If you click on a link and make a purchase we may receive a small commission. Read our editorial policy.

Namco: Ridge Racer 3DS adapted for American tastes

20110125ridgeracer3ds

A Namco Bandai localisation producer has said that Ridge Racer 3DS has been developed with US audiences in mind, with new features including muscle cars, familiar environments, and a one-button drift system like Mario Kart's.

Speaking to Nintendo World Report, Ryo Totoyama commented that previous Ridge Racers had been built with a European flavour, but this time, the company had "tried to focus on the US audience".

Totoyama mentioned that the Ridge Racer series has a significant entry barrier in the form of advanced drift mechanics, but that these had been wound down for the new title.

"Drifting itself is hard enough - sometimes it's really hard to enter the drift state," he said. "You've gotta release the gas pedal momentarily to enter the drift, and then you've got to counter steer and everything, to control the car.

"So we've introduced this easy one button drift system. It really works similar to Mario Kart. So these young audience, young gamers, they're familiar with how Mario Kart works, so it really helps to lower the entry barrier."

As well as a range of American muscle cars, a Miami-inspired coastal run and Sierra Nevada-like mountain track will appear.

The producer also commented that Ridge racer 3DS is "not a port at all" but an entirely discrete title developed to take advantage of stereoscopic 3D's capacity for naturally sensing a vehicle's position in a 3D field.

See the full interview below.

Thanks, Go Nintendo.

Cover image for YouTube video

Sign in and unlock a world of features

Get access to commenting, homepage personalisation, newsletters, and more!

In this article

Ridge Racer

PlayStation Vita, PSP, PS1

Related topics
About the Author
Brenna Hillier avatar

Brenna Hillier

Contributor

Based in Australia and having come from a lengthy career in the Aussie games media, Brenna worked as VG247's remote Deputy Editor for several years, covering news and events from the other side of the planet to the rest of the team. After leaving VG247, Brenna retired from games media and crossed over to development, working as a writer on several video games.

Comments