Rollercoaster Tycoon
In November 2016, after months of Alpha, Atari finally released the latest version of Rollercoaster Tycoon for the PC. It was, put simply, an unmitigated disaster.
Upon the initial announcement, fans were delighted. After so many years, they were finally getting a fresh instalment in a highly beloved gaming franchise. One that was massively overdue. When the Alpha launched, despite it being in a very poor state, fans were still moderately optimistic that it would all work out in the end.
After months of disappointing updates, however, fans started to get exceptionally (and rightly) concerned over the state of development. Put simply, the game not only looked bad but played worse.
Certainly, the highly-publicised Planet Coaster, which was being created in tandem didn’t help them much. Even so, Planet Coaster looked so much better.
Atari certainly didn’t help matters by deciding, against any logical advice, to release the week before Planet Coaster. It was the final nail in the coffin, the game was panned in favour of the massively superior (in every way) alternative and the rest (was) history.
Fans Enraged
Fans of Rollercoaster Tycoon were disappointed, and rightly so. On the plus side, they had Planet Coaster to go to, but many, including myself, had faith that RCT would at least be competent.
Nearly a year on, the pain has eased, but the wounds still ache. In a decision, however, that will add fresh salt, Atari has announced a crowdfunding page specifically to fund a port to the Nintendo Switch.
In the pitch, while mentioning the excellent predecessors, the fiasco of RCT 2016 is not mentioned once, it is neatly swept under the carpet in the hopes that everyone might have forgotten.
Well, in a report via Eurogamer, it’s not forgotten by any of the fans. As a fan, myself, at the lack of any suitable (and clean) wording, let’s just say I’m not very happy either.
You can visit the crowdfunding page here, but personally, I only did so out of morbid curiosity. This franchise, under current ownership, deserves to die.
While I think a Nintendo Switch version could work, at this point, I’m bitter. I don’t want it to. Atari doesn’t deserve it to succeed. Not after how they treated it so badly.
What do you think? Are you a fan of RCT? What did you think of the most recent PC game? Think a Nintendo Port could save it? – Let us know in the comments!
