Ridge Racer is a classic arcade racing game, developed and distributed by Namco in 1993. It uses the Namco System 22 arcade board and is notable for being the first arcade videogame to use texture-mapped 3D graphics.

Ridge Racer was a big hit when it first came out, and it also went on to make waves on Sony‘s new (at the time) console, the PlayStation.

Unlike in the PlayStation version, in the arcade version of Ridge Racer the view is strictly first-person, out-of-the-cockpit, and there is no third-person camera view. So, for those who are looking for that “switch view” button, you can stop now because there isn’t one! 🙂

The original Ridge Racer offers four course configurations (the same course, but with different bits in and out of use), at Novice, Intermediate, T.T. (Time Trials) and Advanced ratings.

The original arcade Ridge Racer still gives a great game today, and many racing game fans still play it religiously. A sequel, Ridge Racer 2, came out in 1994. And a second sequel, called Rave Racer, was released in 1995. Rave Racer was first game in the series to offer a third-person view of the race.

More: Ridge Racer on Wikipedia