Old school Schockwave footage.

SFGAm from 1999.

Nice video. Hard to believe more coasters don't feature 3 vertical loops in a row. Not 1, not 2, but 3! The turn into the mid-course after the 3rd loop looks particularly brutal.

I do not miss this thing. Not one bit.

I was disappointed that the rumored split into Shock & Wave never came to be.

I only did it once, and I was surprised at just how bad it was. Totally had a headache after.

Can't we still ride one of these at Magic Mountain if we want?

I recall there was a slight difference between this and The Great American Scream Machine at Great Adventure. Does anyone remember what it was?

And Viper at Magic Mountain is very similar too, but much different that the other two.

Never rode Shockwave or GASM but I found SFMM's Viper to be pretty enjoyable back in 2007. No idea how different the layout is/was between the three...

A visit to Great America always had to include a ride on Whizzer* and American Eagle. More recently, Raging Bull is a can't miss ride.

Shockwave? No. We'd ride it sometimes if the line was short. And I'm even less interested in riding what my friend Mark refers to as Superman Ultimate Proctology Exam.

*And I'm old enough to remember riding it when it was called Willard's Whizzer

I actually like Viper at Magic Mountain and Vortex at Kings Island. And I have always felt the old Arrow multi loopers were some of the most photogenic coasters ever built.

I have never heard of a "Shock" and "Wave" split - was that actually going to be a thing?

I like Vortex. I may run out of time working in rides on Beast, Banshee, Racer and Diamondback, but I try to get in a ride on Vortex.

Krause,

GASM was built 3 feet taller than Shockwave and the profile going into the midcourse brake run was a little different so that the turn wasn't so powerful

Shane,

Viper's layout was much improved in a way that removed the sharp turn going into the brake run. After the two loops that are now parallel to the lift, you hopped straight up into the mid course.

Brett,

After Shockwave was announced to be taken down, it was early said by Six Flags that it would operate at another park in the future. With that in mind a poster no longer with us (RIP: Mamoosh) posted that he had it on good authority that the ride was being split , the two halves were going to two different parks with some track work done to give it a complete circuit. Thus was born "Shock" and "Wave" Some people couldn't take a joke I guess. But it was pretty funny.

The ride sat neatly in pieces at Great America until it was scrapped sometime in 2004.