H2H9 / Head-2-History: Defining Parks and Matchups (H2H5 Update, 2021!)

Great stuff. RCT really feels like an artform after reading this.

 

That's because it is. How some of our shit isn't in the Louvre or Guggenheim yet is beyond me. 

Actually I thought quite hard about writing my thesis in art history about RCT as played here at NE. 

What if we all have just been part of a longterm social art science project by Kumba for the last 10 years?

 

With the occasional fantasy NFL draft to just outright confuse all non-American participants.

 

What if we all have just been part of a longterm social art science project by Iris for the last 10 years?

 

H2H5...

 

finally one I was properly around for! And what a season. There's some hugely influential parks here, as well as many caught in a sort of rct2-interim period where the game was moving towards the more modern detailing meta but still the choice of scenery pieces and composition wasn't quite there yet. As a result, even the most important hyperdetailed parks come off feeling a bit weird and dated IMO, but its fascinating to go back through and see what we were up to. A few teams really didn't shake out very well... each of the alpha legends, elementalists, flying germans, and minutemen had fleeting moments of success surrounded by more forgettable work. I'm not sure I'd describe 2009 as a high point in the community- deep into the bowels of a transitional time for admins and the slow death of large rct2 parkmaking. A story for another time maybe!

 

This season had plenty of drama, as always. Interestingly, GeeWhzz's one-time-team the Whzz Kids absolutely decimated the round robin, somehow laying waste to all their oponents. And yet, in retrospect... I don't really like almost any of their parks! Through a combination of lucky matchups and pushing the boundaries of realism they wow'ed enough to make it to the finals and then promptly did not submit anything. Apparently, the legendary and infamous member K0NG (rip) lost "Disney's Montana's Big Butte Adventure" (or something of that nature) in a hard drive crash. I never got the feeling that it was close enough to being finished to matter though, although I've always loved the sound of that park. in the end, the indominable hurricanes won another h2h under kumba's careful captainship- perhaps the tom brady/belichick patriots of NE?

 

I'll focus on the most noteworthy parks and then put honorable mentions at the end...

 

Park Asterix

flying germans (magnus)

 

An old favorite, even if its showing its age. The massive, beautiful woodie dominates the map, settling into a beautiful environment. Of course, my fond nostalgia for Asterix comics doesn't hurt. The park is quaint with some lovely archy and neat rides. I always loved the rapids/slide. Perhaps in retrospect the park comes off a little big "half-baked" but it was hugely popular at the time and still has a good place in my heart.

 

The testament

elementalists (levis)

 

This wild mess of a narrative park has not aged well. In fact, I struggled to find a good screenshot... but it was certainly a smash hit at the time. It toes the fine line between edgey and reverential as it describes the story of the bible and modern christianity. I don't love it but I can't deny it was huge then.

 

xlapak

alpha legends (six frags)

 

One of the last great LL h2h parks... there are not much more after this, and it carries on lovingly the tradition of having adventure rides and fiery explosions. Set in the end times of a mesoamerican civilization, there's beautiful pyramids in a relatively detailed and lush vibe.

 

red river delta

minutemen (chapelz)

 

Hugely underappreciated at the time, this park barely beat out a forgetabble (if highly impressive) high-concept LL sci-fi extravaganza. Now, I think many people would tell you it's the best park of h2h5. Minimalist, atmospheric, flowing, elegant... and highly influential, years later. Beautiful coasters in a stunning setting. Turtle is one of the legends of the game. Interestingly, much of his h2h work went slightly overlooked at the time or was released after his teams didn't make the finals, and would go on to be some of the most important h2h parks ever. The sleeper cult classic creator (and a personal rct of mine...)

 

belmont shores

whzz kids (gee_whzz)

 

Ah, belmont shores. At the time, this was by far the most impressive city infrastructure I'd ever seen. Now, it pales in comparison to the average, almost tired hyperdetailing city infrastructure of today's meta. But it was groundbreaking and trendsetting. To be honest, I find less and less to like every time I revisit it. Maybe I should resign it to my nostalgic memories and give it a long break? Geewhzz and k0ng show here how hugely influential the two of them were in the development of rct2, though. Legendary names now!

 

lenox mall

whzz kids (gee_whzz)

 

how could a writeup of h2h5 not include lenox mall- the ultimate, most detailed, untouchable realistic park ever (my, how things change!). Again- I don't think its fantastic today, especially after I've ridden the real supersonic odyssey and found it disappointing. But it totally blew our socks off, and it won every single vote in the match against a finished park (not a good one, but even bad finished parks usually get a couple...). This epic release catapulted the whzz kid's undefeated season into the finals, where we had high hopes for them....

 

worlds of tim burton

hurricanes (kumba)

 

but of course, we must carry on the h2h tradition of bad finals rounds, with unfinished parks and disqualifications. But don't let that put you off- this banger by all-time-legends JK, robbie, and dr dirt is a phenomenal park that I still come back to today. At the time, robbie and dirt were really the newbies helping out JK, but you can start seeing each of them coming into their own in this whirlwind of a dense park. there's an astounding amount of readable areas for such a small footprint and its seeping with burton-esque atmosphere. of all the ways to badly end a season... you could do a lot worse than this one.

 

also... that's one park from every team. well done everyone

 

Honorable Mentions

sea world sydney. OK sue me for putting it here. Its a standout piece of LL realism and hugely influential. But not my favorite!

world showcase. aged a bit poorly but an impressive feat of architecture at the time!

vampyre a legend of an unfinished park and a testament to rctfan's legacy that he is so fondly remembered with so little finished work. the layout is wonderful and the archy was looking amazing for the time...

imaginit and dinotopia. some legendary builders here but I put them together because I think they put fisch on the radar. I was obsessed with him since I was a wee lad with duisberger wunderland, but now he is amonst the best to ever play rct2 and a wrecking ball for any team. Just don't build so dense u loser

calypso quay. it is easy to undersell the importance of rrp's contributions to rct2. known primarily as an LL legend, his forays into the second game were strikingly detailed, realistic, and came with this quiet, natural atmosphere that is hard to describe. This park is very clearly heavily unfinished and it still handily beat a totally finished park. it also goes nicely into my next one...

dream world indoor. i wouldn't say this is a 'good' park by any means. But this park, as well as the last, was the humble beginnings of liampie's reign, rising from your average dutch whatever to head honcho, h2h veteran, master of design, and person-to-beat number one in any season.

and of course...

roman vice. can't do a h2h without talking about kumba's parks. this epic narrative based park is just teenage boy heaven, with violence and gigantic structures and kumba's trademark grey/brown brick with red shingle roof folly. I think its sort of bad, but, its important...

 

that's a wrap! see you next time, maybe...

Loved this Cocoa. Your memories trigger my own, and it's fun to go back.

Thank you Cocoa for bring back those memories. 

I still cannot believe how many years have passed since H2H5. Its been a fun contest and included a lot of groundbreaking parks. Some of them stood the test of time, others require a deep knowledge of the history of this game to be enjoyed in recent days.