Rank the RMCs

[Dan Nguyen]

1. Arie Force One - this ride is incredible in the back row. Pretty standard RMC in the front.
2. Twisted Timbers - a lot of RMCs feel really short. This one is the perfect length. Wish more RMCs were like this
3. Iron Gwazi - It has some great standout moments, but it feels a tad short for its size
4. Lightning Rod - another ride that would benefit from an extra 500 feet. The highlights are phenomenal though
5. Wildcat's Revenge - It gave me a bad first impression, but its grown a lot on me. Still has a few issues like the gut-punching brakes
6. Iron Rattler - yet another coaster that would benefit from an extra 500 feet. The first drop is one of the best in the world. Wish they'd add these trains to other RMCs as well. The gen 1 trains are perfection.
7. Railblazer - I really hope after CGA closes, the park that gets this ride will take really good care of it. Its really insane but it also hasn't aged as gracefully as most RMCs have.
8. Wonder Woman's Golden Lasso - basically Railblazer with worse theming, but better operations
9. Storm Chaser - its a bit short and I only managed one ride on it, but that one ride was really memorable. Its also a great place to do plane spotting. That's pretty much the only benefit to having an uncovered queue.
10. Goliath - another short RMC. It does pack a punch in its short layout, but it leaves you wanting more. My thighs probably appreciated the short length though lol.
11. Jersey Devil - this might move up in my rankings. If you ride on a colder day, it feels about as fast as the prototypes. Still an insane coaster.
12. The Joker - It reminds me of a mini Iron Gwazi. The elements don't hit nearly as hard as Gwazi though.
13. Wicked Cyclone - its a great ride, but you could tell RMC was still learning the ropes with this one. It starts out really strong but the pacing feels off compared to the newer ones.
14. Twisted Cyclone - another short coaster that packs a mean punch. Sometimes I wish the ride was longer, but my thighs appreciate the half layout.
15. New Texas Giant - not bad for a first try. I got a foggy zen ride on this and it was amazing. Gerstlauer needs to produce more RMC trains. These are basically train perfection

 

[Howie]

So I went to America and rode 6 new RMC's.
Six!
In one trip!
That brings my total up to 16.
This is how I rank them. New in  bold.

1. Steel Vengeance.
No surprises here - it's still my overall number 1 coaster. It's the sheer size of the thing that keeps it at the top. 5740ft of RMC madness and more airtime than any other coaster in the world. Can't beat it.

2. Wildcat's Revenge.
I was truly shocked by how good this coaster was, sooo much better than expected. Pure chaos from start to finish. Only had 2 rides on it, 1 front, 1 back, but that was enough to convince me that this was something special. I want to go back and ride it some more. Like... right now.

3. ArieForce One.
It's RMC by-the-numbers. No theme, no style, no story - it's just a soulless machine at a crappy funfair, but... and this is a BIG but... the execution is absolutely flawless! Unbelievable pacing. Plus, it rarely gets a queue so it's dead easy to marathon. Awesome!

4. Iron Gwazi.
It's big, it's bad and it totally kicks ass. This was my number 2 RMC less than a year ago until my boy, Joe Draves, came along and smashed it with two absolutely killer layouts. You can't deny it though, IG is still a monster of a ride.

5. Untamed.
Love this one, it has character, personality and a mischievous sense of fun about it, not to mention a shed load of airtime. It's like SteVe's baby brother.

6. Wildfire.
My first RMC and I'm extremely fond of it. It's all about the views and the scenery with this one. Spectacular to look at, spectacular to ride.

7. Twisted Timbers.
Still firmly in "love it" territory here, this reminds me a lot of Untamed with it's mostly airtime focused layout. Great stuff.

8. Outlaw Run.
Not quite as large or spectacular as Wildfire, but the recipe is very similar - a raucous, topper track RMC in a rather splendid woodland location. Brill!

9. Railblazer.
Apart from some minor niggles with the train design - this ride floored me. Super intense and shockingly good.

10. Zadra.
On paper, this should be on a par with Iron Gwazi - the stats are remarkably similar - but Zadra has a couple of moments of laterals that, for me at least, stray into painful territory. I don't like pain, me.
That stall tho...

11. Storm Chaser.
Aggressive, action packed and loaded with airtime, but it ain't the prettiest. Location and presentation let this one down.

12. Goliath.
Really good overall and features a stall that's almost as good as Zadra's, but it's all over far too quickly and left me feeling a tiny bit short-changed.

13. Twisted Cyclone.
Really impressive what they've achieved here, still a great ride for what it is, but it just doesn't have the height, speed or power to compete with the big boys.

14. Lightning Rod.
Definitely missed the boat with this one. I'm sure it was absolutely fantastic in it's prime, but yeah... I think those days are long gone. I found it decidedly unremarkable in 2024.

15. Joker.
Not bad, just... not particularly memorable either. S'alright.

16. Jersey Devil.
I really wanted to like this, should have been a bigger, better Railblazer, but it's actually pretty rough throughout the entire ride. Shame, the layout is very good and it does deliver the required forces, but I just can't ignore that rattle.

That's my lot for now.

 

[toofpikk]

Sorry @Howie im going to have to one up you with one fell swoop. 8 new RMCs in one trip, quintupling my count from 2 to 10

1. Iron Gwazi

Rain ride on this was one of the single most unhinged experiences I have ever had on a coaster. Just utterly untethered insanity.

2. ArieForce One

Lean, mean, red white and blue g-force machine. I wanted to hate it but I just loved it.

3. Wild cats revenge

This didn’t look like it should pack the punch it did, but boy did it punch. Agree with you Howie, chaos. Great silly stupid chaos.

4. Storm Chaser

The general thing with RMCs is they’re intense. They’re great, I love them, they’re fun, But this one got the balance juuuust riiight in that sweet spot. I could go on it over and over again more than any other ride in this list and still have fun without getting bored or feeling like I’d snap in half.

5. Twisted timbers

Case in point. First half is excellent. First drop is unique. But those last hills into the breaks were just too much to be able to comfortably marathon it.

6. Wicked Cyclone

My number 1 for 5 years. Need I say more?

7. Lightning Rod

Neutered, but still buckets of fun. Missing that tenacity of the rides above, but still bites harder than those below. Needs a big ol warm up to have a good time with though.

8. Untamed

Tbh, interchangeable with L-Rod on quality. Untamed does a lot, but doesn’t feel as physically menacing or as the rides above.

9. Twisted Cyclone

Fun fun fun, no bite tho. Comparatively calm with the rest of the list.

10. Jersey Devil

Get to SFGAdv. JD is Broken. Ride opens. Breaks again. Queue is stupid long. 72/25 fast pass to main queue. 45 minutes later we finally get on, with an engineer having to strap (and decidedly staple) each guest in. And then 2 minutes of squat-mounting a forceless steel ribbon. The layout looks fun but the train hardware really ensures it actually does nothing, just lots of funky meandering.

4/10 of my top 10’s are RMCs. I really love how ridiculous they are, and how they can mix up their tried and tested formula to give each ride its own personality.

 

[JoshC.]

All these low rankings of Jersey Devil have me wondering if I just rode a different coaster to everyone else 2 years ago? Sure, the leg positioning was a little unorthodox/unnatural, but it was smooth, fast-paced, packed with plenty of forces and a ton of fun to ride

 

[Sticky_T_Wicky]

1. Steel Vengeance - What can be said that hasn't been said about it. My number 1 and it isn't particularly close. 11/10
-gap-
2. ArieForce One - Arguably the best quality per length RMC I've been on but doesn't have the length of SteVe. 10/10
3. Outlaw Run - Such a great setting and relentless pacing. I kind of like the not as smooth experience. Oh and the best night ride in the country. 10/10
-gap-
4. Twisted Cyclone - May be recent bias putting this ahead of the next two but I couldn't get over how powerful this was given its statue. The wave turn is the best I've experienced. 9/10
5. Storm Chaser - Similar to Twisted Cyclone in terms of power despite statue but seem to recall preferring Cyclone slightly more. 9/10
6. Iron Rattler - 3 top tier RMC elements in the first drop, zero g roll and dive off the cliff and while the quarry crawl is overly dissed, it does hurt its pacing. 9/10
7. Lightning Rod - Could be hurt by the fact I only got two rides on it early on a relatively cool day but the first drop, wave turn and twist and shout felt like they should've been taken at higher speeds. The off axis hill and quad down are elite though. 9/10
8. Goliath - The ride feels too short and incomplete. In the back, Great first drop, airtime hill, dive loop and stall but the turnarounds don't do much. The turnarounds do provide air in the front but the first drop isn't near as good. Still a 9/10.
-gap-
9. New Texas Giant - Easily the least intense RMC but still an 8/10 for me. The airtime isn't as strong nor is there the volume of it. That final lap also has some pacing issues.

I figure it is time to update my list as I added a good amount of RMC's this year. 7 new which are bolded.

RMC really does make gems so being at the bottom of this list is not a slight but rather a testament to RMC's goodness.

1. Iron Gwazi - Relentless pacing with many elite elements... every element hits and hit hard. This is my favorite RMC 1st drop (I swear that extra degree adds so much). This is probably more like 1a with my number 2 being 1b and the difference may be due to recency bias albeit IG was last ridden about ~8 months ago compared to SteVe being only ~14 months ago.

2. Steel Vengeance - So long and so much airtime with what I think are a few underrated lateral moments. I do not expect to make it back to Florida next year but do plan to make it to Cedar Point next year and as such, this may retake number 1.

3. Wildcat's Revenge - It's weird to say this for a large 140ft tall coaster but for its size, it is arguably perfect. A great layout and while it may not have the quantity of airtime of my number four, the unpredictability quirkiness of the layout does a lot for me.

4. ArieForce One - An inarguably great coaster but it almost feels too refined (maybe the limited amount of crossing over and under itself?). I would love to get on this during a hotter day though, my visit was October of 2023 and it was maybe a high of 70F that day. Still an absolute masterpiece.

5. Twisted Timbers - Another coaster with sooo much airtime. Similar to WCR, this coaster for being something like 110ft tall is arguably perfect. Only downside is that its quite a hike from I305.

6. Twisted Colossus - To me, this may have been the most pleasant surprise I've had on an RMC Ibox coaster. I don't know what it is about those first drops but it feels like it pitches down so much quicker than not only other RMC's but any other coasters. Then you have two layouts loaded with airtime and if you get a dual... it really does add to the experience. The 2nd lift also does not detract as much as I thought it might.

7. Outlaw Run - My most "home park" RMC! Great setting, relentless pacing and aggression. That said, the pothole at the bottom of the first drop has gotten worse year over year, I did not notice it in 2021 or even 2022 but later in the season of 2023 it started to become more jarring and it has not became any better this year and has to be addressed. I fully expect Herschend to take care of that this offseason. If it doesn't, this is going to move down. If it does, this could move up a spot or two.

--- This is where some time has passed and where my order starts to shuffle ---

8. Iron Rattler - I find myself longing for this more than the two smaller RMC's I had previously placed above this. It does have a little bit of meh in it but it also has some elite moments... even by RMC standards.

9. Storm Chaser - I need to get back on this one with more rides in the afternoon once it heats up. My final ride of the day showed me what it could do and it was impressive.

10. Twisted Cyclone - Another perfect for its size and it is even smaller than Twisted Timbers.

11. Lightning Rod - Now, I only was able to get two morning rides on this with the launch before it decided to crap the bed for the day. One of those was the 1st train of the day so could it have been better if it warmed up, absolutely. Also, this had a couple of potholes in the topper track sections. I struggle to see this rising much with the launch being RIP.

13. Wicked Cyclone - Probably one of the bigger disappointments as far as RMCs go. I did not feel like this had the power in the airtime like other RMC's and that was on a hot day with full trains. The 2nd half was slow and didn't do much and the final zero-g roll was more like a negative 0.5 roll too which was meh. I could forgive it, again by RMC standards, if the 1st half offered more power but it just seems to lack the umph of other RMCs.

13. Jersey Devil Coaster - It kind of tells you how good RMC is when one of the more pleasant surprises you've had still ranks in the bottom quartile of your RMC's. I had pretty meh expectations for this but was pleasantly surprised. I had two rides on it in row 12 and 9 and that first drop, the drop off the turnaround and the drop off the MCBR are nutty in the back. Other parts left something to be desired by RMC standards but the good parts were near the best of RMC.

14. Goliath - Some elite elements but with its brevity, it can't afford to waste track and it feels like it does with the turnarounds.

15. New Texas Giant - The original RMC. Some great moments in the first half but loses a lot of umph in the 2nd half and feels like it just kind of meandered.

16. Fire in the Hole - The story, theming and everything about this is perfect for a family thrill coaster but that really is not my cup of tea and unfortunately, something has to come in last.

I have been spited by two RMC's. Wonder Women Golden Lasso at Six Flags Fiesta Texas and Wonder Women Lasso of Truth at Six Flags Magic Mountain... Apparently Wonder Women does not like me, ha!