The Ridge Racer Legacy, part 13...

The world of Namco was ripe with conflict. Many players overlooked it but the Ridge Racer cars were actually covered in stickers of opposing factions. There were many purposes for the logos. Primarily they made the cars look like actual racing machines. Many actual race cars had memorable colors and patterns as the team livery, yet the most famous also prominently featured sponsor logos on the body. Even non race fans could remember that there were cars with huge Tide, STP, Red Bull or Marlboro logos placed in plain view. The sponsor logos signified the games that the Ridge Racer Project members had worked on as well as the legacy of Namco.

The stickers also served as a reminder of the wars waged away from the race tracks. Conflict and not peace were the driving forces behind every great game. Come to think of it, a well presented conflict was also the root to every great book and film as well. The most heated races, especially the 500 mile, 1000 mile and 24 hour endurance races could make drivers feel as if they had just survived a military battle. The Ridge Racer games were set on the days that there were no major conflicts in the Namco universe, which seemed few and far between. These races, like those from the classic Sega arcade racers, took place on the most utopian day ever. Yet conflict was never very far away in Namco continuity.

The largest forces in Namco continuity were reflected on many of the sponsor logos. I don't necessarily mean specific heroes and villains but rather corporate interests. These were the massive companies like G.V.I. which was featured in the previous blog. These were the companies that used race cars to make their brands seem desirable. Even the companies that were terrible villains in Namco continuity knew the power of good PR. Take Geldra for example.

The logo for the terrorist organization was featured prominently on several Ridge Racer teams over the years. The group had first appeared in the 1986 arcade hit Rolling Thunder. It was not a racing game but instead a side scrolling action-shooter. In the game special agent "Albatross" from the World Crime Police Organization was tasked with bringing down Geldra and rescuing fellow agent Leila Blitz from the clutches of their mutated leader Maboo. Geldra turned up again and again in the Rolling Thunder sequels. Each time the scale of their operations had become much grander. Expanding to every corner of the globe and even to the nearest satellites circling the Earth. Even though the game series ended in 1993 it would forever remain a part of Namco canon. I would imagine that in the unmarked warehouses and corporate towers surrounding some of the Ridge Racer courses Geldra was busy rebuilding and plotting to take over the world once more. Of course Albatross and his fellow agents would be infiltrating those locations as well.

In the real world there were corporations that used racing sponsorships to sell products or ideology that weren't necessarily healthy or beneficial for humankind. Alcohol and tobacco companies made themselves appealing by aligning themselves with popular sports and celebrities. Some people might find it questionable that recreational drugs could advertise in these venues, and specifically sticker their logos all over race cars. Yet Geldra was in a different league. They were like a multinational defense contractor putting their brand on the cars. It Lockheed Martin, Northrop Grumman, General Dynamics or Boeing advertised on a race car most people in the West might not notice or even mind. However to those living in a nation, say in the Middle East, that was negatively impacted by those defense contractors then sponsoring a race car could be seen as subversive.

In a similar fashion tech company Arkbird created the aeronautics technology, the fancy wing, spoiler and body kits featured on many Ridge Racer cars. Arkbird was also the company that created the low-orbit military platform featured in the Ace Combat series. Arkbird and Geldra were parallels to companies like Lockheed Martin or Boeing. They were not the only defense contractors parallels featured in Namco canon.

The most violent corporation with the greatest PR in the Namco world would be the Mishima Zaibatsu. That corporation sponsored the King of the Iron Fist, better known as the Tekken fighting series. The tournament brought out millions of fans and billions of virtual dollars in Namco continuity. It also brought out the greatest fighters, spies and assassins in that universe as well. In the game series fans did not necessarily fight in a competition setting, although some of the matches did take place in arenas. The majority of the conflicts were on the streets or in disputed military zones.

Mishima Zaibatsu was one of the largest, if not the largest, science, technology and military contractor in Namco continuity. Yet as powerful and influential as the corporation was they were in a constant battle from within. Three generations of the Mishima clan starting with Heihachi and going down to his son Kazuya and grandson Jin were constantly vying for control of the corporation. It would be four generations of conflict if the series producers would determine the life or death status of Heihachi's father Jinpachi. These men did not battle it out in the boardroom with lawyers, arbiters or hostile takeover attempts but instead with their actual fists.

The citizens in Tekken continuity had no idea that the wars and terrorist attacks in various regions of the planet were often the results of a single families strife. In various comics and games it was revealed that the Mishima clan surrounded themselves with political figures and corporate allies to try and distance themselves from the conflict. By advertising in popular events, including the Ridge Racer series, the Mishima Zaibatsu group made themselves appear like a defense contractor and not a military powerhouse.Yet for each bridge they built there was always a new rival added to oppose them. The biggest obstacle to the Mishima Zaibatsu was the G Corporation, which was run by Kazuya Mishima. The leader in biological technology had amassed a private army that would rival the Zaibatsu. The G Coporation researchers had been on the cutting edge of biotechnology and were able to create clones, halt and even reverse the aging process and tap into the mythological "devil" gene.

The weapons and technology featured in the Tekken, Ridge Racer and Ace Combat titles were always ahead of the curve. They had a certain science fiction element to many of their designs. Wars in the future were decided by the private armies that had access to the greatest technologies, granted they were not far removed from the private contractors of the current era. Except in Tekken continuity the soldiers were sometimes outfitted with strength-enhancing armor and giant robots instead of tanks. Some of the assault troops were completely made up of cyborgs instead of people as well. The leaders of the paramilitary branches of the G Coporation and Mishima Zaibatsu were also some of the most powerful fighters in the Tekken series. Names like Bruce Irvin, Bryan Fury, Raven and Sergei Dragunov carried a lot of weight among fans of the series. These men were mercenaries and leaders of military units from various nations. Some sided with the Mishima clan and some were trying to bring them down.

Even from within the armies there was strife. The step-son of Heihachi, Lars Alexandersson was a self-made leader of the Tekken Force. An expert fighter and brilliant strategist he fought alongside his men rather than made calls from the corporate offices like his half-brother Kazuya or father Heihachi. As such he earned their trust and admiration. He completed a successful coup d'état to assume control of the Zaibatsu military wing. His purpose was not to start a whole new war against the G Corporation but to bring an end to the conflict. He had travelled the world and had seen first hand how much destruction both groups had brought in their wake. The peace would not be long lived. As fans of the Namco titles could tell you it would only be a matter of time before the next firefight would begin.

It would give producers a reason for a new Tekken game. Yet for those few months where the guns fell silent the attention of the masses would be drawn to the next Ridge Racer Project. The Mishima clan, Geldra, General Resource LTD., Neucom Incorporated and various other organizations that charted the future of the Namco universe would continue to make their presence felt by sponsoring the teams that turned Ridge City into the ultimate destination for racers and race fans. Yet something went wrong for Namco after they introduced a huge corporate villain into the Ridge Racer continuity. G.V.I. was not the reason R: Racing Evolution failed to become a hit with race fans. The next blog will look at where Namco made some missteps and what they learned from the game. As always if you would like to sponsor me please visit my Patreon page and consider donating each month, even as little as $1 would help make better blogs and even podcasts!

The Ridge Racer Legacy, part 4...

Namco had lost a fantastic design team to Sega. Those that stayed with the company were willing to create racing games but lacked experience and insight with the various types of racing genres. The group of developers still managed to keep the Ridge Racer series going, and moreover they improved on every element of the game. Rave Racer was a bold concept for the arcades and Ridge Racer Revolution was the first chapter for the consoles. The focus on the series from that point on was owed to the legacy of Namco.

From its inception players noticed that the sponsor logos on the Ridge Racer cars, as well as the in-game billboards were pulled from other Namco games like Dig Dug and Pac Man. These were things that the company had pioneered a decade earlier in Pole Position. The use of familiar icons was a good technique to make the sport cars appear like real racing cars and was a way of getting non-race fans to take a closer look at the game. Instead of paying an actual company the rights to use their logos the developers simply reworked titles of arcade hits into the livery of each racing team. In fact the names for the rivals in the first two Ridge Racer games was pulled from Namco canon. The various rival cars on the track included RT (Racing Team) Xevious, RT Solvalou, RT Mappy, Galaga RT, RT Bosconian and RT Nebulas Ray. Long time arcade fans would recognize many of those names as the hits that put Namco on the map.

Namco was like many other Japanese developers in that it did not allow its employees to get top billing on any game. If there were credits in a game many developers did not use their actual names but instead went by nicknames, others were simply credited as "All Staff." The legacy of these developers would be celebrated on every car in the Ridge Racer series. It turned out that the people that worked on Dig Dug, Pac Man, Xevious, Mappy and Galaga were the ones pulled in to create Ridge Racer 2. They did not necessarily know a thing about racing but they certainly knew how to make a great game. Many of the team members had been around since the dawn of the arcade. They had first hand experience on what it took to create some of the most memorable mascots, catchy songs and groundbreaking gameplay elements across multiple genres. What they had learned and could teach the other developers was irreplaceable. Because of the legacy the new team started in Ridge Racer 2 every following generation working at the studio might be tasked with helping develop the next iteration of Ridge Racer. The only way these teams would ever be acknowledged would be from the sponsor logos featured within the series.

One of the most important things that the developers wanted to share with the rest of the company was the importance of continuity. Of all the Japanese game developers there have ever been perhaps none were as diligent about keeping true to continuity as Namco. Every team that worked at the studio was expected to be persistent about creating supporting details that reinforced each and every entry into a game series. For example the worlds of Soulcalibur, Tekken and Mappy were mutually exclusive. They each had their own characters, canon, timeline and narrative. Even if every member of the development team had moved onto other projects then the next group of developers were expected to keep true to everything that was already established.

They were expected to know where the series had been, what the factions, rivals or alliances were and how everything fit within the context of the universe. By the same token the company still allowed tremendous leeway to their developers. If a team wanted to feature a cameo or even crossover from a different Namco game and the producer was on-board with the decision then the company would usually allow it. This opened up the possibility that a many games in the Namco universe could actually fall under one continuity.

An inspection of just some of the manufacturers featured as sponsors within the continuity of Ridge Racer would point to some interesting facts. An aeroparts manufacturer (wings, spoilers, air splitters, body kits) was named Dragon Saber. Dragon Saber was the 1990 sequel to the 1987 arcade shooter Dragon Spirit. This nod to a classic title went over well to arcade fans. A different aeroparts manufacturer was named Arkbird. The Arkbird was a low orbit spacecraft from the Osean Federation as featured in Ace Combat. This type of detail would have appealed to a console fan. The idea however that one company named their downforce generating technology after a mythological dragon and the other was based on space aeronautics summed up the marriage of real world technology and the importance of marketing. Other manufacturers like Galaxian (the 1979 breakout hit for Namco) and General Resource (another corporation from Ace Combat) provided the explosive nitrous oxide tanks for the race cars. The sponsor icons were not limited to the cars either. The courses had billboards celebrating the Namco library and some of the buildings were owned by the conglomerates from other titles. The Tekken Iron Fist Tournament for example was one of the sponsors of the races over several sequels.

Having the Ridge Racer team build a nexus of sponsors and manufacturers that pointed to the legacy of Namco was inspired design. The idea that these were the race cars that drove in and around the locations featured in the various contemporary Namco games was enough to give most long time players goosebumps. The Ridge Racer team worked hard to create a world that would hold up to the best locations featured in any other genre. It started small but over the course of 20 years grew into colossal proportions. The next few blogs will look at the world of Ridge Racer. As always if you would like to sponsor me please visit my Patreon page and consider donating each month, even as little as $1 would help make better blogs and even podcasts!