Developer(s) Namco Series Ridge Racer Release 8 June 1994 | Publisher(s) Namco Platform(s) Arcade Genre(s) Racing | |
Ridge Racer 2 (リッジレーサー2, Rijji Rēsā Tsu) is a racing arcade game that was released by Namco in 1994. It runs on their System 22 hardware, and as the name suggests, it is the sequel to Ridge Racer, which had been released in the previous year.
As with the four Final Lap games, Four Trax and Suzuka 8 Hours, up to eight players can play simultaneously when four two-player cabinets are linked together. A player's number determines their car, because in the original, only the red one affiliated with "Team F/A" is available.
The gameplay is very much like that of the original. There are six new songs, including remixed ones from the original, that can be selected with the gear shifter at the start. The enormous television screen above the entrance to the first tunnel shows footage from Namco's 1979 title Galaxian (in the original, it was playing Mappy). All the billboards are for earlier Namco games, there is a rear-view mirror at the top of the screen, so a player can see other cars coming from behind). There is also a change in daylight from day to night (a car driven into the track's tunnel during the day will come out the other end at night).
The game was followed by a true sequel, Rave Racer, in 1995. A home release was made as Ridge Racer Revolution for the PlayStation in 1995, which inherited Ridge Racer 2's new tracks and music among minor changes.