When I worked at EB Games, we used to sell a range of PC titles in red boxes somewhat akin to the PlayStation Platinum range. One title we simply could not have enough stock of was Rollercoaster Tycoon 2, and we would sell an obscene amount of copies a month, despite the game being so old. I’ve always been a huge fan of Tycoon games myself, but admittedly, I skipped the RollerCoaster Tycoon series for no particular reason. RollerCoaster Tycoon Classic just dropped on the Nintendo Switch, offering both the first and second game in the series, along with a myriad of bonus content, so as you can imagine, I had to pick it up to give it a try. What’s It Like? Pack a lunch to save money, get in line, and you need to be this tall to ride as we review RollerCoaster Tycoon Classic on Nintendo Switch.
As mentioned, RollerCoaster Tycoon is a rather generous offering that includes RollerCoaster Tycoon 1 & 2, the Toolkit, Wacky Worlds, and Time Twister expansion packs. It should be noted that some of the real theme parks included in the originals have been cut, most likely due to licensing issues, although the range of “Six Flags” Parks is included. Regardless, there’s a lot of gameplay here to keep you occupied. The game puts you in the boots of a Theme Park construction mogul whose job it is to get through a whopping 95 scenarios. Sandbox mode is absent for some reason, but once you complete your scenario, there’s really no limitation on gameplay. You will manage all aspects of the park from maintenance staff, ride prices, cleanliness, security, and of course, the rides themselves.
The most impressive part of this offering is really how the controls have been remapped almost perfectly to the Nintendo Switch. At the time of writing, there are no touchscreen controls, although Atari have announced that they are looking to implement them, but the controls themselves are intuitive and work well. Your right stick acts as a camera control while your left stick acts as a mouse pointer. You can click and drag windows and while the UI may be daunting for newcomers, the game tends to gently guide you as well as give you the ability to pause the game and catch your breath should things break down and you get overwhelmed. The beauty of Rollercoaster Tycoon is that it doesn’t immediately overload you with things to do, and tends to slowly unlock new rides and shops the more popular the park gets, making everything rather manageable, and there’s nothing better than hearing the satisfaction of the cash registers chiming while your park profits rise higher than your latest rollercoaster creation.
Speaking of which, creating roller coasters is a fairly simple affair, simply selecting a direction or piece of the coaster to progress tracks. There are some considerations to manage to ensure the ride is exciting, doesn’t make people sick, or worse… kill them. If you want to save time, you can also use prepackaged coasters that are a simple click-and-place design where all you have to do is connect the lines to a pathway. That’s really the whole joy of these games, once you get the hang of it, there’s a lot of simple fun to be had, and staring at your park as visitors bustle about never seems to bore. Managing visitor satisfaction boils down to making sure there are enough rides, and adjusting prices, food, toilets, and bins to ensure a tidy and safe park. Each ride has its own variables and you can adjust prices and speeds for maximum thrills and profits. You can run advertising campaigns to attract more visitors to your park as well as manage loan repayments to save on interest. You can go as in-depth as you like, or cruise along until you feel comfortable tackling the spreadsheets.
Graphically, the game does look dated, so it’s hard to score it by modern standards, but it retains the charm that it had back in its heyday as it hasn’t received visual updates in the gameplay window. What has had a major overhaul is the UI which is sharp and well thought out, making management a breeze. The rides all have unique animations, like a haunted house with a ghost popping out at the top, or the classic merry-go-round spinning away to riders’ delight. Each asset tends to have some great sound design and the more you build, the more your park comes alive. Rollercoasters are particularly fun to watch with visitors cheering or screaming as the coaster dips and curves, it’s just all very fun to watch. Performance is obviously solid with the exception of the framerate dipping on zoom out, mainly when cash totals appear on screen. Aside from this, there are no issues that detract from gameplay and it is a fairly refined experience. For my Park Designers looking into accessibility options, there are a few available that allow you to hide crowds and declutter your screen, but as always, I recommend further research into finding out if RollerCoaster Tycoon suits your needs.
At $37.50 AUD, there’s a whole lot of classic and amazing gameplay in this package. The gameplay mechanics can be as deep as you want them and it’s such great fun to create the park of your dreams. Despite the aging graphics, there’s a lot of charm and pixellated detail to be absorbed combined with great sound design that immerses you in your theme park. I finally understand why we couldn’t keep the value pack range of RollerCoaster Tycoon games on the shelf, and thankfully, Switch gamers won’t have to miss out either.
So, What’s it Like? Rollercoaster Tycoon is like Theme Park but with something extra special crafted in there.
