After 30-plus years, the Namco arcade game has rolled onto Nintendo systems. Is Arcade Archives 2 Rave Racer worth $16.99 ($14.99 for the original Switch) or was it best experienced a few quarters at a time?
Funnily enough, even though I played the original deluxe version of Ridge Racer back in the day, I don’t ever recall seeing Rave Racer in the arcades. In fact, I assumed that Rage Racer on the PlayStation was an expanded version of the 1995 arcade game. In my defense, Rave Racer had been announced for a PS1 release before Rage Racer was produced instead. Both share some aesthetic and gameplay ideas. Come to think of it, Rage Racer would be a great release for Hamster’s Console Archives series. Anyway, the more you know.
The early Ridge Racer games were less about new content and more about refining existing content, and the same can be argued in this case. There are only four courses, and half of them are repeats. To be clear, all the courses (old and new) are fun, but they need to hook you in such a way that you’ll want to master them. (Two-player mode can only hold interest for so long.) It’s a quality-over-quantity issue, and with the recycled content, the quality does suffer slightly.
That said, the formula is still a winner, and it didn’t take long before I was enjoying drifting around corners like a teenager looking to bum a ride to the mall. The “more exhilarating drift control” advertised feels subtly different from most Ridge Racer games I’ve played, but it’s a challenge for me to articulate exactly why that is. Speaking of challenge, I find Rave Racer pretty tough overall. Whether that difficulty stems from the game itself or simply my lack of familiarity with this entry is debatable; I suspect it’s a mixture of both, a blend that will keep me popping virtual quarters.
While the game looks like a Ridge Racer title (albeit less colorful, for better or worse), I’m more interested in talking about the music. Namely, I’m not sure what to make of this game’s soundtrack. The tunes are all over the place. Sometimes, even the same single track can sound like a hodgepodge of ideas. Is it good? Is it bad? Is it both? It’s noteworthy in any case. Check out this footage to get an idea of what I mean.
As a fan of the Ridge Racer series, I’m happy to add Rave Racer to my collection. It’s a challenging game that should keep me returning as I aim to shave seconds off my best time. I recommend it to fellow fans, while those less invested in the series should probably wishlist it for a future sale.
