--- title: "Leaked Ridge Racer 8 Footage for Nintendo Switch Finally Emerges" date: "2025-04-07" modified: "2025-04-07" authors: - name: "Adam Ismail" job_title: "Senior Editor" link: "https://www.thedrive.com/authors/adam-ismail" url: "https://www.thedrive.com/news/leaked-ridge-racer-8-footage-for-nintendo-switch-finally-emerges" categories: - "Culture" - "News" - "Video Games" --- # Leaked Ridge Racer 8 Footage for Nintendo Switch Finally Emerges ![Screenshot of unreleased Ridge Racer game for Nintendo Switch.]() *\Nenkai via YouTube\* Someday, I do believe we will get a new *Ridge Racer*. Gaming franchises rarely stay dead forever, [even niche ones](). Unfortunately, that day isn't today, though never-before-seen footage of a *Ridge Racer* title that was reportedly in development for the Nintendo Switch, dating back to 2017, has just emerged. If nothing else, it demonstrates that Bandai Namco has attempted to revive the arcade-racing great in recent years—it just hasn't panned out yet. On Sunday, [a thread in the Gaming Leaks and Rumors subreddit]() included this prototype *Ridge Racer* build in a pile of unreleased software purportedly ripped from a development kit—Switch hardware that developers use to make games. Since then, clips of it in action have been posted online from multiple sources, including [X user Jesse Young]() and [Nenkai on YouTube](). The latter video, embedded below, shows everything from the game's front end to replays of a race. Aspects of this build, like the menus, do seem relatively polished, and the game appears primarily composed of content from the last mainline entry in the series, released for the PS Vita. Cars and tracks will be familiar to anyone who played that 2011 title. There's a customization suite, but it's limited to non-cosmetic performance upgrade trees and the ability to repaint cars. The Grand Prix campaign consists of a short series of individual races, not unlike *Ridge Racers* on the PSP. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uZ2jqn_rJB0 Once we get into a race, though, it becomes clear that Bandai Namco Singapore, the team reportedly responsible for this canceled game, still had plenty of work to do. Every *Ridge Racer* has an announcer, but the placeholder here sounds like the female version of Microsoft Sam, is weirdly low in the mix, and also never shuts up over three laps. The collision system is obviously extremely wonky, with the player car bouncing haphazardly while drifting and driving up inclines. Audio is delayed and tinny, the lighting is bugged, and environmental objects pop in and out of view. It's a mess. Rumors of this game first began swirling about seven years ago, when a Bandai Namco Singapore designer who worked on "Ridge Racer 8" [listed it in their resume](). This coincided with reports at the time that [the same studio was behind *Metroid Prime 4*](); since then, it's been understood that Namco's version of that game was canceled, and work was restarted under Retro Studios. *Metroid Prime 4: Beyond* is finally set to launch on Switch and [Switch 2]() later this year. https://twitter.com/resethepicture/status/1909086888616747239 This curious take on *Ridge Racer*, though, wasn't so lucky. Personally, I heard a rumor years back (from a source that shall remain nameless) that Bandai Namco was working on a new *Ridge Racer*, built in Unreal Engine 5, targeting the PlayStation 5's launch in 2020. That didn't pan out either, but seeing as how this Switch version was reportedly built in Unreal Engine 4, perhaps that work was salvaged and carried over to next-gen hardware at some stage before it was nixed again. Unless we get more information from someone involved, we can't know for sure. What we do know is that Namco's classic arcade racer nearly came back on Nintendo's outgoing console, and the results appear to be, well, strange. Of course, it's difficult to say anything definitive about pre-release footage of any game, but the way the cars move and the loose nature of the chase-view camera feel very un-Ridge Racer. The gameplay resembles less of a true step forward for the franchise and more of an attempt to recreate the dynamics of every *Ridge Racer* going back to the PSP entries in a new engine. It looks like an approximation of the past built with new tools. ![]() ![]() ![]() But that's just a surface-level take; who's to say what this effort could've become? As a longtime fan, all I can say is that I hope that when *Ridge Racer* does eventually return, it does so with true conviction and an understanding of what made the series great in the first place, rather than another rearranging of the same furniture. The sublime artistic vision and world-building of *R4* and *Rage Racer* come to mind, as do *[Ridge Racer V's]()* meticulously crafted physics. *Ridge Racer* deserves to come back when it's ready, and nothing less. *Got any tips on what became of this canceled Ridge Racer game? Drop me a line at adam.ismail@thedrive.com* ## Author Adam is a Senior Editor at The Drive, concentrating on curating and developing the site's slate of daily journalism, from initial pitch to final copy edit. When he's not at his desk researching leads and working with writers, he's testing vehicles or reviewing racing games, new and old. He joined The Drive in 2023, following seven years of covering consumer technology and cars. A car lover and gamer since his earliest memories, Adam came to know the automotive world through video games. First it was Daytona USA, Sega Rally, and Ridge Racer; then came Need For Speed, which inspired an encyclopedic knowledge of '90s supercars, and, of course, Gran Turismo. If not for them, he'd assuredly be doing something else right now. Adam is based in the suburbs outside Philly, where there are ample roads for his hot hatch to stretch its legs. In his car, he's probably listening to indie rock, drum and bass, or Yankees baseball. ### Author social links [Bluesky]() [Instagram]() [LinkedIn]()