Six Real Roller Coasters We Can’t Wait to Create – and Destroy – in ScreamRide

If you’ve ever played RollerCoaster Tycoon, Thrillville, or any similar game, you know how strangely satisfying it can be to recreate familiar coasters in a virtual world. And you probably also know how strangely satisfying it can be to create coasters that wreak havoc on their riders’ weak, human bodies. The developers of ScreamRide know that too, so they built a game that lets you create, ride and destroy coasters and thrill rides. It’s cool enough that you’ll be able to see the effects of your tinkering with physics on-the-fly; “Rider ejected!” appears to be a fairly common observation. But you’ll also be able to destroy everything in the park by bombarding the structures with what are essentially giant hamster wheels… packed with people. 

While we’ve been busy pushing the limits of what riders can handle, we’re looking forward to riding facsimiles of these six world-famous coasters, and then totally messing them up for maximum scream factor.

Kingda Ka
What it is: When it comes to coasters, height is king, and Kingda Ka – at Jackson, New Jersey’s Six Flags Great Adventure – is the king of height. A dizzying 456-foot hill makes for a 418-foot drop, both of which are world records held since 2005. And if that’s not enough, it’s also the second-fastest coaster in existence at a face-melting 128 mph, a speed reached three-and-a-half seconds after being launched from the station. The whole ride is only 28 seconds long, but those are 28 awesome seconds.

How we’ll tweak it: It’s simple. We remove the second half of the hill.

Formula Rossa
What it is: It’s worth noting that Kingda Ka lost its speed record only recently, with the opening of Formula Rossa at Ferrari World in Abu Dhabi, UAE. This puppy hits speeds over 20 mph faster: 149 mph, to be exact, achieved in five seconds. But unlike the brief up-and-down experience of Kingda Ka, Formula Rossa lasts a healthy minute-and-a-half, thanks to its ranking as the fifth-longest steel coaster: 6562 feet.

How we’ll tweak it: Double that length by stopping riders juuuust before the finish line and sending them backward through the whole thing again. At 149 mph.

Millennium Force
What it is: In the “total package” category, it’s hard to beat Millennium Force, at Cedar Point in Sandusky, Ohio. The fourth-longest steel coaster at 6595 feet, it also makes a bunch of other top 10 lists: sixth tallest (310 feet), sixth-tallest drop (300 feet), and seventh fastest (93 mph). Combine that with a lovely lakeside setting, and you have a recipe for one heck of a fun ride.

How we’ll tweak it: The trouble with 300-foot-plus “gigacoasters” is that the ride up the first hill is, of necessity, a quick one. We’d ratchet up rider anticipation by slowly decreasing the speed of the hill climb until the cars just inch over the top… and then the thrusters kick in.

The Beast
What it is: If wooden coasters are more your thing, there’s pretty much nothing better than The Beast, at King’s Island in Mason, Ohio. At 7359 feet (almost a mile and a half!) it’s the longest wooden coaster in the world by a wide margin (and only two steel coasters beat it in length). That makes for over four minutes of cruising through densely-wooded hillsides and tunnels. That time is even more impressive given that it’s also the ninth-fastest wooden coaster (65 mph) and the one with the 10th longest drop (141 feet).

How we’ll tweak it: One of The Beast’s major draws is its gorgeous setting. Let’s amp that up by transplanting the whole thing into the Grand Canyon. And by “into,” we mean “over.”

Goliath
What it is: For a more heart-pumping wooden experiences, check out the Goliath. Opened just last year at Six Flags Great America in Gurnee, Illinois, this monstrosity holds pretty much every record The Beast doesn’t. It’s the fastest wooden coaster at 72 mph, and the steepest at 85 degrees. It also holds the record for the longest wooden coaster drop at 180 feet, even though it’s only the fourth tallest at 165 feet (yes, it goes 15 feet underground, because why not?). If that’s not enough, it also features two inversions; for wooden coasters, the record is three.

How we’ll tweak it: Fifteen feet underground? Pshaw. Let’s make it 150. And then throw some corkscrews in there. And turn the lights off.

Takabisha
What it is: When it comes to coaster hills, there’s steep, there’s damn steep, and then there’s oh-God-we’re-all-going-to-die steep. So if you’re looking for something with a little more oomph, head on over to the Fuji-Q Highland Park in Fujiyoshida, Yamanashi, Japan. That’s home to Takabisha, the steepest coaster in the world at 121 degrees. “But wait,” you say, “isn’t 90 degrees straight up and down?” It is, indeed: Takabisha’s record-breaking drop actually curves under by 31 degrees before straightening out.

How we’ll tweak it: Takabisha’s designers simply weren’t thinking big enough. If going past the vertical can get you the record for steepest, let’s make that relatively-paltry under-curve into a full 360-degree external loop. Physics? What physics?

Play coaster deity now, only on ScreamRide for Xbox One and Xbox 360.