The GBA was home to some unlikely ports back in the day – I still recall being part puzzled, part impressed that Crazy Taxi and Jet Set Radio were transferred to Nintendo's million-selling handheld – but one Ridge Racer fan is working on what could potentially be the most impressive example yet.
Gvaliente's 'RR Project' is an unofficial attempt to recreate Namco's iconic Ridge Racer on the GBA, and, as you can see from the footage below, it's already looking pretty impressive.
Granted, the developer is having to scale things back here to get the 1993 arcade game running on more humble hardware; the car models and trackside objects are extremely basic, and draw distance is significantly reduced. However, they've still managed to capture the basic look of the game, and getting it to run at 30fps is stunning.
A playable demo has yet to appear, but the online reaction has already been overwhelmingly positive, with one commenter echoing what we're all thinking – "This is insanely good, I never thought that it would be possible."
The first Ridge Racer launched in arcades and set a new standard for real-time 3D visuals. It would famously be ported to the Sony PlayStation in 1994, becoming the console's first killer app.
Multiple sequels followed, but outside of some low-effort smartphone games, Bandai Namco has largely ignored the franchise since the release of the 2012 spin-off, Ridge Racer Unbounded.
Thanks to Larry Bundy Jr for the tip!