Aloha friends! 

So I was reading some more threads specifically the one by The_Coaster_Creator and noticed how many people play RCT and RCT2 still. When I joined the whole roller coaster building community, RCT3 had just come out so immediately bought that because it was the next new cool thing and also was 3D! So I never got a chance to play any of the classics! But as I've been playing Parkitect, I find my self-liking taking a break every once and a while from the super sexy graphics of Planet Coaster and 3D elements of the newer games and playing a classic 2D game. So I was curious, What do you guys all like about those classic games so much that keeps them alive in the forums today!? And also is it too late to start playing those games? I would love to get it but I am unsure if I am "too late to the game" if that makes sense.

RCT and RCT2 are still alive and well today, while I consciously know they're old they still don't feel old to me after all of this time (I've been playing them since I could first sit at a computer back around 2000-2001). The scenarios are what keep me coming back to RCT1 while RCT2 is much better for coaster building.

^My scenarios too! 

There are far too many things I like about RCT1-2 (and OpenRCT2 even more, which I highly advise you get if you buy RCT2) to list in a singular post in a thread.

There is just a charm that I adore when I play RCT2. To an extent, RCT1 as well (when I had it). I don't know what it is about RCT1/2 that has me so enthralled in the game that I play it every. single. day. (OpenRCT2). 
Maybe it is the amount of work it takes to masterfully create scenarios? Or is it that fun connection when you actually play/create that scenario and can just sigh of relief. 
Or, for RCT1, is it those amazingly well done scenarios that nearly every single one I could say I enjoyed? This list could go on of "or is it"s, so I will cut that short here.

One of the things that has me entangled in an unending web (and rightfully so) of work is that I have the ability to make my own scenario, or make my own park, design, whatever else I can create, I can do it masterfully, or just for the fun of it. 
One of those things is again, being able to release my creations out to you all and have people commentate and love the things I produce because of a game and its better countrepart, OpenRCT2. 

There are countless times where I have released something and the feedback has been so great, or the response was adorning my work in praise, it gives you that burst of faith in yourself so you continue to produce work at a steady, or crazy pace as I have yet done both.

It brings me joy to release scenario after scenario, design after design, and other fun things to you all and see you all love and cherish my works of, hopefully, art. Plus, that in some sense, because RCT2's scenarios left little to be desired, my rather largely influx of scenarios gives those who seek a serious pack of scenarios that RCT2 simply did not provide. I guess, I have opened a realm of new possibilities with my many scenarios, and I keep releasing more and more to help with that, so as RCT2's community never dies.

I've got you, RCT2, and now more than ever, OpenRCT2 to thank for that. Anyways, that was a long, but needed tangent from me, aha.

To keep this from going on is to say that both RCT1 and RCT2 are well worth the, little money you have to pay for them nowandays. Plus, with the free OpenRCT2 running rampant out there, it's only growing the RCT community more.

So, go out there and get yourself RCT1, RCT2, and OpenRCT2 right now if you do not have them!

I started with RCT-1 with expansion packs, tried most of the scenarios, but ended up spending a great deal of time in the Razor Rocks park.

And maybe part of the charm of that game was getting over some of the limitations, I remember taking those big, squarish rocks and turning them into hotels, at least the best semblance of one I could get.

But it made you think and be resourceful.

And when 2 came along, that was very exciting and kept me busy for 9 years building different parks etc., and then being able to get custom scenery, that was like getting a bonus pack for free!

I have no pics from RCT-1, but here is one of two glass parks I put together during those earlier years.



Thx

I always have a wide grin on my face when I notice one of these RCT1/2 threads pop up. To put my words in stone for once, I'll just go ahead and give a thorough explanation I can personally refer to later on.

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Right. So I think there is a combination of several individual factors that eventually make RollerCoaster Tycoon 1 and 2 a preferred choice of theme-park management games for me.

There are two chief factors here: the UI and the aesthetics.

We'll start with aesthetics first. 
Aesthetics of isometric 3D-rendered 2D sprites superimposed on an inherently 2D space has always looked quite nice to me, no matter how old the game might be. To be clear, I mean 2D sprites that seem 3D due to their original source being a 3D object created in a different software, as opposed to 2D sprites drawn pixel-by-pixel or drawn physically/digitally, seen in games like 'Stardew Valley' or 'Bastion' respectively.  2D isometric games will always have a fixed distance and angle at which you'll see the world, and so there is no chance of losing detail. As such, no matter who opens what you make in RCT1/2, everyone will be looking at the same 2D world: 

   

No matter who built that, we're all looking at the same moving image when we open the game.

Not just a 2D world, though, and this is where the point about the 3D-rendered but technically 2D sprites comes in. Looking at RCT1 or 2, you won't feel like you're playing a sprite-based game. It feels more like a pseudo-IRL model building game at times, like some mix of lego and old miniature model sets, that creates this atemporal aesthetic around it. After careful thinking, the closest comparison I can think of would be a mix of the three kids TV shows 'Thomas the Tank Engine', 'Make Way for Noddy' and 'Oswald'. I highly recommend you try and watch a clip or two from them if you find it difficult to see where I'm coming from.

   

Something I expect to see in my grandma's basement next to a box of small trains.

Games like 'Age of Empires 1/2', 'Fallout 1/2' (technically not isometric, but good enough for the sake of discussion), or even 'Super Mario RPG' would be common examples of games that tried a similar approach and have aged quite similar to RCT1 and 2. While RCT3 was the next big thing at its time, it certainly became an inferior product once Planet Coaster rolled out. Maybe I'm wrong about this, there are a lot of people that love RCT3 here after all, but bear with me when I say RCT3 hasn't stood the test of time, in the visual department, as well as RCT1/2 have. The same can be said for the other examples I mentioned earlier, like Age of Empires 1/2 vs. 3, Fallout 1/2 vs. 3. You'll notice we seem to be looking at a pattern here of game franchises making a jump to 3D and not retaining the charm of preceding 2D titles.

   

Two timeless classic games from the late 90s that are still commended for their art style, much like RCT1/2.

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Now for the core element in any game that brings it ultimately in the hands of a player: the UI. 
To this date, RCT1 and 2 remain the only two management-based games with UIs that didn't take me a good while to get used to. After opening up the two games, one can instantly notice it is taking cues from the late 80s/early 90s Windows operating systems with its boxy windows with cross symbols placed in the upper right corners: a UI choice also noticeable in a very similar game from the 90s, 'SimCity 2000'. Playing a game that has a completely unique and original UI should take a person much longer to understand, as opposed to a UI design you've already gotten used to just by using your computer in general. As such, I doubt anyone will find it hard to navigate their way through the game. Just for an example, I find it much easier to use than RCT3's UI, which is very circular and smooth around the edges (even though the actual hitboxes are square, which makes it all the more confusing to me). 

Some people tell me they just can't use this UI easily, and how after just a few minutes, one ends up with too many windows on the screen, causing a lot of clutter. However, the ability to have so many active windows on the screen almost comes as a plus-point for me, as I usually do use several windows at once. Each of the windows you can open can be resized and dragged around the screen, which makes for a very convenient and familiar callback to OS UIs as well. All the main buttons are chucked away at the top (as opposed to the left or right, which isn't something Windows and Mac users are used to by default; another cue from traditional OS UIs), away from your attention, and the bottom row containing very simple information, like the guest count, park rating and money.

   

Imagine a similar example for RCT3 and visualize the differences here.

While the UI is very professional and practical, the use of hand-drawn sprites brings this to near perfection. One of the few times I can't help but say 'they don't make them like they used to'. Each and every sprite is unique and distinguishable from any other, despite some of the sprites being reused for multiple buttons.

           

(L to R) Icons for 'Research and Development', 'View Options', 'Painting'

Call me old-fashioned, but there is just something about old UI designs that appeal to me. I don't quite know if explaining this deeper will be nitpicky or not, so I'll hope I've got my point across.

Then there are always minor things here and there that might not make a significant impact in isolation, but make for little reasons for why I prefer RCT1/2 over other titles since then: 

• The much lower barrier-of-entry (as compared to something like Planet Coaster, which needs a fairly high-end PC to get into), due to being an old and therefore cheaper and less resource demanding game; 
  
• The little sound effects, like toilets flushing or the constant noise of people bustling about or the noise of a coaster going up a chainlift hill or the choo-chooing of a Miniature Railway or the little notification sound for when a message pops up on the bottom... the examples are endless. Much much better than their counterparts in other games for me, though it's probably the nostalgia talking. 
  
• The scenarios, of course, though Chris and Blazing have done a good job of exploring that already. 
  
• The guests. Not the peeps. The guests. Guests. Also the handymen and mechanics and security guards and entertainers. The entertainers.
  

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In summary, I suppose it has all those tiny little quirks any game has. It's entirely up to you if you might like those quirks or dislike them. This is probably the best time to get into RCT2 in particular with the recent release of RollerCoaster Tycoon Classic (both on Android/iOS as well as Steam) and the current ongoing efforts with OpenRCT2. I think I speak for all of us here when I say it is a subset of the above reasons for why we've stuck around for games that are 18 and 15 years old by now.

Thanks for giving me a chance to rant about the classics, lol I hope this helps you see where we RCT1/2 players are coming from.

Wow!! Thank you guys so much for all the responses and insight! This makes me really excited to try this game out!! Would you guys that are veterans in this game be willing to help with any questions I may have along the way?!

Yeah, I don't know too much, but I'll help where I can!

They have ride types that RCT3 doesn't. Like the maze. I wish there was a Maze CFR

We're always willing to help out (when we're online), questions are more likely to be answered quickly if posted in the Discord.

@Venellope - The reason mazes weren't included (at least I'd imagine this to be the reason) is because no modern theme park (that I've seen anyway) has hedge mazes as an attraction. That's an attraction relegated mostly to pumpkin farms during the fall , and those are corn mazes rather than hedges. I'm really not sure where Chris Sawyer got the idea for in the first two because I've never actually seen a real hedge maze in a park (that's used as an attraction anyway).

Like Chris said, we're always willing to help you with your questions, but ya might have a longer wait to find a response on RCTgo than if you joined our RCTgo Discord server (which you are in). You might get quick responses here, but you'll likely get even quicker responses on our Discord.

@Vanellope, again, like Chris said, there are no amusement parks to my knowledge that have mazes as a full-season operation. I guess for RCT1 and 2, it was more of a placement measure just to add another attraction. Plus, 1999 could have had more mazes in real life parks. Those mazes probably don't exist now, so eh. It's an interesting topic if anything. Perhaps, even an a-maze-ing one.