Ridge Racer Accelerates Onto Game Boy Advance Hardware, Thanks to Talented Programmer

Gustavo Valiente spent months bringing back the magic of Namco’s 1993 arcade classic on a handheld that really wasn’t meant to handle such a challenge…the Game Boy Advance. His RR Project crams the original Ridge Racer’s crazy tracks and adrenaline-fueled drifts onto Nintendo’s beloved handheld, even if it wasn’t exactly made to handle a game of this caliber.

Valiente created the entire game from scratch, utilizing his own Butano engine, made to facilitate GBA creation (written in current C++). He chose flat-shaded polygons to ensure that the cars and road surfaces moved smoothly. And that’s precisely how it appears: the basic shapes swoop and slide around corners with the same addictive sensation of the original arcade game, where players sweated to shave precious seconds off their lap times by mastering those delectable drifts.

A tech demo shows it running at a fixed 30 frames per second on real GBA hardware, which is quite impressive to say the least. Cars hug the road on long straights and hairpin corners, with new scenery appearing just as you need it. Valiente captured the impression of forward motion well, even in a second presentation that reversed the lap direction to demonstrate the full scope of circuit control.

The draw distance is kept pretty short to keep the focus on speed, which is a smart move considering the GBA’s 16.8 MHz ARM7 processor and puny 256 KB of RAM. Pop-in does happen, but the road sections ahead are there when you need to steer, and side objects and detailed textures aren’t the priority here – it’s all about getting that raw performance just right, every time you drift or accelerate.

The controls are super responsive to button inputs, mirroring the feeling of playing on a real arcade cabinet. You accelerate with one thumb and steer and brake with the other. Valiente prioritized perfecting the game’s fundamental loop first, ensuring that the drifts chain together properly, before adding attractive features like in-game leaderboards or timers.

Valiente keeps people updated on his itch.io page, which lists the RR Project as a work in progress. The early visitors gave it a perfect five-star rating, and the comments all said the same thing: the results are astounding. There is currently no playable build available, however you can follow the devlog for updates on when one will be ready.

This is a tribute to what can be accomplished in the homebrew community by sheer determination. Valiente coded the 3D renderer himself, allowing the GBA to perform tasks that others thought were impossible. Future updates promise extra tracks and a few refinements, based on the extended courses in the PlayStation port.
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