This week’s PlayStation Classics is back and talking about a game that is going to appear on the PlayStation Classic eventually, but is also immediately available as a PSOne Classic for the PlayStation 3, PlayStation Portable, and PlayStation Vita. Let’s get into the driver’s seat with R4: Ridge Racer Type 4.
Wow, What a Start!
As you probably gathered from the title, Ridge Racer Type 4 is an arcade racing game. You get in a virtual car, you speed around a track, and you hope that you come in first. Or, at the very least, you manage to actually finish the race.
There’s more to Ridge Racer Type 4 than that, but it is the general idea. Especially since this installment has multiple modes, eight tracks, and 321 cars. You can take part in a VS. Battle against one other player offline. Time Attack sends you around a course in the hopes of earning the best time. If you want a little more substance, you can head into the Grand Prix campaign.
Grand Prix is actually rather involved, as you need to play it to earn all those cars I mentioned above. The team you choose determines your difficulty, with France’s Micro Mouse Mappy being easy, Japan’s Pac Racing Team being normal, Italy’s Racing Team Solvalou being hard, and the U.S. Dig Racing Team being difficult. (Yes, those were named after Namco series like Dig Dug and Pac-Man.)
Sounds Good!
While you would think a racing game would be best remembered for its, well, racing, that is not exactly the case with Ridge Racer Type 4. One of the most memorable elements of this title is the Namco Sound Team soundtrack. The music from this entry is quite good, and the 25-track R4: Ridge Racer Type 4 Direct Audio soundtrack is rather well regarded by fans of video game music. It has songs like Hiroshi Okubo’s “Eat’em Up!” and “Ridge Racer: One More Win,” which was performed by Kimara Lovelace. Okubo worked on the soundtracks for Klonoa: Door to Phantomile and for Tekken and Idolmaster games.
Buy It Now for $6 or in a Plug-and-Play for $100!
We’ve gone over this with past PlayStation Classics titles that are available on the upcoming mini console and on your regular systems, but R4 Ridge Racer Type 4 is one of the included games that did not hold its value well. You can get it on the $99.99 for the PlayStation Classic plug-and-play system on December 3, 2018, if you want to wait. But, a digital copy you can play on your PlayStation 3, PlayStation Portable, or PlayStation Vita is only $5.99.
