Way back when I was in high school I used a Blockbuster Video coupon to rent a PlayStation and two free games. One of them was Namco's Ridge Racer, and after only a few minutes of play I was instantly hooked and have been for nearly a decade, so when Namco announced plans to release Ridge Racer DS for Nintendo's latest hand held, I was intrigued. As soon as I played it I experienced a warm fuzzy feeling that reminded me of that special weekend many years ago.

If you're familiar with Ridge Racer 64 then you'll feel right at home with the DS game, as it's pretty much a straight port. That's not a bad thing because the N64 classic was one of the system's best third party games, and it's been perfectly translated to the Nintendo DS. All of the thrills, intense speed, and maddening AI difficulty are here and they all combine to form the best DS racing title, but it wouldn't matter what system the game is on because it would still be a fun to play and adrenaline-powered experience.

After a brief cinematic you're treated to the game's main menu. Ridge Racer DS only has a handful of modes to play but each is fairly satisfying. If you don't have the time to tinker with the color of your car and don't care where you race you can opt for Quick Play, though the game's Grand Prix is the meat of Ridge Racer and far more enjoyable. It's here where you'll win trophies and unlock cars and tracks. The game features 20 tracks, each of which is based on the game's three locations: Ridge Racer Classic (the track from the PSOne original), Revolution Northwest, and Renegade Southwest. Each is easily distinguishable and features all sorts of twists and turns, but it may take you quite a while to see them all because in order to progress you'll need to come in first place all of the time, a requirement that's both a blessing and a curse, because while this makes Ridge Racer DS a challenging game, its maddening difficulty is at times extremely frustrating.

Like all Ridge Racer games, the DS version features all sorts of fast cars, each with different attributes including Speed, Acceleration, Handling, and Grip. You start out with four but will unlock more as you go, and you can easily change the color of your ride by pressing either the right or left trigger. After that it's simply a matter of selecting Manual or Automatic transmission and you're ready to race.

Actually, that's not entirely true, because there's something you need to decide long before you enter Grand Prix Mode, and that's how you want to control your car. The best way involves using the D-pad to steer and the face buttons to brake and accelerate, but Namco threw in two other modes that make use of the DS's touch screen. All of the action is viewed on the top screen, while the bottom shows time, your best lap record, lap time, a gear indicator, and a rather large steering wheel. Using a stylus, you can steer by rotating the wheel 360 degrees and the result is anything but fun. Innovative, yes, but it's a frustrating experience because the cars are all over the place. It's possible to keep them steady after LOTS of practice, but the learning curve is a huge turn off and makes the game harder than it should be.

The final control scheme involves using the thumb strap to simulate analog control. It certainly works, but it also requires you to work harder to turn the steering wheel, and while it's more precise than using the stylus, still results in lots of crashes, so I appreciate the fact that Namco went out of its way to give me different options. However, the d-pad is by far the most comfortable of the three schemes.

Rounding out the game's single player modes are Car and Time Attack. Car Attack lets you unlock new rides by defeating a souped up AI opponent, while Time Attack just plops you onto a track all by yourself and you can hone your skills as well as beat your best times. They're both enjoyable, but with Car Attack, like the rest of the game, you're going to need to race almost flawlessly to keep winning.

If you run across other people who have a Nintendo DS you can challenge them to multiplayer matches. Utilizing the system's wireless functionality, Ridge Racer DS lets up to six people battle it out across the game's tracks, and the best part is you only need one game chip! However, in single-card play, there aren't a lot of cars and tracks to choose from, so in order to experience the game as it was meant to be played, all of the players involved will need to own a copy. As for how it plays, Ridge Racer DS is just as fast and smooth as it is offline, and it's very easy setting up games.

For the most part, the game's a blast to play. It's not glitchy, runs great, and provides an awesome sensation of speed, but it also suffers from what made the first Ridge Racer on the PSOne annoying, in that it's too easy to careen off a wall and lose the race. This is a huge problem at the outset, because since you'll start at the back there's a few seconds where all of these cars are jockeying for position and crashing is something that isn't easily avoided. It got to the point where I was convinced that the AI was intentionally getting in my way. I wouldn't mind as much if I could easily recover, but Ridge Racer DS is a very unforgiving game. There were numerous times where I thought I raced perfectly but only wound up in second place with the leader nowhere in sight. As I previously mentioned, the game doesn't think too highly of coming in second, so it's back to the beginning where yet another series of crashes and wall bumps may immediately take you out of the running.

Ridge Racer DS's graphics can best be summed up as "I've got good news, and I've got bad news." The bad news is the game looks exactly like an N64 game. The cars and tracks aren't as detailed as the upcoming Ridge Racers for the Sony PSP. However, the good news is the game is still pretty easy on the eyes. The environments and cars look great given the hardware, and the speed at which the game plays more than makes up for its visual shortcomings.

The same goes for the game's soundtrack. It's not as impressive as the music found in other Ridge Racer games but it's certainly appropriate. You're able to select which track you'd like to hear a few seconds before races start, and each song captures the Ridge Racer feel.

Even though the touch screen controls are terrible Ridge Racer DS is still a fantastic game. It looks great and plays even better, and if you're looking for a new DS title to add to your library it comes highly recommended. Asphalt Urban GT may look prettier, but Ubisoft should've known better than to challenge Namco's legendary series. Super fast and wildly intense, Ridge Rader DS leaves its competition in the dust.