Ram Racing (Wii and Nintendo DS): Dodge Ram Truck Racing Game

Ram Racing is a truck racing game that Storm City Games brought out for the Nintendo Wii and the Nintendo DS in autumn 2011, built around Dodge Ram pickups. The ESRB entry describes it as a racing simulation where players compete against others in timed contests on a range of tracks, and rates it E for Everyone with no descriptors.

Overview

The pitch is brand-led. VGChartz carries a short description of the Wii game that talks up the Ram line as a powerful name and invites players to drive either classic models or a new edition, adding that the trucks have won “Truck of the Year” awards. In practical terms the game is a licensed vehicle racer: the trucks are the draw, the tracks are the backdrop.

The same VGChartz page lists the content in numbers. There are 7 racing environments, 25 race events and 7 Ram trucks, along with split-screen multiplayer on the Wii. No review scores are listed for either version on that page, and nothing in the sources used here gives a critic verdict.

Release and credits

Wikipedia’s list of Wii games dates the North American release to 12 October 2011 and gives 22 April 2012 for PAL regions, where Enjoy Gaming is the named publisher. VGChartz also prints 12 October 2011 for the United States. The Dolphin emulator wiki disagrees, listing North America on 7 December 2011 and Europe on 22 April 2012.

Developer credit differs as well. Wikipedia names Visual Impact as the Wii developer, and the Dolphin wiki repeats that. VGChartz instead prints Storm City Entertainment in the developer field. On the DS side, Wikipedia lists Storm City Games in both the developer and publisher columns, again with 12 October 2011 for North America.

The ESRB lists Storm City Entertainment as the publisher on both its Wii and its DS entries, while Wikipedia and VGChartz use Storm City Games. The two names appear to refer to one company, but each source is reported here as it prints them.

Reception

Neither VGChartz nor the Dolphin wiki carries review scores for the Wii version, and the Dolphin wiki’s only note is that the game is rated playable on the emulator with no reported problems. No professional review of either edition was located, so the page stops short of any verdict.

Can you still play it?

Probably the simplest route is a physical copy, because both editions were retail releases. A Wii disc plays on the Wii and in the Wii U’s Wii Mode, which needs a Sensor Bar for most software; the console is region-coded, so a North American disc suits a North American machine. The DS card works in the DS, DS Lite and DSi and in the Nintendo 3DS family’s DS mode, and carries no region lock for ordinary cards.

Nintendo shut the Wii Shop Channel on 30 January 2019 and the Wii U and 3DS eShop on 27 March 2023, though neither shutdown touches a boxed copy.