Great rides that just lack… something

[Hyde]

Like others, trying to think of middling coasters a few clicks behind their desired level:

• Phantom’s Revenge - maybe it’s the relatively short length? Maybe it’s the trains? A great ride that could have more.
• Iron Gwazi - it doesn’t match the scale of SV, but is so close.
• VelociCoaster - another new Florida coaster; likewise not #1, probably because of just a bit less speed, less airtime, etc.
• Banshee - I write this after having most recently ridden Montu; B&M Inverts have almost devolved since the golden 90s.

 

[Indy]

B&M Inverts have almost devolved since the golden 90s.

This.

While I quite like Banshee, there is no denying that it doesn't have the same power as mid-90s inverts like Nemesis, Montu, Raptor, or the Batman clones. The post-90s installations seemed to slowly drop off in intensity and general quality. The only one that I've experienced that I would consider to be truly great is Black Mamba.

 

[Hyde]

This.

While I quite like Banshee, there is no denying that it doesn't have the same power as mid-90s inverts like Nemesis, Montu, Raptor, or the Batman clones. The post-90s installations seemed to slowly drop off in intensity and general quality. The only one that I've experienced that I would consider to be truly great is Black Mamba.

In a weird way, I’ve actually come back around on Raptor. While we were all dogging it as lacking around the early 2000s, if anything the quality of B&M has really shown through as it’s gotten older, compared to newer builds. My biggest worry is that these coasters not be up-kept, or have track maintained, leading to a Dueling Dragons fate where they would simply be torn down.

 

[Christian]

I think it's B&M becoming comfortable with their winning concept. Any B&M that a park buys will be a crowd pleaser and a really reliable ride. Better to build a smoother more "boring" invert than something that becomes very rough and needs to be torn down after a couple of decades.

I cant blame them. Look at my home park Liseberg. Helix and Valkyria always have almost the same lines. One is a ground-breaking masterpiece where it's designers really had to think outside of the box and innovate and it's arguably the best ride Mack has ever produced. The other is a reliable more or less copy and paste ride. To be fair Valkyria has some nice theming but otherwise it's barely any different from other drop coasters. The GP love them both and I know loads who prefer Valkyria for it's height and butter smoothness.