In-depth look at Ridge Racer Full Scale

[lix]

That is a damn shame, even I could have put that up in my industrial unit and stored it till it found a home.

I remember the occasions when I've tried getting beaten up machines from operators that aren't taking any money, to be told that nothing is for sale and I shouldn't bother asking again. Only to find said machines dumped outside and having been in the rain for a few months.

I just don't get it.

 

[K1ngarth3r]

It makes me wonder how much they paid to buy it, to just scrap it like that.

It's a real crime considering how few they are reminding. In my opinion, whoever bought it is not a fan of arcade gaming. They must really hate it in fact.

 

[John Bennett]

I’m going to stick my fingers in my ears and close my eyes and pretend it’s true that it’s on the way to a museum.
I would’ve paid thousands for that and did actually try to buy it once as it really did need saving. So yes, someone could’ve had five grand off me if the museum changed their minds (and if they did, any respectable game museum would’ve helped find an alternative home).

I spent sooo long trying to get the three-screen emulation implemented using the ROMs we have from it. I hoped one day we could arrange a trip to get the missing data and at least preserve the code.
I actually have a 1992 MX-5 that could’ve acted as a donor car.

So I’ll pretend it was just being seasoned out in that garden (I’ve seen the photos) and will one day make it to the museum, if it’s not already there.

I think I probably want those ROMs more than anyone else in the world. What would I pay for the boardset if the game has been scrapped?...

Nothing, any person involved in scrapping it can shove the triple boardset up their arse and twist it. No one here should encourage something as criminal as that (from a collector perspective). Anyone doing such things should find another hobby, like barbecuing rare birds, fitting cladding to medieval castles, maybe aim to shred the Magna Carta as a life goal. But no one would do something so cretinous, so I await the announcement from the museum of its unveiling.John Bennett2021-08-21 15:41:28

 

[Tedward]

It makes me wonder how much they paid to buy it, to just scrap it like that.

It's a real crime considering how few they are reminding. In my opinion, whoever bought it is not a fan of arcade gaming. They must really hate it in fact.

I'm pointing some blame at the National Videogame Museum as well - in fairness I don't know for certain if they were even aware of the plans to bung it in there or if the person who bought it was involved with them, but if they were, this is a pretty bad look for NVM and a number of other organisations considering they were just recently running a campaign called "Saving The Arcade World".

If they knew what was going on and are apparently so concerned about arcade preservation (despite also having a number of horribly maintained + LCD converted arcade machines in their museum themselves), why didn't they do more to save it?

Tedward2021-08-21 15:50:18

 

[Smraedis]

Sad to hear this

 

[Carvaletingpro]

What a bloody mess

 

[Guests]

Oh jesus CHRIST! I feared this would happen.

Well... As the current and possibly last TG world record holder for Ridge Racer Full Scale and a life long Ridge Racer fan this absolutely kills me to see and hear its in a GARDEN!? are you KIDDING ME! I hold the WR's for all the PS1/arcade/full scale Ridge Racer games TG name "Rotunda" and this very machine i did my records on.

I told BP Pleasure Beach and the leisure company who hired the machine to them that i would pay good money, 5 figure type money for the machine if they ever decided to sell (given they originally sold in 1993 for £250,000 and i knew this was the very last machine left) so why the HELL didn't they contact me?!? They have my number. WHY!! just WHY!!!! I'm so gutted. It's not even about me. This machine NEEDS to be preserved.

It's a real crime considering how few they are reminding. In my opinion, whoever bought it is not a fan of arcade gaming. They must really hate it in fact.

I hate to inform you but i searched for over 6 years, worldwide to find one to do my records on. This is the last one in the world. There was one in Barcelona but it was scrapped, Jimmy Godden had one at the Rotunda in Folkestone (hence my name, went there loads) this was later moved to another place called Jimmy G's and then put in storage. I spent months tracking it down only to find literally a month before i got through to the right person it was scrapped. Namco of Japan had one which was removed when the Bandai Namco merger happened. There literally are no others left. I told Blackpool Pleasure beach of its significance at the time of doing my records and they were rather taken back by it so to see it just dismantled like this is heart breaking! The money i put on the table, that very day to the guy who managed the leisure company who owned it was a lot and i was dead serious so why they hell didn't they get in touch.

Lovely to see the removals company stole my images as well to use. I've gotten in touch regarding copyright. Those are my images and they copyrighted to me. The only time i've given anyone permission to use them was Tony Temple for his arcade blog. Normally I'd not care too much but they mean a lot to me, took a hell of a lot of time and effort to even get the shots and the fact they are being used in photo's so closely connected to this absolute atrocity pisses me off! Hell I'm even in one of the photos! I want no part no matter how small in it. It's soul destroying to see this let alone have you use my images, if you are reading this pull them down, delete them and don't even think about using them again.

I'm gutted... So upset by this news. I put things in place I even warned people here of what was possibly going to happen and i can see some made steps to keep an eye on things but then after all... they just give it to some random person. Who even is the guy who bought it? How did he above all of us who were offering good money for it get it?

If anything, can we at least get a ROM dump?! Who is this person who owns it now can anyone PM me if they know? these PCB's are fragile as all hell and CANNOT be repaired anymore. Namco of London and Japan do NOT repair these anymore, never will, period. Namco London even told me they threw the diagnostic equipment out for the System 22 board sets (and many other early Namco boards as they used a harness for each board set which then connected to the actual diagnostics unit)

I don't have the words... Gutted.

drokz2021-08-21 23:48:50

 

[Tedward]

I actually think it's very possible Bandai Namco still have the ROMs and at least some original parts themselves - have a look at this recreated Ridge Racer Full Scale, which they made for a recent Netflix show in Japan. Not sure to which extent it's using reproduced parts based on old documentation that they may have lying around, but surely some of that was recycled from an old setup?

 

[Guests]

Hmmm... very interesting pictures.

Firstly, i can tell it's not running on original hardware given the cables hooking up to the car. Also from the first picture it is running the normal although slightly custom Ridge Racer arcade ROM. The player car model in attract mode is the normal #3: F/A Racing car. Whereas on Full Scale it is a miata/MX-5 model. Perhaps it may be the triple screen cab ROM as I've never seen that version in MAME or in person. Reason i say custom or maybe 3 screen is in the first picture (below) it has the normal attract mode but with a Ridge Racer logo on screen. No version of the game i have ever played has ever shown the Ridge Racer logo on screen like that. But like i say, perhaps the triple screen version does? It's rather interesting how it says Ridge Racer Full Scale+ Plus on the marquee too.

They have simply stretched it across those what appear to be 3 large LCD screens. The POV less wide compared to what the original was.

The marquee if you can call it that haha is real by the looks of it although as I said before, the Plus part is a little confusing. Perhaps they are planning a rerelease of the game/cabinet for the 30th anniversary?

(doubtful, but then, why put Plus on the marquee...)

The cabinet itself is custom made, no original (1993) parts here even the multi-coloured lights aren't right. That said, it does look like a proper cabinet? That or a Namco remake or a very very well made custom build.

Namco Japan may have the ROM's though I can confirm Namco London do not possess any System 22 spares anymore as they were thrown out when they got rid of the diagnostics equipment. Though, they did say before that the spare parts were very limited anyway before they threw it all out.

The last known original cabinet I knew of was in Barcelona. The last photo I ever saw of it was this one:

As you can see, right side projector is completely dead or turned off. Possibly due to PCB number 3 having graphics issues likely no 3D which is common on these boards and would explain why the screen is black.

Thinking about it now actually... I wonder if the one at Blackpool suffered a PCB failure and they got rid due to this given Namco no longer offering repairs worldwide. I remember the tech told me they had one of the PCB's repaired once before with Namco London. Perhaps the chap who picked it up fired up the PCB's and noticed one or maybe even two were faulty and that is why he's treating it the way he is? No excuse but would explain it a little bit more than just neglecting it. If that was the case Blackpool PB probably just wanted it shifted out the way in which case as dire as this is to hear it's say in a garden somewhere, it's a better fate then the Galaxian Theatre they used to have alongside this machine which was simply dismantled/smashed up and scrapped. The technician I spoke to on the day told me that.

Edit: After translating the Tweet, it would appear Namco did help with this.

"Naked Director Season 2", which began worldwide exclusive distribution on Netflix from June 24, 2021. In the first episode, BANDAI NAMCO Entertainment and BANDAI NAMCO Research Institute are cooperating in the production using Ridge Racer.

We also enjoyed providing the technology!

Interesting statement indeed... Need to check out this series to see some live video of that machine. I'm intrigued. I wonder what it cost them to make it as I would like one.

I really think it's using a single original arcade board or MAME but still very cool to see.

drokz2021-08-22 06:03:18

 

[Guests]

So seems i was mostly correct.

The MX5 is actually a real, fully operational car. The arcade car does not have the ability to flip up the head lights nor does it have a radiator installed.

It's definitely using the Japanese original Ridge Racer arcade ROM. I'd most certainly say MAME but perhaps it could be an actual board but i'm 99% sure it's pre-recorded for the scene. It appears to be on several screens shifted virtually.

The cabinet does look cool however the actual in car footage isn't real game play. It's pre-recorded so the car isn't even hooked up those wires seen in previous images were in car camera for the actors faces i believe or someone just had them laying around.

Very very cool scene regardless, it's on the first episode of season 2 if anyone wants to check it out. Be warned though it's NSFW/kids as the film itself it's quite erotic.

I'm still curious about the Full Scale Plus+ marquee... A planned LCD reboot? wishful thinking but stranger things have happened... Or maybe it's just a copyright issue. Who knows.

I think it's cool Namco helped with this, it may not be a proper cabinet with possibly just pre-recorded arcade or MAME gameplay as the controls he was inputting were completely off what happened on screen haha and in some game play it actually plays like the AI car's do into turns (anyone who has watched a PS1 attract mode for Ridge Racer will know what I mean by this) but it's still cool they did this.

drokz2021-08-22 08:47:32

 

[Guests]

One other thing I've noticed...

From looking at the pictures on the Facebook post. I see the white access door/panel to the transformers.

You may not know but a Full Scale machine in any non 120v country you need a big room behind the unit for a transformer to go from 120v to 240v. These things run at 3kw so you can imagine how big the transformer is. Especially one from 1993 (just remember how big a mega drive/SNES transformer is for console that uses about what, 8 watts?)

Again, the tech told me this on the day i went to do the records. Did they take these away with the machine?? As it won't function without them. Plug in it directly and it will cook everything. These were all made in japan and are all 120v. I don't see them in any of the pictures on Facebook in any of the vans so maybe someone made a mistake here and left them rendering the machine useless hence it's current treatment and potential scrapping. May explain why it never made it to the arcade museum too.

I also don't see the projectors anywhere either in the dismantling or in the vans. Gives me the impression they never intended to actually use it. The originals were huge so you wouldn't miss them but i know they converted to Epson digital projectors around 2015 so they could use LED bulbs and bring costs down. Sadly this did lead to input lag though.

Wish they had let someone have it who knew the significance of it and how to take good care of it.

drokz2021-08-22 09:07:12

 

[John Bennett]

It wouldn’t be surprising if it was given away free, if there was the promise of it being preserved in a museum. Sounds such a noble resting place for a machine like that....

It is worth saying there are still statements being made that it went to the museum, so I’ll cling onto that faint glimmer of hope.
Anyone asked the museum?

The LCD projectors would’ve been tiny. I doubt anything was plugged in when it was in the garden. Can all be fixed anyway. The only bit that’s unobtanium is any one of the identical video board with texture data on them. We have the rest. I’ll patch each texture to make it look right if I have to. Don’t encourage asshattery by paying for anything if this has been scrapped.

 

[John Bennett]

To add to that…
If the boards are made freely available for dumping, then I’ll gladly borrow a set and return them. That would go some way towards lessening the pain of this.

But if the boards appear with an inflated ‘last in the world’ price tag, then f**k that, I’m not emulating it.

 

[thegreathopper]

I have a couple of 15Kw Airlink transformers if anyone needs one for a Ridge Racer, not as big as you think but heavy about 18 inches cubed.

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/224549139999

One other thing I've noticed...

From looking at the pictures on the Facebook post. I see the white access door/panel to the transformers.

You may not know but a Full Scale machine in any non 120v country you need a big room behind the unit for a transformer to go from 120v to 240v. These things run at 3kw so you can imagine how big the transformer is. Especially one from 1993 (just remember how big a mega drive/SNES transformer is for console that uses about what, 8 watts?)

Wish they had let someone have it who knew the significance of it and how to take good care of it.

 

[Purity]

Have members of the forum not helped the museum before. Surely we have a contact? Next steps would surely be to contact someone at the museum and found out what has happened?

Also I'm sure the Blackpool Galaxian theatre went to X-Y man? I think Alpha1 has some of the parts. The rest of them are owned by X-Y man??

 

[Guests]

It wouldn’t be surprising if it was given away free, if there was the promise of it being preserved in a museum. Sounds such a noble resting place for a machine like that....

I think this is actually pretty likely to be honest.

Going back to this machine briefly. I think it further cements the fact that I was right about even japan not having any. There is a hell of a lot of effort gone into that when they could have used a normal Full Scale or just parts of one if they had one or knew of one.

The machine in question here really, really needs to make it's journey to the museum as it's our last example to the best of my knowledge and im pretty invested in Ridge Racer as you can tell. even back, 6 years a go there was nothing apart from Blackpool I looked everywhere i emailed all the big theme parks/arcades.

Not to say one isn't tucked away somewhere or say I'm right about everything (i hope I'm not quite honestly) perhaps there is one still in use but i really do doubt it. The fact boards can't be repaired anymore only makes the situation worse.

You could of course swap the ROM's over to a donor normal arcade board but honestly i have no idea if the video boards are the same on a normal PCB vs the Full Scale machine and considering it's mostly no 3D issues that pop up which points to the secondary video board dying (I've seen a video of one being repaired by this method) makes this even harder if not impossible if the FS PCB is different.

drokz2021-08-22 11:04:56

 

[NaokiS]

Have members of the forum not helped the museum before. Surely we have a contact? Next steps would surely be to contact someone at the museum and found out what has happened?

Also I'm sure the Blackpool Galaxian theatre went to X-Y man? I think Alpha1 has some of the parts. The rest of them are owned by X-Y man??

AFAIK the museum don't have anything, it's all stored in someone's garden. So no point contacting the museum in that regard.

 

[John Bennett]

It would be interesting to hear the museum’s side of this, I think.

The boardsets will be standard, just different texture data ROMs as it’s got some different menus and stuff (so it’s all jumbled up if you try and mix things).

 

[Purity]

It would be interesting to hear the museum’s side of this, I think.

I agree. I think you need the museum's perspective on this

 

[NaokiS]

It would be interesting to hear the museum’s side of this, I think.

The boardsets will be standard, just different texture data ROMs as it’s got some different menus and stuff (so it’s all jumbled up if you try and mix things).

I'd dump all three board sets and all the roms on it *to be sure*