The Switch 2 launch lineup has certainly got its headline titles.

Of course Mario Kart World, but also the likes of Cyberpunk 2077, Street Fighter and Hitman. Even Fast Fusion which is being seen as the high quality budget option to add to your library.

But one that’s snuck through the rest is the first Arcade Archives 2 title – Ridge Racer. You remember, the iconic racer that revolutionised the arcades and kick started an entire manufacturer’s journey into the games industry – a staple on PlayStation.

This re-release gives you a chance to experience the game as intended but ridiculously play it in the palms of your hands or on a full-blown 4K TV – but not in 4k sorry! All complete with the original scanlines and online rankings. Beautiful.

So it’s both a complimentary release of everything that came before but making use of modern technology in an effective way. We previously documented that this is also available on older hardware but this Switch 2 version also includes a Time Attack Mode.

But you’ll likely start at the top, checking out the familiar Original, classic mode and AA2 offers four different variations on this. The Japanse Version SD and DX ROM and the English SD and DX ROM. There’s marked differences across all four so it’s worth looking through them but often the differences are slight.

It could be anything from additional polygons for the graphics to different vehicle types to race against, new props on the roads and slight changes to aesthetics. In DX modes as well, you can change to the Clutch and Neutral with different configurations on the control schemes. And of course the Japanese ROMS are only partially localised to English. It’s fascinating to play through and try to spot the changes and find a preferred way for you to play.

I actually found myself heading over to the English versions more, but only because that’s what I grew up with. English DX in particular as this one offers the clearest difference by going straight to the title screen without the warning and then plays a consistent replay explaining the different modes and ranking, with a slightly different voice. Ahh nostalgia!

Ultimately though, they all share the common bond of the game having just the one race track. I know, that sounds wild in this day and age. When you’re talking about 30 in the new Mario Kart World plus a massive expansive world to drive around in, meanwhile RR has you going through the same track over and over, may not sound too appealing.

This was the draw of the retro arcades, though. I remember how many times I played Daytona USA, the same course over and over, yet it still managed to feel new each time. Admittedly, I wasn’t sat playing the game for hours on end at any one time, so I will say some of that monotony does creep in more here now that it would have back then, but it did awaken the old school completionist in me again, to better my times, take corners better, and try to improve on position,

I even played around with doing it Automatic and Manual, something that, as a driver, I never really did in the Arcades. I was always Auto, first and foremost, but since I’m now really understanding the layout of the race and what I was capable of, I wanted to test myself a bit more. This version of the game comfortably lets me do that and it’s fun to feel more accomplished!

And the one track does have three different options – be it Novice, Advanced or Expert. Each one with more laps, but also an increased speed cap and in case of Expert a new route to discover and follow through. You’ll also notice the settings turn from day to sunset to night, so it offers this beautiful recreation of the race, seeing it in ways you haven’t before. It almost becomes a brand new race in some ways.

But ultimately you are just trying to reach checkpoints to get a time extension before the limit runs out and its game over. Easier than it sounds and if you’ve ever played a racer in the arcades, you’ll know the drill all too well.

For me, I definitely struggled to get back into this, though. I’m now used to driving options where I can look at my car outwardly from every angle, but here I am playing from a first person view which, surprisingly, gave me a bit of nausea and disoriented me somewhat. After a while, I really got into it and found playing handheld alleviated that somewhat, but there was definitely an adjustment period at first.

Surprising note, I actually found the game to be quite a drain handheld on the battery. Within an hour, it had dropped at least 30% and sometimes that was even when I had the game stationary to write this review. It surprised me a little bit.

The game is also surprisingly tough. Even on Novice, racers blitz ahead and will get in your way, so you have to time your overtakes and corners, or you’re going to end up in a brutal pile up. But the commentator’s soundbytes and that lovely bouncy, chirpy score really brought me right back to 1995 and where I needed to be. This was a game I loved dearly when it first launched and one cannot understate its importance on 3D games and the racing genre in general. When I warmed up, this became a real delight.

The classic modes are great fun but AA2 has given players some additional options too, including a High Score Mode which is an adapted emulation of the game that takes you staight into a race with the AA2 UI available alongside it and this is what offers up the Online Rankings.

Here you can record your best times and then upload them to compete against the rest of the world. It’s a smart way to give the game some online functionality and keep it interactive and competitive in new ways, working around the constraints of trying to emulate the game to be as authentic as possible. This is all done on one credit, once your time lapses, it’s immediate game over.

Caravan Mode, meanwhile, is slightly different in you have a five minute time limit and compete for scores in that duration by getting through as many checkpoints as you can and trying to compete with how much mileage you use. It’s a really smart way to prolong the track, to give you a new challenge while driving it and to also really test your endurance as opposed to going for the shorter, snappier modes.

But if you want to talk real endurance, finally, exclusive to AA2 is Time Attack Mode. This one basically sees you complete several races on top of each other to record the best overal time, constantly battling the clock and is the best and fastest way to face down all three difficulties back to back. It’s interesting why this content is locked behind current gen hardware but one would suspect there’s multiple emulations going on here that would almost certainly be a struggle for Switch 1.

Speaking of, playing this in the palm of my hands was my go-to. While having it on the big screen was nice, the screen size of the game feels like a better fit at the centre of the Switch 2 screen. And it’s a nice easy relaxing game to just lie back with on the sofa and cruise around.

The game also has a wealth of options to customise the experience how you want to on the AA menu screens. Saving and loading states is one thing, though I can’t imagine this being too widely used on Ridge Racer, unless you’re on an incredible run and want to document it for prosperity and build on those times. Regardless there’s four main slots, plus a quick slot to use.

Deeper into the settings, you can be as specific as changing it between KM and MPH, as well as the difficulties of each setting to really challenge yourself. And here’s a cool one, you can actually increase the number of laps on all the difficulties to push them up to 5!

Button layouts are standard of course, but the display and audio options are where you’re likely to spend most time, adding display borders, changing the wallpaper, but also adjusting the screen layout and filters. On the layout, for example, you can have the screen more central, but also do it left or right leaning. Have the game at original scale – which is very small or stretch it to be full screen. Which looks kind of grim.

Or, you can customise it entirely, adapting the vertical and horizontal positions to your prefered style. It’s really cool and greatly appreciated for the flexibility.

There’s some further options too, like throwing you into a quick start or skipping through the descriptions so you can just get straight into the action if you want to.

Ridge Racer is a really well designed port to Switch 2 and feels surprisingly at home. It’s an incredibly strong start for the Arcade Archives 2 collection and really makes me wonder what other games we might see in the future. It’s definitely going to be a hard sell for newer players, particularly with the limited camera and track options, but if you’ve any nostalgia for the game like I do, this is a throwback you’re going to want to add to your library.

Verdict

Ridge Racer is off to a rolling start for Arcade Archives 2 and we can’t wait to see the next game that’s right on its tail! Really, though, it’s a strong nostalgia hit that feels like a great fit for Switch 2, particularly in handheld, and there’s some great options to really prolong the game’s limitations while still doing an excellent job of preserving its legacy. Perhaps a harder sell for new players who want variety, this is still a great racer with plenty of enjoyment to be had. 

Pros

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Arcade Archives 2: Ridge Racer is out now on PS5, Switch 2 and Xbox Series X|S.
Arcade Archives 1: Ridge Racer is out now on PS4 and Xbox One

Played on Nintendo Switch 2

Code Kindly Provided by HAMSTER for review purposes