Dusting off Coaster Works

Going through a storage garage this weekend, I discovered and dusted off my old Dreamcast. I still have the quietly-released budget game Coaster Works that was released back in 2000. Although the jagged graphics and bare-bones menus scream "budget Dreamcast game," the editor is absolutely tremendous. All the marketing superlatives you often hear, "powerful, simple, intuitive, accessible, responsive, yada, yada," actually do apply here. You can easily mimic all the subtleties of the design styles of manufacturers, or do your own thing. If this editor was slapped onto a modern coaster game, with more depth and updated options, you would have an INCREDIBLE builder for a AAA game that would satisfy both enthusiasts and mainstream gamers.

You work with snap pieces that you can manipulate in any way you'd like. The two triggers on the back of the controller manipulate the banking, and the control stick allows you change the angle of the track. You're given a four-window perspective of your coaster as you build, which initially looks a bit cluttered on the screen, but you soon learn to use each window simultaneously as you would with the mirrors in your car. You can also seamlessly switch in and out of an overview of the whole coaster. Coasters are built within the parameters of a big box, with a few other rides tossed in that you must design around. It's a very basic game, but the foundation of this editor is awesome and should be inspiring more modern games.

Playing around with the game for only roughly an hour, I made quick mock-ups to show just how easy and free-form the editor is to use:

A B&M-style giga drop. It took less than one minute to make.

Intamin-style

Quick Fahrenheit

Valravn

Despite graphical limitations, the layouts are absolutely fluid and as true to design as you want them to be. This took ten minutes to make.

A Magnum-style Arrow drop

The four-screen editor. It does its job!

Looks great. Almost reminds me of the AirCoaster App.

Oh WOW. I remember this game! Holy crap what a trip. I totally spent countless hours building stuff on here but don't really remember specific recreations...it was pretty tough for me since I was probably 10 when I had it.

Can you ride the coasters in the game?

And if you can't, can you insert it into no limits 2?

Can you ride the coasters in the game?

And if you can't, can you insert it into no limits 2?

Yes, you can ride the coasters in the game. The track is jagged, and the whole visual presentation is simple and aged, but it did its job as a budget Dreamcast game and the editor was fantastic.

I don't see how you'd rip or import a ride from this 2000 Dreamcast game into NL2.

I have a similar game called Rollercoaster World on the PlayStation 2, where the coaster designing looks really similar to your game.