Pros: Speedy frame rate; decent music; great arcade racing control
Cons: Not a lot of detail; engine sounds a bit muffled; only three tracks
The bottom line: Ridge Racer comes to the Nintendo 64 with surprisingly good results. Even though the game was not programmed by Namco, it's still got that all-important Ridge Racer feel.
Ridge Racer is a franchise that is most associated with Sony and its PlayStation consoles. Namco readied the first Ridge Racer title for the PlayStation launch back in 1995, and has delivered three more Ridge Racer games for the PlayStation (Ridge Racer Revolution - 1996; Rage Racer - 1997; Ridge Racer Type 4 - 1999) and one Ridge Racer title for the PlayStation 2 (Ridge Racer V - 2000). When Nintendo had announced that it had secured the Ridge Racer license and was programming the game without Namco's help, I was pretty skeptical. After all, just the very thought of a Ridge Racer game on a non-Sony console just didn't seem right, and the fact that Nintendo was developing the game in-house didn't impress me. After playing the game, however, I can honestly say that while Ridge Racer 64 isn't perfect, it's a really good game on its own merits and delivers the Ridge Racer experience to Nintendo 64 owners.

Ridge Racer 64 may not look as sharp as its PlayStation Ridge Racer cousins, but its frame rate is a bit faster and accelerates the sensation of speed to a level second only to which Nintendo's other big racing title, F-Zero X, can boast. The cars don't start out remarkably fast, but as you progress through the game and earn more cars, the sense of speed is awesome. There's some fuzziness here and there, and there's not a ton of detail, but I'm guessing that excessive detail was left out in order to bump up the frame rate. That's not to say that the game looks bad, because it certainly doesn't... it's just not as striking as it could have been.

Great techno music has been a cornerstone of the Ridge Racer series, and Ridge Racer 64 does a decent job with some catchy techno tracks of its own. While the music isn't quite as catchy as in Namco's own Ridge Racer titles (Ridge Racer and Ridge Racer Revolution, in particular), there are a few tracks that most Ridge Racer fans will enjoy. The other sound effects are lacking, however. The engine hum is fairly quiet and non-distinguished, and collisions just don't sound right. Other ambient sounds, including the omnipresent helicopter and jet engines, don't have a lot of gusto behind them either. The music really takes center stage, although the (very annoying) announcer can easily be heard.

How does Ridge Racer 64 play? It's obvious that Nintendo did their homework, because Ridge Racer 64 feels almost exactly like a Ridge Racer title. In fact, the AI (Artificial Intelligence) of the other racers on each track is notably higher than in any of the PlayStation titles. Powersliding is easy to pull off, and that's a good thing, because in order to progress deeply into Ridge Racer 64, you're going to need to learn how to do it. The controls are solid, although Nintendo's special adjustments for collisions and drifting may take some getting used to if you select the Ridge Racer 64-specific options. Still, once you put in just a little bit of time and learn the basics, Ridge Racer 64 is at least as much fun as Namco's own Ridge Racer titles. The game also has a decent amount of replay value thanks to its tiered Grand Prix mode and the new Car Attack mode, in which you need to earn each new car that you get in your garage. Gamers will keep playing until they unlock all of the cars and all of the tracks, which takes a considerable amount of time. The replay value is, however, somewhat tempered by the relatively small number of tracks to race on. While tried-and-true Ridge Racer fans are accustomed to this argument by now, there are a number of racing fans who haven't played a Ridge Racer game and therefore may be turned off a bit by that fact.

Ridge Racer 64 certainly surprised me, and it may surprise you, as well. If you didn't know any better, you'd swear that Namco was behind this project all along, and that's exactly what Nintendo wants you to think. Ridge Racer 64 puts the Cruis'n series to shame and even beats out the San Francisco Rush series as far as arcade racing quality goes. In the end, it's a tight race between Ridge Racer 64 and F-Zero X for the Nintendo 64 arcade racing flag... the good news is that since both games are generally priced at $20 or less at many retailers now, you shouldn't have to choose. Just buy them both!