There was a sale at Electronics Boutique around the time I acquired my DS - a bunch of games for various systems for 2 for $AUS50. Amongst these games were DS Ridge Racer (and Pac Pix, but that's another story).. I've been a long time fan of the Ridge Racer series, to be honest with you - I loved the first one on PlayStation 1 (and still do), enjoyed RR Revolution and Rage Racer a hell of a lot, even respected the fact that Ridge Racer Type 4 existed, although I found it strangely disappointing. I could go on, but the point is, I'm a big Ridge Racer fan. I asked a bunch of my buddies about the game, and the universal response was "it's crap, not worth the effort". Hell, I asked the guy in an EB branch, and even he said "it's shit".
What do you think I did, given all this advice?
The good news is that I'm enjoying the heck out of it - great graphics and sound, the gameplay is very reminiscent of the original couple games (which is a good thing in my book). It's more or less a port of the Nintendo 64 version.. unfortunately, the touch screen controls are really difficult if not outright impossible to use - a steering wheel is represented on the screen, and you can move it with your finger/thumb strap/nose/etc, but good luck getting decent race results.
I hesitate to recommend it for a number of reasons, notwithstanding the limited amount of tracks and hence replay value.. but I still love it. Let's just say I'm glad I only paid $25 for it. Hell, pawn shops here in Australia charge more than that for second hand GBA or DS games.