Building and managing your own theme park is a very engaging experience that makes RollerCoaster Tycoon one of the most successful simulation games of all time and a consistent fan favorite. As you'd expect, the game is stuffed to the gills with many different transport modes, flat rides, and water features.
Of course, what they have most of is roller coasters. They are by far the main attraction and you can spend hours choosing the perfect coaster to place in your thriving amusement park. One of the game's best features is the ability to build these rides from scratch, and learning which coasters are the best ones to pick is a crucial skill.
10 Mine Train Coaster
Many veterans of the series will recognize this coaster from Dynamite Dunes, one of the first parks they will have ever played. The Mine Train Coaster remains a great choice to this day thanks to its compact track and awesome theming.
This coaster is rather like the Wooden Roller Coaster, but this one has an emphasis on smoothness and speed that the more classical brethren lacks. Using underground segments to increase this coaster's Excitement works terribly well and just feels right for a mine train.
9 Air Powered Vertical Coaster
Thanks to its high Excitement ratings and compact designs, the Air Powered Vertical Coaster is an attractive choice for any scenario where it is available. This launched coaster sends its train zooming upwards at terrific speeds, so banked turns when it comes back down are required.
Not only is this coaster compact, but it's quite easy to build too. There's no need for elaborate designs or space-hogging inversions; this coaster will be a decent moneymaker all on its own.
8 Wooden Roller Coaster
One of the classics of RollerCoaster Tycoon. The Wooden Roller Coaster is a great choice for any park where you have a lot of space and a lot of money to spend. These coasters are rickety but make for great rides for thrill-seekers.
One way to make Wooden Roller Coasters even better is to make them duel with another coaster of the same type -- this accentuates their Excitement score and will let you earn even more money as guests flock to that part of the park. Don't forget to add On-Ride Photos to boost your finances!
7 Looping Roller Coaster
Veterans of the franchise will remember this coaster as the Steel Roller Coaster in the first installment. This ride is fantastically flexible. You can make very short, launched rides, longer looping coasters, and even mammoth dueling coasters with the Looping Roller Coaster.
This ride is a standard classic for players, as it is relatively inexpensive compared to the potential it has for Excitement and Intensity. Adding inversions is an easy way to boost up the price of entry, and it's a great ride for learning the basics of roller coaster construction. With this coaster, you'll be a great tycoon in no time.
6 Corkscrew Roller Coaster
This coaster is rather similar to the Looping Roller Coaster, but it differs in a few ways. Most obviously, it trades some of the Looping Coaster's flexibility for a higher maximum height, which allows for greater top speeds.
This coaster specializes in inversions, most notably the corkscrew for which it is named. You should take care to add enough inversions to these tracks without going overboard, lest you end up with a park full of vomit and nervous guests. While this coaster has a penchant for taking up more room than the Looping Roller Coaster, it is still well worth considering for your park.
5 Hypercoaster
Height is the name of the game when it comes to the Hypercoaster. This ride can reach 220ft in the air and will reach terribly high speeds as a result, making for very Intense, yet very Exciting experiences. While these coasters are expensive, you can quite comfortably compensate for this by charging quite a lot for tickets.
Along with the Giga Coaster, the Hypercoaster is perhaps the most space-hogging ride in the game.
As a result, they are often best built in the air over your other rides, or utilizing underground sections when the former isn't a viable strategy. Nevertheless, when a Hypercoaster is available to you, it's not an easy decision to turn it away.
4 Vertical Drop Roller Coaster
Vertical track pieces aren't available to many roller coasters, and they are usually only on coasters where verticality is the only thing it has going for it (such as the Air Powered Vertical Coaster and the Inverted Impulse Coaster).
What makes the Vertical Drop Roller Coaster stand out is that it can largely be built like any other normal coaster, but can use vertical drops to save space and build up tremendous amounts of speed. It also has the fun option of letting guests hang over the precipice of a vertical drop for a few seconds to increase their tension and subsequently, the coaster's Excitement rating.
3 Inverted Roller Coaster
The draw of the Inverted Roller Coaster is the fact that the guests' legs are dangling down beneath their seats. As a result, this coaster does take up more space vertically, but it gets an inflated Excitement score to compensate for this.
Building one of these coasters is much like any others -- you just add inversions and satisfying drops for Excitement and make sure you bank your bends. Take note that these coasters also cause quite a bit of Nausea so you may need to place some First Aid Rooms, and know that Inverted Coasters are a welcome addition to any park lacking in thrills.
2 Giga Coaster
Take the height of the Hypercoaster... and now add more. This gigantic roller coaster can reach a terrifying 420ft and is the ride of choice for guests who want to know what it feels like to fly. Like the Hypercoaster, this ride is expensive and can take up a lot of room if you want to reach the highest Excitement score, but it's worth it when you get to see the majesty of a completed Giga Coaster.
One neat feature is the Cable Lift that this coaster can use. It will greatly speed up the usually arduous trip up a huge lift hill by dragging the coaster's train quickly to the top. This makes the ride not take too long and is a welcome addition.
1 Twister Roller Coaster
Previously named the Steel Twister Roller Coaster, this ride specializes in inversions like the Corkscrew Roller Coaster, but it's even better at it. Utilizing huge track pieces like the Half Loop and Large Loop, the Twister Roller Coaster is fantastic for satisfying guests who just need to be upside down at high speeds.
Apart from being quite aesthetically pleasing, this coaster is surprisingly compact and versatile thanks to the sheer range of track pieces you can build into it. The only negative might be the high need for speed that many of the larger inversions require but it's well worth the price of entry (which will be high for guests thanks to the high Excitement rating!).