RollerCoaster Tycoon Classic is coming to Nintendo Switch in December

Atari has announced that they are bringing the PC classic mega-hit RollerCoaster Tycoon to Switch on December 5. RollerCoaster Tycoon Classic will contain both the first game, its immediate sequel. I’m going to assume it also has the second game’s expansions, Wacky Worlds and Time Twister, but the PR doesn’t say it. Uh, yep. Says so on the store page.

It’s funny timing. My sister texted me the other day telling me that my nephew has a new interest in roller coasters and asked if I had any recommendations for one on Switch or iOS. I recommended RollerCoaster Tycoon 3 Complete on Switch, but now that the original is coming I… probably still would recommend RollerCoaster Tycoon 3 Complete. He’s 12, he doesn’t care about the real classics. Yet.

I actually spent a lengthy amount of time in the late ‘90s playing RollerCoaster Tycoon. It’s one of the rare times my parents bought me a PC game (they were afraid I’d fill up the “memory,” which I probably would have). I remember quite a few mornings being vegetative in front of the screen. It’s also the game that taught me the word “queue.” I still play it occasionally, but did you know Parkitect is a pretty great successor?

RollerCoaster Tycoon is a management game where you’re given the task of building and running amusement parks. It’s a lot like Theme Park, but much deeper and with a set of tools that allow you to design your own roller coasters. It was programmed by the legendary Chris Sawyer and is interesting in the convincing way it simulates physics, right down to the G-force that the passengers are feeling. It was initially released in 1999, but the only place you can feel that beyond the graphics are in how slow it can sometimes feel to progress.

Each area you build on has an objective to complete, which is usually “Have so many people in the park” and “have this park rating” in a set number of years. You have to not only manage how profitable you rides and stalls are, but also your reputation. If you kill a bunch of people on a poorly conceived ride, some will be hesitant to visit. My favorite was creating one of those drop towers with too short of a shaft and cranking up the thrust to send the riders screaming into space.

As for how it will adjust to console controllers. According to Atari, “Our partners at Graphite Lab did an amazing job translating RCT Classic’s detailed keyboard-based controls to controller input.” I can see it working fun, since it’s grid-based. The only thing I’m having trouble imagining is the terrain deformation tools that allow you to grab and raise specific corners of a tile. We’ll see, I guess.

RollerCoaster Tycoon Classic is coming to Nintendo Switch on December 5, 2024 for $24.99. It is currently available on PC and mobile platforms.