PS1 Ridge Racer insert music CD while playing?

[Draven]

My friend had a PS1 when they first came out and he had a racing game for it that he could open the console, remove the game, and insert a CD to listen to while playing and the tracks would be listed at the bottom (to give you an idea of how long ago it was our CD of choice happened to be X Games Vol. 1). Was that Ridge Racer? Anyone else try this and it works or was this PlayStation different in some way? Why can't we do this with all CD based games?

[chrisbid]

yes, it was ridge racer

and i like to be a weirdo and put in daytona usa for the saturn as the soundtrack cd.

[PapaStu]

It's Ridge Racer. The whole game can load onto the systems RAM, so you can in essence pop the door and play as well.

[j_factor]

I don't think that's the only game that allows you to do this. But, to answer your question, the reason you can't do this with all CD games is because most CD-ROM games continually (or at least periodically) need to access data. Ridge Racer loads the whole game (essentially) into the system RAM, and from that point only reads from the CD for redbook music.

[Draven]

Great. No one ever believed me on that. I had started doubting that it even happened. Once again, thanks for clarifying!!!

[fahlim003]

yes, it was ridge racer

and i like to be a weirdo and put in daytona usa for the saturn as the soundtrack cd.

This is a very awesome thing to do. A combination of two of the best games in that era and a good combination no less as the other way around would be a little pointless. Cool idea all the same.

[skaar]

They sorta had that in more modern stuff by allowing mp3 playlists during 360 games - the only time I used it was playing that online poker game... but still, neat.

In the early days of Genesis emulation I remember playing Shining Force with Prodigy's Fat of the Land in the drive (no sound for the emulators yet ;))

[Clownzilla]

I always thought it would be nice if Sony made a PSX with two CD drives. One for the game and the other for music or expansion packs. It would obviously be useless on today's systems but it would of been nice to have back in the days of PSX.

[Clownzilla]

They sorta had that in more modern stuff by allowing mp3 playlists during 360 games - the only time I used it was playing that online poker game... but still, neat.

In the early days of Genesis emulation I remember playing Shining Force with Prodigy's Fat of the Land in the drive (no sound for the emulators yet ;))

It's pretty relaxing "cruising" on GT4 or Burnout with a self-made play list. I hope Microsoft keeps their in-game MP3 option in:)

[Haoie]

If there were any other titles [other platforms too] that allowed this, do list them here.

[Kevincal]

I don't know why anyone would want to put another CD in, in place of Ridge Racer's music... Ridge Racer music freaking ROCKS! :D I LOVE that soundtrack...

lol But I do remember back in September 1995... I bought a PS on launch day and RR shortly thereafter. A friend came over and told me about the disc swap thing, which I didn't even know about... Guess what he put in? MICHAEL JACKSON! LOL... ;) I forget which song exactly it was though...

[CelticJobber]

It probably wasn't good for the system, but I used to swap out Sega CD games before Playstation even came out. I remember playing Sonic CD with Nirvana's In Utero, but you had to swap the discs back before the end of the level or the game would freeze.

[Push Upstairs]

It's pretty relaxing "cruising" on GT4 or Burnout with a self-made play list. I hope Microsoft keeps their in-game MP3 option in:)

"Custom Soundtrack" option is part of the reason I bought an XBOX.

I loaded up both discs of "Prodigy Experience Expanded" in Burnout 3....a billion times better than the stock soundtrack.

[thetoxicone]

I also used to do the ridge racer switch but if I remember correctly the music track would sometimes end before the race and you'd be left with silence for part of a race.

[exit]

I remember throwing in CDs while playing Quake on my old PC and listened to whatever tracks would play by default. I found this out by accident when I loaded up the game and whatever CD I had in there at the time would start playing, took me a minute to realize what was going on.

[Nebagram]

I could've sworn this also worked on Ridge Racer Revolution, but I could be wrong- definitely worked for more than one PSX game though. Never tried it myself, but it is fun playing Excite Truck on the Wii whilst listening to Faith No More. :)

[Rogmeister]

Yes, sometimes it wouldn't play a track right from the beginning and it would end early so that was an oddity. It wouldn't work right with every CD. For myself, I always liked playing to the music from the soundtrack of Superman.

[c0ldb33r]

It also worked for the original Wipeout, although you need to replace the original CD when you beat a level.

I liked popping in the Star Wars soundtrack while playing that first Canadian course. :)

[Haoie]

While we're here, isn't this practice really bad for the machine itself? Or more harmful to the CD?

[kedawa]

No, not at all.

Can the Ridge Racer 60fps disc do this as well.

[R.Sakai]

Can the Ridge Racer 60fps disc do this as well.

I just checked both the 30 and 60fps versions on that disk and they both work great. This was on a 60GB PS3 however, so mileage may vary :)

(btw, Type 4 is still one of the most stylish, solid games I've ever played. Game still makes me geek the hell out.)

/edit: The emulation on type 4 is still busted :( They fixed the graphics during one of one of the last updates it looks like, but the sound still cuts in and out.

[R.Sakai]

And holy crap, now that I remember, there was an article in EGM talking with some dude and two chicks from Namco japan about the psx (before it came out) and ridge racer, and how awesome the dev thought it was you could do this. It was 'by design'.

So, I pulled out the TG-CD, and Final lap twin. Pop a cd in the cd player, press play, hit select when you get into game, and instant custom soundtrack on the turbo, I thought it was great :)

[chrisbid]

While we're here, isn't this practice really bad for the machine itself? Or more harmful to the CD?


i don't see how, the entire game loads into ram, then the console simply plays redbook audio from whatever cd is in the machine at single speed

[shopkins]

After I found out about the Ridge Racer thing used to try this trick with just about every game that I rented during the PSX era. It worked for a surprising number of them, although you usually had to put the game CD in before the next level loaded.

I want to say it worked in a limited way with the original GTA and that changing tracks on the radio could change tracks on the CD, but don't hold me to that because it was a long time ago and my memories are fuzzy.

I do specifically remember trying it and getting it to work, in a limited way, in Crime Killer.

[PentiumMMX]

I remember doing this on PC with Sonic & Knuckles Collection. I'd load the game, disable the music and sound effects in the options, swap the game disc for a random music CD, and rock out while playing Sonic 3 & Knuckles.