RollerCoaster Tycoon 3 Complete Edition - Free 9/24/2020

For anyone interested epicgames has been offering a group of free games every Thursday (3 games right now) - this coming Thursday for one week they will offer the latest version of RCT3 for free as one of the games.

https://www.epicgames.com/store/en-US/free-games

Enhanced for PC
Play RollerCoaster Tycoon 3 in widescreen for the first time with full
1080p resolution and increased compatibility for new PC hardware.

https://www.epicgames.com/store/en-US/product/rollercoaster-tycoon-...ition/home

Thanks for posting this.

First, it was my introduction to Epic Games, and the fact that they are literally giving away free titles during 2020 is pretty sweet. As someone who has almost zero time to play anything new, this was fun.

I always had a love/hate relationship with RCT3. I wanted to love it, and had a lot of fun playing it initially, but I never had a PC or laptop that could handle it to make it even remotely fun when it came out. I would make 3-4 coasters in a park, and it would overwhelm the system and just lag to the point where that was it. Which sucked, because while some find appeal in the more realistic world of No Limits, I actually enjoyed the cartoony appeal of RCT a bit more.

I downloaded this during a MS Teams meeting (isn't that fun?) and found a half-hour later this evening to open it up. I shelved my copy of RCT3 a decade ago, but now that the laptop I use actually has the capability to play the game, you just opened up a new door to assist in my decades old standing as one of the world's greatest procrastinators.

I also downloaded it, as I never bought it when it first came out. I'm a cheapo when it comes to hardware, so I knew it wouldn't run on my machine at the time. So far we've been having fun as a family working through the tutorials and generally goofing around.

It's not a terrible game unless you do the POV's which look terrible since they have the non-dynamic construction of the original games. But the problem was that they never got the management balance right.

As an aside, the management on Planet Coaster was just OK, but they did a really good job on Planet Zoo.

So, started messing around in sandbox mode with the Hersheypark's Storm Runner coaster type. Are the special pieces (zero-g roll, snake dive, ascending banks) really only available on diagonal track sections or am I missing something?

You're not missing something, that appears to be how that particular design works.

I never bought the expansions before, and had no idea there was a Hershey connection.

Hershey had an RCT3 contest where you could win $100k. I remember working and tweaking entries (thinking I had a shot after winning the pinball machine in the RCT2 contests and multiple prizes in the old original RCT contests) until I couldn't tweak no more.

The winner ended up being some terrible entry from an 8-year old kid...more along the lines of the "free ride to college" angle (and publicity) than anything.

I also remember feeling a bit indignant when I saw the layout for Farenheit a couple of years later because it was strangely similar to what I had entered. (I even had the Norweigan loop) 😒 😉

https://web.archive.org/web/20060614131459/http://www.hersheys.com/...to-school/

Never bothered with it before, but installing it now.

Lord Gonchar said:

Hershey had an RCT3 contest where you could win $100k. I remember working and tweaking entries (thinking I had a shot after winning the pinball machine in the RCT2 contests and multiple prizes in the old original RCT contests) until I couldn't tweak no more.

The winner ended up being some terrible entry from an 8-year old kid...more along the lines of the "free ride to college" angle (and publicity) than anything.

Sorry to rehash this (I swear it's not a lingering sore spot!), but I can't believe I skipped the opportunity to do a Gonchback on this.

The reactions. It was a joke.

https://coasterbuzz.com/Forums/Topic/hershey-contest-100000-winner-announced

I love these casual walks down memory lane.

You won a pinball machine???

In the RCT2 contest, yes. One of the Roller Coaster Tycoon pinball machines. That was 2003. We barely played it. Sold it a few years ago.

I won a couple of mousepads and RCT branded stuff WAY back in the day in the original RCT contests they'd do. (The screenshots of the RCT site winner pages I found say "Gonchar, Age 26" - so 21 years ago!)

(Ok, so maybe I expected something from the RCT3 contest...)

As someone who enjoys the pinball, I'm thoroughly disappointed with your non-play of that machine. You really are a terrible person.

It's the same game over and over. Once you complete the "cycle" you just keep doing it. It was fun for the first couple of months. Then it was a conversation piece. Then it was a novelty. Then it was in the way.

Turns out I'm not a pinball guy.

I won the second place prize in that contest- a Roller Coaster Tycoon board game. I would have gladly traded it straight up for the pinball machine. ; )

Jeff said:

As someone who enjoys the pinball, I'm thoroughly disappointed with your non-play of that machine. You really are a terrible person.

Don't worry. It got plenty of play at my house after I bought it from Gonch in 2013, and then plenty more at Redman822's place after he bought it from me a couple years ago.

It's been well-loved within the CBuzz community..... :)

Later,
EV

Not sure announcing that you got Gonch's sloppy seconds is something to be proud of, but I guess in this case it seems it was barely used, so I guess it's cool.

Used pinball machines can cost hundreds.....new pinball machines do cost thousands....

Easy choice.

Later,
EV

Oh I know. I was just using lame innuendo to poke fun at (mostly) Gonch. I'm a big fan of pinball and classic arcade games. I have the latter, but not the former for exactly the reason you mentioned...even used machines are sometimes in the thousands.

General rule of thumb - Gonch always gets firsts.

I still have both of mine (WMS - Black Knight & WMS - Comet), but they rarely ever get played anymore. With this year having no family gatherings, its even more rare that they get powered on.

I've been debating on building a virtual pinball over the last year or two and selling off one or both of my machines.

Meh...