#22 – Coaster

I wasn’t always a fan of roller coasters.

When I was a little boy they terrified me. I think my mother took me on one and in my mind that would be the last time I would ever ride one.

I remember seeing Space Mountain at Walt Disney World and thinking to myself “no way!”

Sometime around fifteen years old that changed. I was at Marriott’s Great America in Gurnee, Illinois, with my best friend, Peter Altner, and I was feeling particularly adventurous.

I road every single ride in the park that day. Not only did I tackle the roller coasters that did full three-sixty loops, but I went on the ride where the floor falls out and others that tossed you like a piece of popcorn in a microwave bag.

I loved it.

And when computer technology came of age so that you could ride on a virtual roller coaster, I was all over it.

The year was 1993.

The publisher was Disney Software.

The game was called, what else… Coaster.

Sure, the graphics were primitive. And yes, the sound was weak.

But this was an opportunity to design and ride your own coaster in 3D!

I was hooked. I spent hours on end designing all kinds of crazy coasters, putting myself in the front seat and hitting the GO button.

If you sat close enough to the monitor you could actually begin to believe you were riding. Well, you had to move in your seat a little bit to make the effects more realistic.

If I were honest (and I am), I would have to tell you that I probably put my hands in the air a few times while riding. Hey, no one was watching!

Disney’s Coaster is the father of the entire coaster genre. It led to classics such as Theme Park and the Rollercoaster Tycoon series.

And while those others were far more advanced graphically and in terms of gameplay, I never will forget my first virtual ride on Coaster.

Check out the video below to see what the gameplay experience was like.