The Best Rollercoaster Types In Planet Coaster 2

Key Takeaways

• Coasters determine park success with Excitement, Fear, and Nausea ratings vital for attracting guests.
• Alternate Lift coasters have higher Fear and Nausea ratings, making them less appealing to a broad audience.
• Wing coasters lead in Excitement ratings, ideal for marketing and boosting guest satisfaction in parks

In Planet Coaster 2, coasters are the star attraction, delivering the thrills that keep guests coming back. With 50 different coaster types, each with unique designs and features, choosing the right coaster is key to your park’s success, regardless if you’re working your way through Career mode, collaborating with friends in Franchise mode, or creating your own challenge in Sandbox mode.

A coaster’s appeal depends on three factors: Excitement, Fear, and Nausea. While guests have individual preferences, they generally want a ride that’s exciting but not overly frightening. And if a coaster generates too much nausea, it could sour their experience for the rest of their visit. Finding a balance between high Excitement, moderate Fear, and low Nausea will help you choose coasters that appeal to a wide range of guests and improve your park’s rating.

This article focuses on the rides launched with the base game. The statistics do not include DLC or Frontier Workshop coasters.

8

Alternate Lift Coasters

As the name suggests, Alternate Lift coasters use a range of methods to bring the ride car to the top of the drop hill. These can include a Friction Wheel Lift, like the Zephyr Junior Coaster, or more complex options like Chain and Drive Tyre Lifts, Vertical Chain Lifts, and LSMs. With these different lift mechanisms, this group of coasters offers a variety of experiences.

However, Alternate Lift coasters tend to have higher Fear and Nausea ratings, without the Excitement levels needed to balance them. When browsing coasters in the Blueprint menu, you’ll notice positive stats highlighted in green, but none of the Alternate Lift coasters have all three stats in green.

This makes them less appealing to a broad audience, so they may not generate as much revenue as other coasters. While it’s worth including one or two Alternate Lift coasters for variety, they’re best used as complementary attractions rather than the main feature in your park’s lineup.

7

Water Coasters

Water coasters tend to have high Fear and Nausea ratings without a corresponding boost in Excitement. However, one Water coaster stands out: Artemis. Created by Valais and Nidwalden, Artemis offers an impressive Excitement rating of 6.56, balanced with a Fear rating of 4.43 and a Nausea rating of only 1.32, making it the only Water coaster with all three stats highlighted in green.

Artemis is not the priciest Water coaster, costing $35,663.49, which is on par with similar coasters in this category. For park builders seeking to add just a few Water coasters, Artemis is a top choice worth bookmarking for its balanced appeal and reasonable price, giving you a good return on investment.

6

Suspended Coasters

Suspended coasters offer a distinct thrill, with the ride car hanging beneath the track and swaying with each banked turn. This type of steel coaster is especially well-suited for creating an exhilarating yet comfortable experience, with five Blueprint options to choose from in the Planet Coaster 2 base game. These Suspended coasters have lower Nausea ratings, making them a reliable addition to any park lineup.

Flight of the Condor is very similar to the Stingray coaster in Planet Coaster.

Among these, Flight of the Condor stands out as the only Suspended coaster Blueprint with all three stats highlighted in green. While all Suspended coasters share similar angle statistics, Flight of the Condor distinguishes itself with a unique car design that secures riders in a head-first, prone position, offering the illusion of flight.

5

Launched Coasters

Launched coasters live up to their name by catapulting riders out of the station with an intense burst of speed, skipping the traditional climb to a drop hill. This rapid acceleration is key to their thrilling appeal. The game reflects real-world launch mechanisms, like hydraulic, pneumatic, and linear synchronous motors (LSM), which impact the ride’s Fear statistics.

Groundswell is the only Launched coaster to feature all green highlighted statistics, making it the most balanced Launched coaster Blueprint in the base game.

For example, Vanguard employs chain and drive tire lifts for a slower start, resulting in a moderate Fear rating of 3.45. In contrast, Ultimate Speedway uses a pneumatic system, ramping up the Fear factor to 6.43. These coasters are ideal for drawing in adrenaline-seeking guests, adding a high-octane dynamic to your park’s coaster selection.

4

Special Coasters

Special coasters bring a distinct flair to Planet Coaster 2, with designs and ride mechanics that set them apart from other coaster types. Many of these rides include spinning vehicles, adding an unpredictable twist to the ride experience.

For example, Vector takes on a classic mine-train theme with carts that sway side to side, enhancing the adventurous feel. Meanwhile, X-Dimension lets you control the cars’ pitch angle, allowing for a dynamic ride where cars rotate independently of the track.

Special coasters average out to have the lowest Fear ratings of all eight coaster types.

These coasters make for striking centerpieces that can draw significant attention to your park. Their stats vary widely, so consider the overall mix of your coasters when choosing the right Special coaster to enhance your park’s appeal and meet guests’ preferences.

3

Wooden Coaster

Wooden roller coasters are a staple of theme parks, as iconic as the smell of popcorn or the sight of colorful carnival games. In Planet Coaster 2, they capture that classic charm with thrilling, bumpy rides that keep guests coming back for more. While traditional wooden coasters were built entirely from wood, today’s designs often incorporate steel supports for added stability and longevity.

In Planet Coaster 2, most Wooden coaster Blueprints maintain high excitement levels, making them crowd-pleasers in your park. An exception is Skruvad, a wooden-steel hybrid coaster, which trades some of that excitement for a smoother, more controlled ride experience. This diversity in ride intensity allows Wooden coasters to fit a range of guest preferences, providing a versatile and reliable option for your park.

2

Wing Coaster

Wing coasters, known for their striking design and thrilling experience, place riders on “wings” extending from either side of the track, creating the exhilarating sensation of free flight. Introduced in 2011 at Gardaland, these coasters have since become iconic in theme parks worldwide.

In Planet Coaster 2, the Wing coaster options, Glider and Nozedyve, are standout attractions, achieving the highest average Excitement rating in the base game. Attracting attention with their smooth, breathtaking rides and high Excitement factor, Wing coasters make for excellent centerpieces in any park.

Their strong performance is ideal for supporting marketing campaigns, yielding a high return on investment by drawing crowds and boosting guest satisfaction.

1

Chainlift Coaster

Chainlift coasters are the backbone of Planet Coaster 2, offering a versatile selection of 15 different coasters. With 40 percent of these achieving top-tier green stats across the board, they are highly appealing to a broad guest base due to their well-rounded, balanced Excitement, Fear, and Nausea ratings.

This variety means Chainlift coasters provide options that cater to guests seeking both thrilling highs and milder experiences, making them adaptable and reasonably priced crowd pleasers.

The first steam-powered chain lift was created by Phillip Hinckle in San Francisco in 1885.

Among these coasters, Ascent stands out. With an impressive Excitement level of 8.28 and all green stats, it’s an ideal park highlight. Its towering presence appeals to thrill-seekers, while its design maximizes returns for marketing efforts, driving park popularity and giving your theme park an iconic skyline silhouette.