Cancelled 1990s PS1 Game Stealth Released on PS4 and PS5
A cancelled 1990s PS1 game has been stealth-released on PS4 and PS5, and other platforms. Back in 1994, Namco — before it merged with Bandai and became known as Bandai Namco — released an arcade racer that was then announced for PS1 in 1995, with the expectation of releasing somewhere between 1995 and 1996. This never happened, which kept the Namco game exclusive to arcades for decades. This, in turn, made it very hard to access in the modern era. Now, this is no longer the case.
Japanese developer Hamster Corporation — which specializes in porting classic and often forgotten arcade and console games from the 1990s and 1980s — has stealth-released Ace Driver on PS4 and PS5, in addition to Nintendo Switch, Nintendo Switch 2, and Xbox Series X. In other words, every modern and semi-modern piece of major hardware minus the Xbox One and PC. On PS4 and Nintendo Switch, the nostalgic re-release is notably cheaper at $14.99. On modern consoles, it is $16.99. This is a bit higher than most Hamster Corporation releases, and it is unclear why. Whatever the case, it follows a PS1 exclusive game from 1998 being re-released by Hamster Corporation just last week.
For those unfamiliar with this classic, it was initially only released in Japan in 1994, but came West in 1995. Inspired by Namco’s Final Lap series, it puts you behind the wheel of a Formula 1 car with the objective of completing three laps of a race while avoiding various obstacles and the competition. Upon release, it achieved both substantial critical and commercial success, being hailed as one of the best arcade games of its year. While not as popular or well-known as Sega’s Daytona USA or fellow Namco series Ridge Racer, many racing game enthusiasts from this time argue it was the best of this commonly compared trio. That said, just like these other two series, it’s largely dormant and has been for a long time. It got two sequels: Ace Driver: Victory Lap in 1995 and Ace Driver 3: Final Turn in 2008, and it’s been crickets since.
Racing Fans Are Excited
As you would expect, those who grew up on games like this are excited to see it back. To this end, the trailer above has nearly 300 likes and not a single dislike. That said, this is very much a nostalgia driven release. This isn’t to say the racing game doesn’t hold up. Like many arcade racers from this time, it holds up quite well, and much better than most games from this era. Still, it’s a primitive racer compared to modern ones, and for that reason alone, it can be hard to travel back in time and play it without at least nostalgia for racing games of this era.
You will need $15 to $17 to play this PS1 classic, at least at launch. For those after PS1 nostalgia on an empty wallet, a Capcom PS1 game was released on the PlayStation Store this week, and it’s free for some.