Somewhat indiscriminately tucked into Nintendo’s recent Partner Direct, we caught the first ever announcement of Hamster Corporation’s Arcade Archives 2 release. The game in question? None other than the original arcade version of Ridge Racer. 1990s racing fans, rejoice!
The announcement is interesting for more than one reason. First, this marks the first time the original Ridge Racer has been revisited since its 1994 PlayStation port, now 31 years ago. Second, it signals Hamster Corporation’s entry into 3D emulation through the Arcade Archives series and more specifically its first step into emulating Namco’s System 22 arcade hardware.
Ridge Racer made waves in the arcade scene when it was first unveiled in 1993. With its sharp, textured 3D visuals running at a smooth 60 frames per second, it stood out against the competition and posed a serious challenge to Sega’s then dominant Virtua Racing. The game raised the bar by introducing texture mapping and fully tapping into the capabilities of the System 22 hardware. It also featured a drifting mechanic that felt fresh and unique for its time.
A year later, it made its way to PlayStation as a launch title. The success of that release helped spark a long running franchise, eventually growing to 21 titles across arcades, PlayStation and Nintendo platforms.
Now that Hamster has unlocked the ability to emulate System 22 games for its Arcade Archives 2 lineup, it raises the question of what other Namco classics might follow. A total of 18 arcade titles were released on the Motorola 68020 powered board, and we’d love to see era defining hits like Alpine Racer, Tokyo Wars and of course Ridge Racer 2 and Rave Racer find new life on Switch 2.
