racer V was revealed and demoed by Namco at theTokyo Game Show in September 1999, at the same unveiling of PlayStation 2, but unlike Namco'sTekken Tag Tournament it was not playable. At the event, Namco stated thatRidge Racer V would not be available at launch, instead coming out between mid and late 2000.[24] However, a month later Namco stated that it would indeed be a launch title for the PlayStation 2 on 4 March 2000.[25] Post-release, the project leader thought that he was satisfied with the final product, considering the amount of time it took.[26]
Kohta Takahashi served as the sound director and lead composer ofRidge Racer V, who was previously involved as one of the composers ofR4: Ridge Racer Type 4. To create an "exciting new experience", he brought in Japanese electronic music duoBoom Boom Satellites,Takeshi Ueda ofThe Mad Capsule Markets, and German DJMijk van Dijk, along with Namco composersNobuyoshi Sano ("sanodg"),Yuu Miyake ("U") and Yoshinori Kawamoto ("Kisaburo"), to contribute music to the game. This resulted in the game having a diverse soundtrack, including genres such astrance,death metal andbreakbeat.[27] Boom Boom Satellites's "Fogbound" is the intro music, while "On the Painted Desert" plays during the ending.[28]
Takahashi connected with external artists via Toru Nagamine of Sony Music.[29] Van Dijk felt honored to work on the game, as was already a fan of theRidge Racer series, as well asthe first game's ability to swap the music by replacing the CD in the PlayStation, where he raced to his own music tracks. To ensure that his music fit with the game, he playedR4: Ridge Racer Type 4 while composing the tracks in his studio.[30]
The officialCD soundtrack of the game was released bySony Music Entertainment Japan in March 2000 in Japan, and was also released in Europe byEpic Records. It includes all the in-game BGM tracks with the exception of Ueda's "DRFTDVL".[31] The Japanese release also lacks the opening theme "Fogbound", instead containing Van Dijk's "Burnout" which in turn does not appear on the European release by Epic.[32]
| No. | Title | Writer(s) | Length |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | "Fogbound" | Boom Boom Satellites | 5:24 |
| 2. | "HydroPrism" | U | 2:10 |
| 3. | "Euphoria" | Kohta Takahashi | 5:23 |
| 4. | "Nightride" | Mijk van Dijk | 6:13 |
| 5. | "Paris" | sanodg | 5:26 |
| 6. | "LOLO 1010" | U | 2:29 |
| 7. | "TsuiTsui" | U | 5:09 |
| 8. | "Power Slider" | Mijk van Dijk | 5:05 |
| 9. | "Junx-Interlude" | Kohta Takahashi | 0:20 |
| 10. | "RidgeCityFM" | Kohta Takahashi | 2:07 |
| 11. | "EyeCatch" | Kohta Takahashi | 0:08 |
| 12. | "Gammon" | U | 3:03 |
| 13. | "RareHero2000" | sanodg | 5:06 |
| 14. | "Electroglide" | Mijk van Dijk | 5:00 |
| 15. | "JunxEngine" | Kohta Takahashi | 0:41 |
| 16. | "Samurai Rocket" | Kohta Takahashi | 4:09 |
| 17. | "DareDevil" | Kohta Takahashi | 5:05 |
| 18. | "GripMillenium" | Kohta Takahashi | 3:10 |
| 19. | "Junx (Mijk van Dijk remix)" | Kohta Takahashi | 5:13 |
| 20. | "MotorPacCity5 (bonus track)" | Kisaburo | 5:02 |
| Total length: | 77:19 | ||
Ridge Racer V: Arcade Battle,[33] the arcade port ofRidge Racer V, was announced as the first game to run on Namco's PlayStation 2-basedNamco System 246 arcade platform in September 2000.[2] The arcade version has some features such as Duel, Free Run and Pac-Man GP removed. It was the lastRidge Racer game for arcades untilPachislot Ridge Racer, which was apachislot game released seven years later (and the last traditional racing game for that market).
In Japan,Ridge Racer V was the best-selling PlayStation 2 game in its first annual year of 2000, numbering 611,507 copies, and the 10th best-selling video game of the year on all platforms.[34] Also in Japan,Game Machine listed the arcade version in their February 1, 2001 issue as the second most-successful dedicated arcade game of the year.[35]
| Aggregator | Score |
|---|---|
| Metacritic | 78/100[36] |
| Publication | Score |
|---|---|
| AllGame |   [37] |
| CNET Gamecenter | 8/10[38] |
| Edge | 5/10[39][40] |
| Electronic Gaming Monthly | 9/10[41][b] |
| Famitsu | 36/40[42] |
| Game Informer | 7.25/10[43] |
| GameFan | (MVS) 92%[44][45] (US) 88%[46][c] (JP) 87%[47][d] |
| GamePro |  [48] |
| GameRevolution | B−[49] |
| GameSpot | 7.6/10[50] |
| GameSpy | 80%[51] |
| IGN | 8/10[52] |
| Next Generation | [53] |
| PlayStation Official Magazine – UK | 7/10[11] |
| Official U.S. PlayStation Magazine | [54] |
The PS2 version received "generally favorable reviews" according to thereview aggregation websiteMetacritic.[36] David Zdyrko ofIGN liked the return to the "basic feeling of control" as the earlier games of the series and named it "one of the most visually impressive" racing games to date, but noted the graphical aliasing and flickering problems.[52] Jeff Lundrigan ofNextGen, however, said that his quote "bears repeating: 'Like its predecessors,Ridge Racer V will amaze you with flashy graphics and a great sense of speed. Unfortunately, there's not a lot of meat under the basic shell of the game.'"[53] Andrew Reiner fromGame Informer said thatRidge Racer V would be no match toGran Turismo 2000 (which would be released asGran Turismo 3: A-Spec).[43]GamePro praised the realistic graphical appearance, music and noted that fans of the series "will love it."[48] In Japan,Famitsu gave it a score of one nine, one ten, one eight and one nine for a total of 36 out of 40.[42][55]
Daniel Griffiths fromOfficial UK PlayStation 2 Magazine praised "superb handling" and "fantastic sense of speed", giving technical critique about the jaggies and the "bad"PAL conversion, concluding that it is "a great game that is let down by overly high expectations [..] this is still the best handling, best-looking console driving game so far (untilGT3 andWipeout Fusion get it together)".[11]
In a 2002 article about the PlayStation 2,Edge usedRidge Racer V andTekken Tag Tournament as examples of "soulless and derivative" launch games that were not as innovative as was expected out of the system'sEmotion Engine.[56]
In 2023, Adam Ismail ofKotaku Australia named it the best game in the series, commenting: "In fact, it might just be the greatest pure arcade racer of all time; the one, fleeting moment where driving inRidge Racer wasn't unwieldy or mind-numbingly effortless, but just crisp, responsive and dynamic."[57]
Reiko Nagase, the fictional mascot ofRidge Racer who quickly achieved a great popularity and dedicated following in previous titles, had her role taken over by Ai Fukami inRidge Racer V, causing discontent among some fans. According toAustralian Station in 2000, "hordes of Reiko Nagase fans were up in arms over the decision to replace her, and even casual gamers have been heard to comment they 'liked the old one better'".[58]New Zealand Station told how "Ridge Racer fans across the globe were in an uproar once news of this change came to light, with Reiko Vs Ai polls featuring prominently in many fansites on the internet".[59]Official Australian PlayStation Magazine reported how one poll "has revealed 90 per cent of PlayStation owners prefer Reiko's flawless beauty to the new model".[60] In another poll that same year,IGN's "readers overwhelmingly agreed that Reiko Nagase is the trueRidge Racer babe".[61] Video game journalists also joined in, such as whenHyper rhetorically asked "how long it will be before they realise that the newRidge Racer girl sucks, and bring back Reiko. 'Attention Namco: BRING BACK REIKO!!!!'"[62] Reiko was eventually brought back inRidge Racer 6 andRidge Racer (PSP).[63] In a 2006 article discussing the "legend of Reiko Nagase",1UP.com's James Mielke wrote she "is almost as popular as the games she graces" as afterRidge Racer V "the fans welcomed their favorite race queen back with open arms. Her return made everyone feel that theRidge Racer world was once again whole".[64]
The PlayStation 2 version was a runner-up for "Racing Game of 2000" in both Editors' Choice and Readers' Choice atIGN's Best of 2000 Awards, both of which went toMidnight Club: Street Racing.[65] During the4th Annual Interactive Achievement Awards, theAcademy of Interactive Arts & Sciences nominatedRidge Racer V for the "Console Racing" award, which ultimately went toSSX.[66]
Its successor,Ridge Racer 6, was released in 2005 forXbox 360.Ridge Racer V was the series' final main title before the introduction of thenitrous mechanic.[67]
