Welcome yet again to another edition of  The Feeling. A blog series where I talk about games I used to, and still do love and play. Some of these games may not be all that great when you look at em' from a reviewing standpoint, but common for them all are that they gave me 'The Feeling'. Now explaining it in detail would take up half the blog post, so feel free to check out my introduction where there's a lot more to be found. This time around are we gonna take a look at a thrilling game from all the way back in 1999, and a game I still play to this very day.

Those of you who regularly follow my blog may remember my 400 mhz computer I got in a present when I turned 10 years old back in 1998. A monster like no other if you will... or well, at least for it's time. As we all know does a monster computer means monster games, and you will find out that many of the games I include in 'The Feeling' will be from around that time. Why's that? Well the late 90's were basicly the highlight of my "gaming career" and loads of games from that period are stuck in my mind as small nostalgia flicks.

Ahem! Anyways... I have always been fascinated by Tycoon and the genre as a whole, so when Chris Sawyer brought this game to life back in 1999 was I all over it. Yea, some of you already know which one I'm talking about don't you? Well the first time I experienced the game was actually trough a demo I got from my beloved computer magazine 'Komputer' (mentioned in my previous entry of 'The Feeling'). The demo only featured the first level "Forest Frontiers", but trust me, it was more than enough to keep me entertained for hours on hours... on hours! After convincing my mother to spend my "hard earned" money, did we went out and got one of the best games I have ever bought.

I remember when I got games back in the day - opening the box in the car like a child opens his presents at x-mas. Nowadays are all my purchases done online, but I still prefer actually going to the store and pick up the games like I used to do, it's just that much more satisfying (though a little more complicated).

This game came in a big box. Remember those? You know, those huge cardboard boxes that took up way too much of your shelf space. God do I miss em'. I can't really explain what it is, but they were just amazing with the huge front art, and a back with loads of info and big pictures. Shame they decided to remove em', though I kinda understand why they did it. Sure is a treasure from back then in my opinion.

Anyways! Almost got off topic there. The game we're talking about is of course the king of the genre - Rollercoaster Tycoon for the PC. Developed by Chris Sawyer/MicroPose and released by Hasbro Interactive in 1999. One of the first games I ever played was a Tycoon game (we'll get back to that one another day) so I really love the whole genre and aspect of it. Build, manage and make it all run around are one of the best things in gaming for me, and RCT managed to deliver on all this.

As said was it developed by the computer programmer Chris Sawyer who wanted to make a sequel to his renowned game Transport Tycoon (1994). Under development did his interest for rollercoasters kick in and he decided to change the whole theme of the game. The amusing thing is that he programmed most of the game himself - what an achievement!

Rollercoaster Tycoon puts you in the shoes of a theme park manager. You get some money to work with, and from there on does it all kick off with construction of rollercoasters, rides and stall/shops from the ground up. Make it all run around, and get a certain amount of visitors/park value within the given time was just some of the objectives you could face. These where the main aspects of the game and it all functioned extremely well. Make advertising for the park, handle economics, hire staff and look out for ride maintenance was also some of the stuff you had to tackle. However there were much more to it than just that. RCT was deep for it's time and the possibilities, not only in ride builds, but also all the scenery, footpaths, staff etc. gave you the option to creature a unique park straight from your mind.

Constructing a rollercoaster from the ground up was probably the most exiting aspect of the game. Make sure not to make it too intense, and remember that the nausea rating has to be held at a comfortable level as well. How high was it's excitement numbers? Whew, these 3 factors were to be noticed and I can't count all the hours I've spent tinkering and twisting a coaster to make it work in the end. With a good ride comes customers and managing ticket prices, not only on the park entrance, but also on all individual rides and stalls, gave the game a little extra fun. How much would they pay to go on your newly made coaster? What's it's popularity? etc. these were just a few of the stuff you had to think about when creating a coaster, but it was really satisfying when it all payed out in the end.

Rollercoaster Tycoon stands out as one of the best tycoon games I've ever played, and as mentioned before do I still play it to this day. It was followed up by RCT 2 and 3 in 2002 and 2004, but none of them manages to catch whatever it is the first one had. Yup, even though I own the two others is it still the first one I keep coming back to, just to play it over and over... and over. A masterpiece from a mastermind that everyone who haven't already played definitely should check out. Trust me, it's timeless.

Don't forget to check out my top 20 favorite video game music of all time

- mnB