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 10...

Ridge Racer 64 was an amazing console game but with the debut of the Playstation 2 (PS2) many fans were eager to see how much higher the bar would be set by Namco. Ridge Racer V was seen as a way to reboot the franchise and not simply copy their previous release. As the studio had done with R4 they went in with a clean slate and programmed an entirely new engine from scratch. This meant that the studio would not be re-using any assets from the Playstation.

A small collection of cars was developed to take advantage of the higher polygon count and sharper textures that the PS2 provided. Well, it was a good number of cars that could be unlocked to be fair but nowhere near the massive number that R4 had set. The new models were amazing nonetheless and had much greater fidelity than even most arcade cars. The rides captured the spirit of four of the biggest auto manufacturing nations. Without putting an actual production car in the lineup the USA, Germany, Italy and Japan were well represented. France and South Korean manufacturers would be represented as well. Players could easily identify the influences behind each fictional manufacturer based on the familiar stance and lines of each car.

With Ridge Racer V Namco went back to the original idea that they had developed with Rage Racer. The studio had introduced a small number of courses in the game but in much greater detail than those found in any other title. The game had returned to Ridge City and it looked as if every inch of of the city was planned out and executed to exacting specifications. No arcade or console release could match the vividness of the new Ridge City. To help give racers a sense of immersion this time the music in the game was piped in through the fictional radio station Ridge FM. Its host would act as as narrator to the events as well as DJ to the mix of electronic and alt rock acts that were featured on the soundtrack.

Players began to notice familiar neighborhoods and landmarks from previous visits to Ridge City. It was the first time that portions of downtown were not under construction. New skyscrapers dotted the scenery and new freeway exchanges had been introduced to the circuits. This Ridge Racer Project took careful note of every block and officially began labeling every part of the city. From the futuristic Downtown and high rises of Trading Square to the manicured lawns of City Park and even the natural beauty of Mount Valley. For the first time in almost a decade it really did appear as if Ridge City were based on a real world location. There was still plenty of room to grow and explore as the programmers at Namco began to add information onto the courses for future builds of the game. There were roads that were designed to compliment the new courses. They wove through the city and well off into the countryside as well. Those roads could be seen from the Bayside Line and Above the City courses but were not playable. The map data would remain however for future use.

The team had marked out locations to touch upon in further sequels but what they did with the existing real estate was genius. Through 1999 and 2000 Namco had split their talent between Ridge Racer 64 and Ridge Racer V. Digipen helped develop the Nintendo 64 hit and Sony made sure that the company had the tools that would help get the most out of the Playstation 2 dev kits. Even with the extra attention the team was spread a little thin. For the Playstation 2 the team knew that they had to wow their fans with a solid version of Ridge City if they were not going to put them on random tracks around the world. So they laid out a foundation that they could spend the next few years building on. This foundation was done in the literal sense of the word. The side streets and connecting roads not used in the circuits could be opened up in a subsequent title. Not only that they actually designed some tracks that ran underneath existing architecture.

The Airport Oval for example added the staple airport track to canon. The track was actually designed in layers. The Airport Oval was built below ground level. It ran around the perimeter of the runway and adjacent to the airport proper. A series of tunnels prevented drivers from seeing much of the airport itself. The airport runway circuit that most fans would remember was "Aviator Lap." It took place above ground and just a few feet from parked jumbo jets. That track would be featured in Ridge Racer 6 and 7 for the Xbox 360 and Playstation3 respectively. Aviator Lap would take years to model and program so Airport Oval was what the team could introduce to expend the real estate for Ridge City. In Ridge Racer V the buildings and terrain that would make up Aviator Lap were missing assets. Sharp-eyed players could actually spot the columns and framework for future expansions in the distance. The Namco programmers had placed some unfinished models in the background as scenery. These free standing support structures and pylons would eventually become the bridges and freeway system that connected the airport to the rest of the city.

Namco would continue to pave over the roads and infrastructure that they had built in Ridge Racer V through the next decade. While it may not be considered a high-point for the series, at least not as revolutionary as R4, the game did a tremendous job at teaching the Ridge Racer Project members how changes in hardware, graphics and storage would have to be addressed going forward. As powerful as the Playstation 2 hardware was there was still a demand from the Japanese arcade scene for quality arcade racers outside of the home. In 1993 the original Ridge Racer ran on Namco's proprietary System 22 hardware. The 32-bit engine was very far ahead of its time and very expensive to manufacture. By 2000 they were touting the System 256 engine which was a dozen times more powerful and much less expensive. What many arcade visitors did not realize was that the System 256 was architecture designed for the Playstation 2. In this way the studio could "double dip" and have a game developed for the arcade in parallel with the console. Namco was not the only publisher to do this. Konami's Python hardware ran in much the same way.

Namco released Ridge Racer V: Arcade Battle a year after the console. It had a minor bump in the graphics department and also allowed network gameplay and rankings. It had the main courses and a selection of the same cars as the home console but it lacked all of the other modes. It was a beautiful but bare bones racing experience that not many people in the USA ever got a chance to see. By 2001 the arcade scene had pretty much dried up in the US. Those same racing fans however did not miss the greatness of the "next-gen" racing experience.

Players could not only customize their rides with colors but they could also swap out engines and add a layer of "tuning" that had been missing in previous versions of the game. The highlight was the hidden content of course. The most diligent of players were rewarded with a special Pac Man cameo. Instead of simply driving as Pac Man they actually were entered into the Pac Man GP. Players assumed the role of the titular mascot and raced against his four rival ghosts. The ghosts sported sunglasses and rode on top of scooters that were capable of putting almost every super car to shame. If players beat the required circuit times then they could unlock Pac Man and the ghosts.

Ridge Racer V was a good game but it felt lacking. Perhaps it was that the team had pulled double duty developing this game and an N64 version during the same cycle. The previous game was as close to perfection as the series had ever reached. Audiences expected a little more immersion in the game and not simply better graphics. 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!