Ridge Racer 6

Ridge Racer 6
Developer	Namco
Publisher	Namco
Release date	JP: December 10, 2005 NA: November 22, 2005 EU: January 20, 2006
Genre	Arcade racing
Game modes	World Xplorer Single race Time Attack Multi-race Online Battle
ESRB	E
Platform	Xbox 360 Xbox One (backwards compatible) Xbox Series X/S (backwards compatible)

Ridge Racer 6 is the sixth installment in the Ridge Racer series of racing games. It was released on Xbox 360 on November 18, 2005 in Japan, December 10, 2005 in North America, and December 17, 2006 in Europe.

Gameplay

Like previous Ridge Racer titles, the focus of gameplay is on placing first out of 14 in numerous 3-lap races across several tracks and numerous cars. In most races, the player can earn up to three nitrous boosts by successfully drifting around corners without crashing, which can then be used to give the player a short burst of speed. Some races are labelled as "no-nitrous", which prevent the player from earning any nitrous during the race, though the player can optionally enable nitrous. If the player wins using this option, the race is considered complete, but noted for breaking the no-nitrous rule. Some races are also Duels between the player and a single computer opponent, who is usually equipped with a much better car than the player can select from.

Ridge Racer 6 introduces a career-mode "World Xplorer", a branching-tree arrangement of races in which the player can only attempt races next to a race that has already been successfully completed. The layout of the races in the Xplorer is such that the position of a race will indicate what class of car can be used (horizontal position) and the difficulty of the course (vertical position). Rewards can be obtained by completing certain races or completing all races that enclose an area on the Xplorer, and usually offers new cars but also include additional variations of the tracks (mirroring and reverse) or new branches added to the tree. A player can also engage in quick races and time challenges for any track and car that has been unlocked.

There are thirty new circuits available including "Surfside Resort" and "Harborline 765". There are 36 machines available, with most featuring five different variations to unlock. Online multiplayer is possible with up to 14 players racing against each other and downloadable content is available via Microsoft's Xbox Live service. Players can download another player's "ghost" replay from Xbox Live and try to beat it.

The playable machines in the game are largely comprised of returning vehicles from the PSP titles, but now with majorly overhauled designs. The game's cover car, the Soldat Meltfire, makes it's first debut in this title. The game also features it's own roster of new Special Machines. The special machines in this title stand out quite a lot from previous entries, boasting more outlandish designs and gimmicks. Examples of this include the hovercraft Assoluto Pronzione, the land-speed record inspired Terrazi Terrajin, and the futuristic Himmel 490B. The game, as with all games in the Ridge Racer series, contains a large amount of references to past Namco games, such as Pac-Man, Soulcalibur, and Ace Combat.

The game also features a Full Motion Video opening, that shows series mascot Reiko Nagase.

Vehicles

The large vehicular arsenal featured in Ridge Racer 6 mostly consists of vehicles first seen in Ridge Racer (PSP), but have received drastic facelifts. HUD tachometers also remain the same from games like Ridge Racers (PSP).

Vehicles are divided into 5 classes, similar to Ridge Racers (PSP). Classes 1 and 2 both feature different selections of machines, with Classes 3 and 4 being upgraded versions of each respective class's vehicles. Class 5 is simply known as the "Special" Class, and is reserved for Special Machines.

Class 1 and Class 3

• Kamata Fiera
• Age Abeille
• Age Prophetie
• Terrazi Wild Gang
• Danver Bayonet
• Terrazi Starnose

Class 2 and Class 4

• Assoluto Fatalita
• Assoluto Bisonte
• Soldat Meltfire
• Himmel EO
• Gnade Esperanza
• Soldat Raggio
• Danver Hijack

Special Class

• Himmel 490B
• Gnade G00
• Assoluto Pronzione
• Danver Bass Cruiser
• Age Ultranova
• Terrazi Terrajin
• Kamata Angelus
• Soldat Crinale
• Monstrous
• Namco Pac-Man

When a Class 1-2 car is compared to its Class 3-4 counterpart, they are given higher redlines on their tachometers. Engine sounds are audibly beefed up a little, and rev higher as well.

Ridge Racer 6 would be the first title in the series to have a noticeable difference in driving feel between all machines, giving each one it's own strengths and downsides. For example, the Starnose boasts poor grip and standard Nitrous charge in exchange for more sharp drifting and a higher Ultimate Charge rate. This would be a drastic innovation to prior games in the series, where most machines had nearly interchangeable driving experiences. This would lead to giving the player a more strategy-based experience, encouraging planning ahead on what machine to use for what track.

Courses

Ridge Racer 6 features a total of 15 tracks, which are split into five groups of three, with each group featuring courses situated within the same area and even sharing some roads.

One course, Downtown Rave City, returns from Ridge Racer (PSP) and Ridge Racer 2 (PSP), and extends it by adding two completely new courses: Rave City Riverfront and Crossbay Tunnel. It is of note that Midtown Expressway, the course Downtown Rave City was originally based on in the PSP games, is not included in RR6.

This game would also show a surprising absence of series icon Seaside Route 765, a course which appeared in nearly every title prior. This would be ultimately remedied in Ridge Racer 7.

The remaining twelve tracks are completely new:

• Harborline 765
• Midtown Parkway
• Island Circle
• Airport Lap
• Southbay Docks
• Aviator Loop
• Lakeshore Drive
• Laketop Parkway
• Highland Cliffs
• Seacrest District
• Surfside Resort
• Sunset Heights

All courses can also be raced in reverse, as in previous games.

A new feature introduced in the game is Mirror Mode, which mirrors courses horizontally (that is, left turns are replaced with right turns and vice versa). This can be unlocked by completing the Advanced Route in the World Xplorer. Combining the mirrored and reverse versions of each course gives the game a total of 60 different courses.

Music

Ridge Racer 6 was the second game after Ridge Racers that marked the rejoining of both old and new Namco sound teams [including SamplingMasters MEGA (Shinji Hosoe), SamplingMasters AYA (Ayako Saso), sanodg (Nobuyoshi Sano), and J99 (Takayuki Aihara)], who worked on the first three Ridge Racer games between 1993-1995 as well as those who worked on R4: Ridge Racer Type 4 (1998) under sound director, Hiroshi Okubo.

A total of 16 BGM tracks are available in-game, separated into three "discs" (akin to how the 12 new music tracks from Ridge Racers is split between the Red and Blue Discs). Fifteen are uniquely assigned to each course in the game, and the last one is unlocked after completing the Pac-Man duel.

No.	Title	Composer	Course
Green Disc
1.	Explorers	Hiroshi Okubo	Harborline 765
2.	Valley of the Mind	SamplingMasters MEGA	Highland Cliffs
3.	Nitro Mantra	SamplingMasters AYA	Sunset Heights
4.	I Want You	SamplingMasters AYA	Crossbay Tunnel
5.	Road Mauler	Rio Hamamoto	Southbay Docks
White Disc
1.	Floodlight	sanodg	Airport Lap
2.	Drift Psychosis	Hiroshi Okubo	Seacrest District
3.	Sueño del Mar	Asuka Sakai	Surfside Resort
4.	Trail of Light	J99	Midtown Parkway
5.	Ultra Cruise	Tetsukazu Nakanishi	Lakeshore Drive
Black Disc
1.	Highway Fusion	SamplingMasters MEGA	Rave City Riverfront
2.	Acid Eutron #001	Acid Eutron	Island Circle
3.	Radiance	sanodg	Laketop Parkway
4.	Photon Field	Koji Nakagawa	Aviator Loop
5.	Galactic Life	Kohta Takahashi	Downtown Rave City
6.	Run PAC-MAN Run!	Akitaka Tohyama	—

Other BGM tracks, including those from Ridge Racer (PSP) and R: Racing Evolution, are available for download through the Xbox Live Marketplace, but not in all regions as they have been delisted.

Ridge Racer 6 Direct Audio

Due to high demand from fans, Ridge Racer 6 Direct Audio was released under SuperSweep Records on 14 January 2009. It contains the 16 in-game BGM tracks, as well as the ending song "Chasing All Your Dreams" by Hiroshi Okubo and other tunes from the game.

No.	Title	Composer
Disc 1
1.	Jump In And Go	Hiroshi Okubo
2.	Find Your Way	Hiroshi Okubo
3.	World Xplorer Introduction	Keiki Kobayashi
4.	Explorers	Hiroshi Okubo
5.	Valley of the Mind	SamplingMasters MEGA
6.	Nitro Mantra	SamplingMasters AYA
7.	I Want You	SamplingMasters AYA
8.	Road Mauler	Rio Hamamoto
9.	You've Got A New Machine #1	Hiroshi Okubo
10.	Floodlight	sanodg
11.	Drift Psychosis	Hiroshi Okubo
12.	Sueño del Mar	Asuka Sakai
13.	Trail of Light	J99
14.	Ultra Cruise	Tetsukazu Nakanishi
Disc 2
1.	You've Got A New Machine #2	Hiroshi Okubo
2.	Highway Fusion	SamplingMasters MEGA
3.	Acid Eutron #001	Acid Eutron
4.	Radiance	sanodg
5.	Photon Field	Koji Nakagawa
6.	Galactic Life	Kohta Takahashi
7.	You've Got A New Machine #3	Junichi Nakatsuru
8.	Run PAC-MAN Run!	Akitaka Tohyama
9.	Layover	Junichi Nakatsuru
10.	Chasing All My Dreams	Hiroshi Okubo

Extra Disc

An extra disc was also made available, featuring a 28-minute non-stop megamix of BGM tracks from the game mixed by Yousuke Yasui. This extra disc was bundled with the main discs at Comiket 75.

No.	Title	Composer
1.	You've Got A New Machine #1	Hiroshi Okubo
2.	Find Your Way	Hiroshi Okubo
3.	Acid Eutron #001	Acid Eutron
4.	Sueño del Mar	Asuka Sakai
5.	Trail of Light	J99
6.	Radiance	sanodg
7.	Photon Field	Koji Nakagawa
8.	I Want You	SamplingMasters AYA
9.	Galactic Life	Kohta Takahashi
10.	Ultra Cruise	Tetsukazu Nakanishi
11.	Floodlight	sanodg
12.	Explorers	Hiroshi Okubo
13.	Highway Fusion	SamplingMasters MEGA
14.	Run PAC-MAN Run!	Akitaka Tohyama
15.	Nitro Mantra	SamplingMasters AYA

Downloadable Content

Ridge Racer 6 offers 36 car skins, one per machine, each available as free DLCs exclusively on the US Xbox Store.

Also included in Ridge Racer 6's downloadable content are 41 BGM tracks from Ridge Racers and R: Racing Evolution, sold at $1 each. These tracks are also only available on the US Xbox Store.

No.	Title	Composer	Original Game
1.	Highride	SamplingMasters MEGA	Ridge Racers
2.	Warp Trooper	SamplingMasters AYA	Ridge Racers
3.	Bassrider	Hiroshi Okubo	Ridge Racers
4.	Pulse Phaze	U	Ridge Racers
5.	Chrome Drive	sanodg	Ridge Racers
6.	Synthetic Life	Kohta Takahashi	Ridge Racers
7.	Disco Ball	Hiroshi Okubo	Ridge Racers
8.	Night Stream	Kohta Takahashi	Ridge Racers
9.	Light Groove	Asuka Sakai	Ridge Racers
10.	Vanishing Horizon	J99	Ridge Racers
11.	Tunnel Visionary	Tetsukazu Nakanishi	Ridge Racers
12.	Tek Trek	Hiroshi Okubo, Koji Nakagawa	Ridge Racers
13.	Rotterdam Nation Remix	SamplingMasters MEGA	Ridge Racer (remix of "Rotterdam Nation")
14.	Speedster Remix	SamplingMasters MEGA	Ridge Racer (remix of "Speedster")
15.	Drive U 2 Dancing Remix	SamplingMasters AYA	Ridge Racer 2 & Ridge Racer Revolution (remix of "Drive U 2 Dancing")
16.	Rareheroes	sanodg	Ridge Racer (remix of "Rare Hero")
17.	Blue Topaz Remix	J99	Rave Racer (remix of "Blue Topaz")
18.	Motor Species Remix	Tetsukazu Nakanishi	Ridge Racer Type 4 (remix of "Motor Species")
19.	Ridge Racer	SamplingMasters MEGA	Ridge Racer
20.	Grip	sanodg	Ridge Racer 2, Ridge Racer Revolution
21.	Euphoria	SamplingMasters AYA	Rave Racer
22.	Silver Stream	Hiroshi Okubo	Rage Racer
23.	Naked Glow	Kohta Takahashi	Ridge Racer Type 4
24.	Your Vibe	Asuka Sakai	Ridge Racer Type 4
25.	Move Me	Kohta Takahashi	Ridge Racer Type 4
26.	Movin' in Circles	Hiroshi Okubo	Ridge Racer Type 4
27.	Eat 'em Up!	Hiroshi Okubo	Ridge Racer Type 4
28.	TsuiTsui	U	Ridge Racer V
29.	Samurai Rocket	Kohta Takahashi	Ridge Racer V
30.	Daredevil	Kohta Takahashi	Ridge Racer V
31.	Deep Resonance	Hiroshi Okubo	R: Racing Evolution
32.	Liquid Soul	Akitaka Tohyama	R: Racing Evolution
33.	Mars Landing	Akitaka Tohyama	R: Racing Evolution
34.	Divas	Hiroshi Okubo	R: Racing Evolution
35.	Funk-A-Tronic	U	R: Racing Evolution
36.	Rising	Koji Nakagawa	R: Racing Evolution
37.	T Minus Ten	Akitaka Tohyama	R: Racing Evolution
38.	Monte Carlo	Satoru Kosaki	R: Racing Evolution
39.	Carmine	Hiroshi Okubo	R: Racing Evolution
40.	Boombox	Hiroshi Okubo	R: Racing Evolution
41.	Time Compression	U	R: Racing Evolution

Reception

The game recieved "average" reviews. Critics from GameSpy applauded the game for its "killer graphics" and "great presentation", with GameSpot following suit writing it is "a slick, fast-moving racing game with interesting handling characteristics.". However while it does have very good graphics and gameplay, it did not excel in either of them. With critics from Jolt Online Gaming, stating that it "offers neither the palm-moistening, heart-racing action of a really great arcade racer, nor the challenge and satisfying controls of a decent simulation" and X-Play stating if players wanted good realism or car customisability, they should look elsewhere.

Legacy

In Japan, Namco announced that it expected to sell 500,000 copies of Ridge Racer 6 for the Xbox 360, although far fewer copies were actually sold. Ridge Racer 7 for the PlayStation 3 is built on top of Ridge Racer 6, but with major differences such as the introduction of full cosmetic and performance customization, which has been absent since Rage Racer, new vehicles and brands that were not seen in Ridge Racer 6 such as Sinseong Motors, a fictional South Korean company, and additional courses.

Trivia

• Heihachi Mishima (voiced by the late Daisuke Gouri at the time of the game's release) from the Tekken series appears in this game as an announcer/voice-over DJ, in all versions of the game, where the option to have him as the race announcer can be unlocked in the later stages of the "World Xplorer" mode (Advanced Route). However, as he speaks Japanese, the game does not feature any English subtitles for his voice-overs/commentary.
• Under normal circumstances, not all the cars will be available even with 100% completion of the World Xplorer mode. Some cars, in order for them to be unlocked, may require players to participate in online events (approximately 230 online races, resulting in 23 unlockable cars, and winning these races are not required), the others being free DLC cars that can be downloaded from the Microsoft Store.
• The servers of the game are still active (even though the Xbox 360 is now discontinued) and DLC content can still be accessed.
• This is the only game in the series to have two ending movies, one where you complete the Basic Route, and another after defeating the Monstrous limousine in a duel.
• The game is backwards-compatible on both Xbox One and Xbox Series X/S, as announced during the Xbox 20th Anniversary event.
  • Technically, this makes the game the first title in the series that can be played on eighth and ninth generation consoles. The second would be Ridge Racer 2 (PSP), where it is playable on PlayStation 4 and PlayStation 5, albeit available to PlayStation Plus Premium subscribers.
  • Online multiplayer of the game is also possible while playing on an Xbox One or Xbox Series X/S, for as long as the player has an Xbox Live Gold/Xbox Game Pass subscription.