Top/Favorite Hyper Coasters

[ABW]

Boldikus, I wasn't trying to call you out. You'll notice I said its up to you, the original poster, as to how we're defining this "hyper" terminology. In other words: what I said doesn't matter. I apologize that it came off the wrong way. Mea Culpa.

 

Anyways, this required some digging to evaluate all of my hypers:

 

1. SkyRush

2. Goliath SFOG

3. Nitro

4. Magnum

5. Raging Bull

6. Apollo's Chariot

7. Intimidator

8. Goliath SFMM

 

I must have ridden AC on a bad day, given that virtually everyone else ranks it higher. But until then, I don't find that hyper too memorable. It was fun, but nothing I haven't seen before.

[chickenbowl]

I must have ridden AC on a bad day, given that virtually everyone else ranks it higher. But until then, I don't find that hyper too memorable. It was fun, but nothing I haven't seen before.

 

I agree completely, I've been so confused by it's praise based off my experience. Perhaps we rode it on the same day?

[rcjp]

1 - Skyrush

2 - Nitro

3 - Shambhala

4 - Steel Force

5 - Magnum

[coasterbill]

I must have ridden AC on a bad day, given that virtually everyone else ranks it higher. But until then, I don't find that hyper too memorable. It was fun, but nothing I haven't seen before.

 

I agree completely, I've been so confused by it's praise based off my experience. Perhaps we rode it on the same day?

 

AC is a really strange coaster for me because it's entirely mediocre and underwhelming in every single row but the very last one. For whatever reason though in that row the first drop (with the help of the pre-drop) delivers some really solid airtime and that improves the ride experience quite a bit. The first time I rode it was in 2001 and I remember being really underwhelmed, it wasn't until a few years ago that we went back and we felt the same way after our first ride of the day but later we tried that seat and we'll never sit anywhere else. Even the next row up doesn't provide the same experience.

[Ed Farmer]

This is the case with Raging Bull as well. I wish those pre-drops still found their way into B&M's designs. It adds a lot.

[storms555]

You know why some hyper coasters are to tame and mediocre?

 

 

 

 

Because they were forced to take Ritalin

[djackson]

1. Skyrush

2. Nitro

3. Superman: Ride of Steel

4. Steel Force

5. Apollo's Chariot

[Arthur_Seaton]

I think it may be nostalgia or familiarity, but I still really enjoy SFMM's Goliath. There's nothing overly intense about it, and the drop's astonishingly tame compared to how it looks, but I find that the ride delivers in terms of fun, speed, and smoothness (Titan, not so much, which was notably rougher when I rode it). In contrast to many others, I'm not a huge fan of Skyrush — which was far too much about endurance than fun in my opinion. I understand why people love it, and I'm down with some intense ejection, but it didn't feel like a well-rounded ride to me — more like a pummeling. Similarly, I wasn't a huge fan of the Arrows that I've ridden — mainly because they emphasize pre-CAD coat hanger-style roughness. Desperado was fairly painful, but Magnum was worse.

 

While I really enjoyed Nitro more than I expected (my first B&M hyper), Diamondback is probably my favorite out of the hypers that I've ridden, and is close to the top spot of my favorite coaster overall. The long-sustained floater air, repeated over several hills, combined with solid speed, smooth ride, and great visual impact ticked all of my boxes. I much prefer to float out of my seat than get body-slammed by restraints.

[Schrecken]

My ranking goes like this:

 

#1 Skyrush - not only is it my favorite hyper, it is my all time favorite coaster, period. No coaster I've ridden thus far, regardless of type, packs the raw and explosive airtime of Skyrush. It is like being strapped onto the back of some ferocious wild animal that is doing everything in its power to throw you off...

 

#2 I'd have to go with Phantom's Revenge - a great second drop, and loads of airtime hills all the way to the very end.

 

#3 probably Nitro. Nice layout, decent airtime, and a forceful helix towards the end.

 

#4 Apollos Chariot - not quite as much air as Nitro and no helix, but still a fun out and back layout with some good airtime hills.

 

#5 Intimidator (Carowinds) - see above comments on Apollo, but with a less interesting layout situated on flat terrain.

 

#6 Goliath at SFMM - nice first drop and the helix packs a heck of a positive G-punch (I greyed out on that many times but never on I-305), but sadly there isn't as much airtime as other hypers. Then there's the mid course brake - I rode Goliath when it opened and the MCBR was either off or it didn't do much at all and there was a greater sense of speed before it nearly stopped the trains as it did later on (and I guess still does). But then again I guess some people couldn't deal with the intensity of the positive g's in the helix with the extra incoming speed. I also have a soft spot in my heart for this coaster because it is the coaster I've ridden the most - I think I got to 108 times (in a couple of seasons, I could have gotten many more rides under my belt had I not moved out of state).

 

#7 Wild Thing - not a bad old-school hyper; packs a sense of decent speed and some airtime, but also some slightly jerky transitions in places.

 

#8 Steel Force - hard to really comment on this one as I was a bit queasy when I rode it due to riding some flat I shouldn't have ridden right before. But what I do recall is that it was a very slightly watered down version of Wild Thing.

 

Now, there is also the question of Goliath at SFOG. I did ride it, but I can't really decide where to place it in my list because I only got to ride it once (maybe twice?) and I did not get to choose seats because I was with a friend who had injured her hip and she had a handicapped pass. I remember that we got placed close to the center of the train where on many coasters airtime tends to be less extreme. And also it was a hellishly hot day with the heat index close to 120, as there was a terrible heat wave when we were there. So battling brutal heat didn't help with my attempt to form an opinion of the ride. Based on what little I remember, I'd probably place it between Carowinds Intimidator and SFMM Goliath, which may not do it justice, but again I did not experience it under good conditions.

 

I would have to put Magnum XL at the bottom of my list for two reasons - one, its roughness (even when avoiding a wheel seat) which made the airtime uncomfortable if not painful in places, and secondly, being that I am rather short, I always felt like I was sitting down in a bathtub or something, even while riding in the front seat. I am too short to even see over the plexiglass windscreen thing on the front of the train, so that killed a lot of the sense of speed and feeling of rushing thru the open air for me.

 

Gee, forgot all about Raging Bull....not sure where I'd rank it but for sure it would be close to the bottom. Maybe just above Magnum for the fact that it wasn't rough or jarring, but otherwise, it was the most entirely forgettable of the whole lot of hypers I've ridden. Or maybe below Magnum, because at least Magnum made enough of an impression upon me that I remember it well, even if for some negative reasons.

Edited December 15, 2016 by Schrecken

[Josh Linn]

1. SkyRush

2. Apollo's Chariot

3. Nitro

4. Steel Force

5. Magnum

[Password121]

Really interesting topic! My list goes something like...

 

1. Phantom's Revenge

Everything that could be said about this ride has been. The second drop is filled with speed and an old-school feel (that I feel does it better than Magnum--raw and intense rather than occasionally jerky and confusing) that leads nicely into a super intense feast of ejector airtime before the brakes. Short and sweet, but powerful and menacing. My #5 overall.

 

2. Raging Bull

I know this is a pretty unpopular opinion, and I actually had one ride on it (though I'll definitely be getting back to it over the next four years), but that ride was in row 9 on a Friday night during Fright Fest with about 4-5 inches between my thighs and the lapbar. The first drop is only beaten by El Toro for me; it was borderline terrifying and (mind you I haven't ridden Skyrush) I haven't felt the need to grab my restraint like this since I was a child. The second half of the layout is "meh" with the trims, but the two airtime moments with nothing holding me back and a unique second half that other B&M hypers can't match made this ride special. A stapled ride in the middle would bring this ride down in all likelihood, but my experience so far was special.

 

3. Nitro

This is the ride I've ridden most on this list and it's been discussed in depth. I think it does exactly what Diamondback (and the stereotypical B&M hyper) does, but with a prolonged layout, a superior helix, and a far stronger finish that actually approaches zero-g. It's not intense overall, but I usually grey out in the helix and the ride delivers its promise and it does it well.

 

4. Diamondback

Essentially a more refined, stylized version of Nitro, this ride falls victim to a mid-course that hits too hard and a train that just may be too long for its own good. The first drop is good, the airtime may be *just* stronger than Nitro in the first half, but the first half is just too short and the second half straight up blows. I've actually found myself enjoying the middle rows on my second visit in the fall for more sustained airtime.

 

5. Magnum XL 200

I've ridden it about a dozen times on three separate visits in varying weather patterns and I still don't get the hype. It's absolutely better than its Morgan cousins (Steel Force falls short on this list) and the airtime hops are "fun," but I haven't found that borderline painful, ejector craziness that's been spoken of, even in rows 1, 3, and the back. Maybe I'm doing it wrong, but the meandering first half and turnaround don't help this ride.

 

Honorable mentions go to Superman (SFA) and Apollo's Chariot (which I haven't ridden recently enough to judge).

 

If you were to throw in giga coasters on this list, the last two would be booted in favor of Intimidator 305 and Millennium Force, my #3 and #4, respectively.

[sfriday1998]

I have very little experience here, so humor me on my list:

 

*Note: I included any coaster 200-299ft tall I have ridden as a hyper just to extend my count.*

 

1. Superman: The Ride (SFNE)

2. Valravn (CP)

3. Magnum XL-200 (CP)

4. Wicked Twister (CP)

[DoinItForTheFame]

Out of all the hyper coasters I have been on, I am going to have to pick Diamondback at Kings Island as my favorite, with Nitro coming in a close second.

[gerstlaueringvar]

Just realized there are 4 more missing. Fujiyama, Thunder Dolphin, Sleeping Bull and Surf Coaster (Yes I count it as a hyper!) I also included where two Gigas would be placed on this list.

 

Updated list:

Fujiyama (Feels like I need to clarify here, I love getting thrown around and experience something not perfectly engineered as long as it doesn't hurt too bad. Fujiyama is the most raw and powerful coaster I've been on and I loved it)

Diamondback

(Millennium Force)

(Steel Dragon 2000)

Magnum XL-200

Flash

Hollywood Dream The Ride Backdrop

Coaster Through the Clouds

Hollywood Dream The Ride

Surf Coaster

Steel Eel

Thunder Dolphin

Titan

Goliath SFMM

Sleeping Bull

Titan MAX

[I Like Theme Parks.]

Surf coaster actually seems kind of cool. I haven't heard much about it. It's like a Mega-Lite version of Fujiyama!

[The Geek Mojo]

1) Fury 325 - I know we call this a Giga...But I don't think B&M uses that term. When looking it up...They have it classified as a hyper. So yeah, this would be my number one easily. This coaster is just insane and fun as hell. If I305 didn't exist...It would be my favorite over all.

2) Skyrush - This coaster is amazeballs! My third favorite coaster behind I305 and Fury 325.

3) Goliath (SFOG) - This coaster is very close to my heart. It was the first hyper I ever rode. Having rode every B&M hyper in the USA since (Except Mako), I still haven't found a B&M under 300ft that can beat it.

4) Apollo's Chariot - I was lucky enough to visit BGW on a day that wasn't very busy and rode this coaster a bazillion times until I threw up. Good times!

5) Diamondback - I swear every time I go to Kings Island, I could just ride Diamondback and Beast and forget the rest of the park. Probably the best two coasters any park could have. Just fun!

[boldikus]

I must have ridden AC on a bad day, given that virtually everyone else ranks it higher. But until then, I don't find that hyper too memorable. It was fun, but nothing I haven't seen before.

 

I agree completely, I've been so confused by it's praise based off my experience. Perhaps we rode it on the same day?

 

AC is a really strange coaster for me because it's entirely mediocre and underwhelming in every single row but the very last one. For whatever reason though in that row the first drop (with the help of the pre-drop) delivers some really solid airtime and that improves the ride experience quite a bit. The first time I rode it was in 2001 and I remember being really underwhelmed, it wasn't until a few years ago that we went back and we felt the same way after our first ride of the day but later we tried that seat and we'll never sit anywhere else. Even the next row up doesn't provide the same experience.

 

I wish I was able to get more laps on AC, that might be my biggest regret of the day. We did it early, the morning after that rib injury and with on our first and only rides on Tempesto and AC I remember feeling like I was concentrating more on if I was OK to be riding. After some beers and the other B&Ms I was fine and really enjoyed myself the rest of the day, but wish we stopped back at AC to do it again. Because I liked it, but don't feel I could really focus on the ride at that point just yet. I'd say it falls right outside of my top 5, followed by S:ROS (love it in the back), and then Steel Force (which I really like, as long as I'm up front). If we're counting gigas I305 would fall after Skyrush and MF between Phantom and Nitro.

 

Glad we did ride AC in the back as I do recall some great, surprising airtime down the first drop. I especially liked the kinda curved drop down toward the water and the last little drop before the brakes. Great setting too, I'm sure its awesome at night.

 

I'm kinda surprised Goliath (SFOG) is getting so much love. As much as I loved Mindbender, Goliath was easily my favorite at the park that day. After riding Nitro so much was nice to marathon something overall pretty similar but a bit more aggressive. I spent the last hour of my day riding as much as I possibly could, which was ton thanks to platinum FP. Can't wait to get back to that park.

 

So far it seems the front runners in this thread are Skyrush, Nitro, and Goliath, yeah?

[coasterbill]

I agree, and for some reason I always have that same regret when I go to BGW. We always end up riding Griffon and Alpengeist a ton and getting one ride each on Apollo and Loch Ness Monster and I've never understood why we kept doing that. Next year maybe I'll finally get it right.

 

 

So far it seems the front runners in this thread are Skyrush, Nitro, and Goliath, yeah?

 

Yeah, but the Magnum Xl 200 masochists are here we're representing the best we can. Also in a surprise upset, I think the Giovanola hypers are getting sh*t on even more than the Cedar Fair Morgan trio of mediocrity

[RCjunkie]

..... the Cedar Fair Morgan trio of mediocrity

 

 

Of the Hypers I have been one Diamondback is my favorite because after the first drop it is total air machine and always brings a smile to my face. A nice long layout too. After visiting last summer after a 5 year hiatus I noticed they need to replace some of those seats on the trains though. They are starting to look pretty worn.

[PVA62]

You could ask me tomorrow and this list would change order, but one thing I know for sure is that Intimidator is the worst out of all of the ones I've ridden.

 

1 Phantom's Revenge

2 Diamondback

3 Apollo's Chariot

4 Magnum XL200

5 Goliath SFOG

6 Skyrush

7 Steel Force

8 Goliath SFMM

9 Intimidator

[Donkeygoat]

I usually prefer to call coasters over 200 feet "Mega coasters" and over 300 feet "Giga coasters" and will mostly just use the term "Hyper" for the model B&M hyper. I've only ridden 4 coasters that would fall to most peoples definition of hyper coasters, but here's the ranking:

 

1. Nitro - It was quite a while ago I rode this (2013 I think) but this was hands down the best experience I've ever had on a coaster. It felt butter smooth, the airtime was great and it was quite intimidating from the top. I do think that it's going to roll down my list a bit when I ride it again (possibly somewhere between 2018-2020) since by the time I first rode it I hadn't ridden anything similar.

 

2. Shambhala - Another amazing coaster that I also rode quite a long while ago. It felt more intense than Nitro but I thought Nitro had better airtime, and I'm more towards airtime than intensity. The trains have V-cars (the ones that are on Behemoth) which are simply amazing.

 

(2,5. Millennium Force - I know you told us to exclude gigas but I'm a bad boy. I found MF really good, but the seats felt kinda restrictive and when I was there (Summer 2016) it had a pretty good rattle to it. I thought the first bank was more intense than any of the hypers I've ridden though.)

 

3. Silver Star - I only rode this twice and for some reason I didn't like it nearly as much as the others since it was less intense and had less airtime, but still an awesome coaster just for the sense of speed and freedom.

 

4. Magnum XL200 - The only hyper coaster I didn't like. I only rode it once at CP since I didn't know about the "seatbelt trick" (making your seatbelt as tight as possible) the bunny hills were probably the most brutal element I've ever experienced on the coaster. The turn into the bank after the first airtime hill was also pretty brutal, but the airtime was good and I'll probably like it way more if I ever go back to CP

[CoasterDirected]

1. Mako- by far my favorite hyper coaster. Easily the smoothest coaster I have ever ridden and the first half is just full of airtime. The trim after the hammerhead turn was very low the day I rode it and went on it 15 times in one day. I love the airtime on this thing and some people don't like the second half but it's a really good change of pace compared to the other hypers. Throw in good theming, no seatbelts, and great front+back row rides it's an amazing coaster.

 

2. Diamondback- My first coaster of 200 feet and my home parks hyper. I really love this ride and it has an amazing first half, a decent second half, and an awesome finale. (What's with KI having coasters will really good finales? Like Beast's double helix, Banshee's slo-mo roll, DB's splashdown... well except Adventure Express...)

 

3. Goliath (SFOG)- This coaster is a ton of fun and back row on a 9 car hyper is always extremely good. It's a really aggressive ride and has a lot of forces. The drop just doesn't wow me, it's not awful, it's just clearly shorter than the other hypers. It's still a ton of fun.

 

4. Raging Bull- This only applies to front and back row, good ride but not fantastic. I swear this would be way better if the trims were off. Drop is phenomenal and is one of my favorites.

 

5. Magnum- Oh dang, I really like this ride, but that turn around kills me. The first half of the is ok but those last few hill are so much fun.

 

6. Titan- It's a good ride with a ton of force but it's just not that interesting overall. Drop is pretty good into the tunnel but honestly it's like a more boring version of Raging Bull without the drop being not as good.

[Bedholm]

Hyper Rankings:

1(1). Skyrush

All gigas besides Leviathan fall in this area

2(15). Diamondback

3(16). Golaith (SFOG)

4(17). Superman ROS (SFA)

5(24). Phantom's Revenge

6(25). Magnum XL-200

7(30). Behemoth

8(31). Mako

*Leviathan

9(36). Goliath (La Ronde)

Huge Gap

10(79). Mamba

11(82). Steel Force

12(83). Steel Eel

13(84). Titan

14(85). Golaith (SFMM)

15(87). Intimidator

The next few I don't know what people see in them

16(101). Nitro

17(102). Apollo's Chariot

18(103). Superman (SFNE) I used to love this ride, but this year is ran so horrible no airtime and the train was just vibrating non-stop you could hear in the queue line it was bad.

19 110+ Raging Bull

[ytterbiumanalyst]

So far it seems the front runners in this thread are Skyrush, Nitro, and Goliath, yeah?

 

Yeah, but the Magnum Xl 200 masochists are here we're representing the best we can.

Hear, hear! I love that ride. Like beer and sex, you know it's good when you can't walk straight afterward.

[Canobie Coaster]

18(103). Superman (SFNE) I used to love this ride, but this year is ran so horrible no airtime and the train was just vibrating non-stop you could hear in the queue line it was bad.

 

I think you caught the ride on a bad day. It was running as best as it has been since Bizarro and my rides were spread through spring, summer, and late October. Now the VR implementation was a disaster though.