Nintendo Expands Switch Online’s N64 Library With Namco Classic ‘Ridge Racer 64’ – Nintendo Life
GuestGuestLogin | Sign UpNintendo LifeGuestLogin or Sign UpIt’s Ridge Racer!In a new Switch Online N64 game library update today, Nintendo has added the Namco title Ridge Racer 64.This arcade-style classic racer was originally released on Nintendo’s console hardware in the year 2000 and developed by the team at Nintendo Software Technology. It contains multiple modes to work your way through and there’s even multiplayer.Here’s the full rundown, courtesy of Nintendo:”Released in 2000 for the Nintendo 64™ console, this arcade classic takes you on fast-paced races across three different environments for a total of nine courses! Dive right in with Quick Play to race three laps around the Revolution Novice course or take on Grand Prix and choose any available track to test your skills. Other modes include Car Attack, which lets you compete for better cars, and Time Attack, where the only thing you’re racing against is your own best time! Challenge your friends in Multiplayer and put the pedal to the metal in three modes: Battle Mode, Stage Mode, and Team Mode.”The release of Ridge Racer 64 on the Switch Online service this week lines up with this particular entry’s 25th anniversary, which technically takes place on 14th February 2025 as highlighted in our anniversary feature.Apart from this, Japan’s ‘mature’ N64 app for the Switch Online + Expansion Pack service this week added Turok and Turok 2.To play this latest Switch Online N64 release, you’ll need to have an active Switch Online + Expansion Pack membership. This update follows on from last week’s SNES update which added Fatal Fury 2, Super Ninja Boy and Sutte Hakkun to Nintendo’s classic library.Every retro game available with an NSO sub (plus the Expansion Pack)Including a special Super Famicom release…57 games with big birthdays this yearWill you be revisiting this one on the Switch? Let us know in the comments.About Liam DoolanLiam is a news writer and reviewer for Nintendo Life and Pure Xbox. He’s been writing about games for more than 15 years and is a lifelong fan of Mario and Master Chief.Comments 95WHY DID THE N64 HAVE SO MANY RACING GAMES?!?!I’m not complaining, I’m just curious.OH, DAMN!!! If they’re getting Ridge Racer on here, just about anything is possible. Looking forward to Mega Man 64 coming eventually.Groovy! I had no idea Ridge Racer was on the N64. I’ll have to try it out!@batmanbud2 Maybe kind of an era for it?@MirrorFate2 What do “people” want?@alexybubble But this is a Nintendo-developed and -published game. Those seem pretty likely, to me.Just finished a race, and. . .yeah, add that one to the “better than MK64 by a mile” list. Only issues I had were the stupid first person view and the fact you can’t cut corners through the grass. Very solid racer otherwise.@MirrorFate2 Nintendo doesn’t care what people want, they are a giant corporation that is profit-firstWhoever made that trailer deserves a pay rise.And “what people want” 🙄”People” isn’t a chronically online noisy minority. I’m sure there are people very happy for Ridge Racer.Love the sub-heading. Hopefully we can eventually have “attack its weak point for massive damage” or “Real time… weapon change?” as sub-headings.About the game, this is one I played for the first time back in 2021 when my Nintendo 64 collection grew.
I suppose I could finish this version instead.Oh, and by the way. Japan today got on the 18+ app the Turok games that have been available on the western Mature 17+.
The regular Japanese NSO app also seems to have gotten an update, but no new games.hell yeah! just in time to wet our RR appetite before RR8 is announced in April as a Switch 2 exclusive launch title After going through R4 this month, Nintendo literally threw a curveball at me with more Ridge RacerI’ll take Destruction Derby 64 if you don’t mind. 🏎️Edit: And why just 1 game!?R4 will always be peak Ridge Racer, but this one isn’t bad. You can tell it wasn’t developed by Namco or the original RR team, but it does a good job of nailing the spirit of the original games.I do like the music and tracks in the game. Really, its only crime in my book is not being Ridge Racer Type 4 It’s Ridge Racer!Riiiiiiidge Raaaaaaaacer!Ridge Racer for Switch2 confirmed !@MirrorFate2 wut? I’d understand saying this when they added Iggy’s Reckin Balls or whatever but not when its RIIIIIIDGE RACEEEEEER.I wanted this and i’m happy, i’m pretty sure plenty of other people who don’t play ONLY 1st party games on Nintendo consoles are happy about this as well.I was definitely alive for this but don’t remember it at all being on 64. I had a GameCube in college so this being a 2000 release might have been closer to the end of the 64 than the beginningI do, in fact, remember that one!everything about it holds up so well to this day. the elegantly simple gameplay, the tight and excellent controls, the blue sky visuals blended with just the right amount of grand prix bombast, the smooth Eurobeat-by-way-of-Japan soundtrack.
a true classic.@alexybubble Hey, the Megaman Game Boy games made it on there, so I have hope for Mega Man 64 someday. I hope Capcom has some plan for the Legends series in some capacity. I just… I just really want it.The amount of N64 racing games Nintendo was directly involved with is…astonishing. Especially nowadays where I can’t even remember the last non-Mario Kart racing game they’ve made (F Zero 99 aside), and also how few games Nintendo put out on N64 by comparison.Like I have to imagine it was just the easiest type of game they knew how to develop on the system because they are involved with this, Mario Kart 64, F Zero X, Diddy Kong Racing, Wave Race 64, Excitebite 64, 1080 Snowboarding, and the Cruis’n series.Can’t really call it a ‘Namco Classic’ as it was developed by NST, and published by Nintendo! All Namco did was license ‘Ridge Racer’ to Nintendo.@batmanbud2 The racing genre was at its peak at the time is why.@PokemonDMG The N64 library was quite low on games which is why we will only see 1 game per whenever Nintendo wants to add something to it.@AussieMcBucket Yeah, but the IP is still owned by Bandai Namco; aka a company that has never put anything on NSO before (to my knowledge, anyway). Imo, it mainly goes to show how Nintendo is willing to go above and beyond for N64 games in a way that they don’t even do for GBA (the fact that GBA NSO has no third party games still shocks me) and, to a lesser extent, Genesis.@MirrorFate2 visuals aside, Ridge Racer isn’t actually that realistic – it’s an arcade-style racer at its core. It’s less Forza and more Daytona USA, so to speak.@MirrorFate2 it didn’t help your case when you claimed this game isn’t what people want. If you would’ve said, I don’t like it and I’m going to play it. That’s fine. You made an untrue sweeping statement. Also, this isn’t a Nintendo published game either.@alexybubble Hmm, so do you think they have the rights to the first game, too?Maybe the licenses for GBA games are harder to acquire? Not sure.Nice, not my favs ridge racer (it’s ridge racer type 4) but this is pretty good 😃@batmanbud2 The N64 was my primary console during that generation and I think it was a combination of Racing games being a good technical showoff of the early 3D era and that fact that racing games were well suited to the limited storage space of N64 cartridges. Simple repeating textures (for roads/environments) and polygonal based assets (car models) took up far less space than stuff required for games like RPG’s (FMV’s, Voice acting, music, etc.).@MirrorFate2Speak for yourself but I for one am very happy with it and a quick read of the comments section suggests that plenty of others are too.It might not be to your personal taste but that certainly doesn’t mean that other people don’t want it so I’m afraid you’re sweeping statement is way off the mark@MirrorFate2 it’s not up to Namco’s own standards, and it truly pales in comparison with R4, but RR64 is still a solid and fun arcade racer all the same. Happy to get this one!as much as we want stuff like dk64, diddy kong racing, smash 64, ect., im perfecty fine with waiting. I kinda like getting (relatively) more niche games to toy around with that ive never played rather than stuff i already know about! To just drop all their heavy hitters at once isnt really a sustainable way of managing hype around these old game drops anyways (though i really wish they were going faster, but its not like we dont have alternative ways of getting access to the games ourselves).Nice. Honestly the only one I’ve played was the one on 3DS, which I remember fondly even though I’ve never really gotten too fat into that one. I’ll try this one out though for sure!A lot of N64 games haven’t aged well, but this one looks pretty good. 😊Now for my frequent petition to get Donkey Kong ‘94 on the Game Boy app.I think this just pushed me over the edge to get the premium online thing. This and MUSHA, Metroid zero mission, and all the rest.@HaNks GOD I hope so! Wasn’t RR rumored a long time ago for the switch?Ridge racer Ds is My favourite Ridge Racer and it was apparently a port of this one so I’m looking forward to giving this a try. I always found the PlayStation Ridge Racers had a floaty disconnect and that it controlled too well. I like to fight the controls a bit in racing games.Rebecca Chambers?@MirrorFate2 Just because you don’t want Ridge Racer doesn’t mean there’s not people who want Ridge Racer. I’m glad Nintendo is putting out some lesser known games on NSO (it’s what got me to try Turok for the first time!)Holy crap!! Never saw this coming! I had this back in the day and it’s pretty good if I remember, once you get the hang of the drifting around corners/turns. I remember loving the car designs too…Going to play this tomorrow morning!@Serpenterror world driver championship’s graphics were insane at the time (to me.)You’re right, this era was amazing for racing games; all different types with rally, kart, jet skis, motor cycles… good timesThe original RR was the game I picked up from ToysRUs on launch day with my playstation. I couldn’t believe what I was seeing running on my TV at that time after going from a spectrum to a mega drive. I had only been wondering the other day if this would ever be revisited as an ip@batmanbud2 It was revolutionairy because it allowed 4(!) player local multiplayer. It really wanted to capture that multiplayer and party vibe so we got loads of racing and puzzle games.Oh this looks like a lot of fun! Nintendo behind it so I’m hoping it controls well, always wanted this one as a kid! 🤎Great racing game.Of what I played of the series after this, I have enjoyed as well.Yes! Such a great racing game! And one of the few I still don’t own on N64. Love NSO.Bring on Mischief Makers!!!!!@batmanbud2 Cars are, by definition, kind of boxy. N64 was in that era of transition. 3D models weren’t very smooth yet. Just look at the original Final Fantasy 7 character models.So cars (futuristic ones too) were pretty easy to get to look realistic. And the tracks they are put on aren’t too difficult to make either.Anyways, that is my take on it.Ridge Racer Type 4 is so cool and has good music. I have to play it someday and of course 64 too.I know I sound like a broken record praising old games but they have such cool vibes. This trailer is alive and makes me want to play the game. New game trailers give me the feeling, that I have to spend money, so I do not miss out.İ remember this game on the Nintendo 64.İn the year 2000 İ was 12 years old but İ have never played this game in that time.İt looks fun now for me.Nintendo 64 was great console the name from the games at the end was sometimes 64 like Super Mario 64, Mario Kart 64 and Star Fox 64.This is great! I’m a huge fan of Ridge Racer and RR64 is the only iteration of the franchise that I don’t have a physical version of and even if I did I don’t have the hardware anymore to play it.@MirrorFate2 no, they’re just connected to what is fun and relatively easy to license for a service like this. Whether the “people” in question are connected to either of the above may be another matter, though.😅Doesn’t look anything like Donkey Kong 64.@alexybubble IIRC, there have been some Namco titles on the NES and SNES NSO apps but don’t hold me to itExcellent news. This is a really solid Ridge Racer game that I had great fun with back in the day. Good addition to the library.@MirrorFate2What ‘people’ are Nintendo ‘disconnected’ from and what do these mythical people ‘want?’You don’t speak for me.@batmanbud2During the early Polygon days racing games were one of the few types of game that the systems of the time could do vaguely realistically. It was hard to do lifelike human characters so-especially early in the generation-there were lots of games that featured vehicles of some kind. Racers, space shooters and the like. Playstation and Saturn (and 3DO to a degree) are absolutely overloaded with them.This is exciting news, always wanted to try it!While I’m personally more interested in other N64 games I’m still glad to see Ridge Racer coming to NSO (along with Turok and Turok 2 for the Japanese app) and I’ll definitely at least give it a try at some point!REMEMBER THAT ONE?????Yahoo! Now I can stop complaining! 😆Thank you Namco!This a pleasant surprise, really loved this back in the day but had faded in my memory. Really looking forward to playing it again! 😀There’s hope for “Top Gear Overdrive” then! xDSuch random nostalgia with that game.Every day we get closer to the Cruis’n series being rereleased on NSO.Hoping for Cruis’n Exotica!Spooky… Yesterday I was clearing out my parent’s attic and found some old N64 Magazines. I looked through and happened on the review of this game, which I’d never heard of before, and thought I’d look out for it in the retro games shop I’m visiting today. And now I have it anyway!Ooh nice, I didn’t expect to see this get released. Not in the same tier as Wave Race, MK64 or Diddy, but it’s still a lot of fun. Maybe Namco hasn’t completely forgotten about one of their signature franchises?I like that this game gives you a choice of power sliding styles, personally the original RR had the best power sliding, the later games had the car shedding too much speed when sliding. I do wish they’d kept the original aesthetic for the tracks rather than doing random stuff like moving one of them to a desert. 🫤Arcade racers remain one of my favourite genres. I never did play Ridge Racer on N64 so this is a nice suprise.Never played this one back in the day, as it was way more expensive then the PSone games. Definitely going to try this version.@batmanbud2 Racing games were a huge thing on PC and N64 between 1996-2000. Good times.There were also a period on 360/PS3 where lots of great racing games were made. Blur (Adult version of Mario Kart), Split Second, Project Gotham Racing, Forza, Motorstorm, Stuntman Ignition and a long list of others.When racing genre almost went extinct, a bunch of people from these racing developers formed a new developer called “Playground Games” and made the Forza Horizon seriesForza Horizon 5 might be on Switch 2 as it were just announced for PS5.Switch 2 can handle FH 5, because it cane be scaled down to a toaster.. It works even without a GPU. Proof on YT.Pretty sure this was the only time NST got a special logo just for them and it was for (what was marketed as) a port of ehat is legally the FIRST PlayStation game in every territory besides Japan.This is a fantastic addition! I love this game, have done since I bought it for my N64. It never gets the attention it rightly deserves.@MirrorFate2They are generally disconnected from what I want, absolutely…..but I wanted this ✌️🤠It’s a surprise great addition. I’ll have a go on this tonight. Needed too, it’s been a while since the last game.@electrolite77 it’s that “we” thing that’s quite prevalent on this site, where people seem to think that everyone thinks the same as they do.@DollyrotsFan1 That would be a perfect addition, as would Mystical Ninja Starring Goemon.Never played the Ridge Racer series outside of a brief handful of times in the arcades and maybe once on the original Playstation back in the day as I’ve never really considered racing games my ‘thing’, but having just played a quick mode race of this I’m shocked at how good this version is. I totally understand why folks might not be excited about it dropping, but this is a legitimately fun arcade racer that looks stellar on the Switch OLED to boot. Super drifty without being punishing with it, I now want to go on and see how many of the cars I can unlock. I just wish they’d given the Pac-Man themed car better stats so I could justify using it in races :I@batmanbud2 Arcade style racing games were 10-a-plenty on all the consoles around then until Gran Turismo pushed the trend towards realismOh, fridge racer has been added.@cosmograph RR8 was in development for Switch by Namco’s Singapore Studio and cancelled. rumour is it was brought back for Switch 2!!This was one of the hardest games of my childhood. I only had two cars left to reach 100% completion, but they wouldn’t go down easy. The course was set at night and the blurry, grainy graphics mixed with the motion blur and insane speeds made it seem impossible. The car ‘Screamin’ Eagle’ which was the most difficult challenge in the game would always end up a whole lap ahead. I still have my save file but can’t defeat them to this day…;(Reiko my beloved!I miss the Ridge Racer series…Oooooo This is nice. I bet my dad will love this game. Also I started watch old N64 commercials whenever I play games and the commercial for this game had what seemed to be a nurse bragging to a kid about how someone named Nathan beat him… the 90’s were weird.@MirrorFate2 I dunno what you said but apparently a lot of people wanted this.Honestly though I love it when Nintendo adds more obscure games to their service since that means that more people will hear about them. 😌@HaNks that’s awesome! Fingers crossed 🤞Such a weird coincidence that I was just playing this on my RGB30 yesterday (with quite poor framerates due to the patchy N64 emulation on that device, I might add). Will be nice to try this on Switch Online as never owned it back in the day, though I still have my copy of R4 on the PS1Never played this but you can’t have too many driving games! How does this compare to Sega’s Daytona? “RO-LLING START!!!!”@GreatluigiThey (I say they because I don’t know if male or female) conveniently deleted their comments because they were getting too much heat.It was something along the lines of Nintendo being completely out of touch with what games people want (apparently)It backfired spectacularly hence the deleted commentsNice, glad they’re adding some more racers into the N64 roster…would be amazing if we ever got Diddy Kong Racing, but I’d take Beetle Adventure Racing or Automobili Lamborghini if they’re looking for suggestions Oooh I never play this game in my life but looks fun!@Teksette is one of my fav racing games, me and my sister when we were teenagers logged probably a hundred hours on that game.@MKHarmony Yes have y’all noticed that after the initial wave of information and media fanfare about cruising blast, that the creator went dark, I think that’s because he probably signed something with Nintendo either for switch two or for NSO releases. I’m excited either way.Oh wow, I forgot about RR64. I actually meant to play that back in the day.@alexybubble Yes. Patiently waiting for MegaMan 64. They dropped the GB MegaMan games on NSO as they weren’t a part of any collections, so odds bode well for MM64.EXCELLENT CORNERING!Does anyone know how you drift in this game? I can’t find any tutorial in the game and since there’s no manual(like you would have gotten with the actual n64 cart back in the day), I’m left scratching my head.@vioYou can find the original manual online, which does explain how the drifting is supposed to work.https://nintendo64.pl/wp-content/uploads/RR64-Ridge-Racer-64-USA.pdf Show CommentsLeave A CommentHold on there, you need to login to post a comment…Bananas Donkey Kong Country Returns HD Platforming Problem Is Ruining The Co-Op FunUn-ape-peelingJapan’s Switch eShop Will Soon No Longer Accept Overseas Payment MethodsChange will come into effect in MarchRumour: Switch 2 Game Cases Might Take Up More Space On Your ShelfHere’s how they could compare to the current Switch casesOpinion: My Daughter Made Me Realise That Mario Wonder’s Difficulty Options Need WorkYoshi or Nabbit, make your choiceLevel-5’s Long-Awaited Fantasy Life Sequel Seems To No Longer Be A Switch ExclusiveThe more the merrierGame ProfileTitle:Ridge Racer 64System:Nintendo 64Publisher:NintendoDeveloper:Nintendo Software TechnologyRelease Date:Nintendo 64Nintendo Switch Online + Expansion Pack (Subscription)Series:Ridge RacerWikipedia:en.wikipedia.orgWhere to buy:Buy on eBay
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