Head-2-Head-X / The History of H2H: H2H4

The History of H2H: H2H4

 

After the postponing sagas of H2H2 and 3, iris decided to wait with the fourth season for the right opportunity. A month after the Pro Tour 2 winner was revealed to be Phatage's Busch Gardens Sydney, iris announced H2H4 on April 26th 2006 and with it his plans for the contest. Many answered the call, and the sign-ups list, and within only a few days the number of sign-ups rose to 89, and among them many high profile parkmakers. Some of them were coming out of retirement, perhaps giving the LL fans hope that there would be any LL during H2H4, now that the site had become so RCT2-dominated.

 

Not everyone had shared iris' patience, and hype had been building similar to what happens leading up to modern H2Hs. In September 2005, Panic coined the idea for a 'wannabe H2H', which quickly became 'H2H3 1/2'. Dozens of people signed up, and four teams of six players competed - among them a return from the Blue Meanies, lead by cg?, after their wildly 'successful' H2H2 adventure. Ride6's team looked to be the favourites, and perhaps they won because they were the only team to actually build some parks for this. As of now, as far as I know, Fobiotopia is the only H2H3 1/2 park in the database, which means that Levis is H2H3 1/2's MVP.

 

Back to the real thing. There would be no more non-playing captains in H2H4. And one sentence after that announcement, iris made an exception for himself, returning to the captain role after a one season hiatus. Kumba and Evil WME also returned as captains, and Ride6, Panic and JKay completed the contest's high command. The draft was held on May 1st, and in their instant regret the captains started trading their players right away, including #1 pick Corkscrewed, who Kumba decided was less important than rookie Xcoaster after all. Almost 30 people went unpicked, and for the first time there was a replacement list, and for the first time, talk of expanding the contest and creating a special replacements team or little league H2H occured. H2H was hot and everyone wanted to be in - 61 people actually were.

 

H2H4 saw three returning captains; iris, Kumba and Evil WME. Iris dropped out of H2H before it even began last season, but this time iris seemed to be a little more involved. After last season's poor showing by the IIIcons, Iris created a spiritual successor in the Demigods. Aside from Iris himself, Phatage and Magnus returned from the H2H3 Icons. Aside from them, iris assembled a strong team featuring Blitz (of Ghost Cell Crisis fame), Kevin, Marshy and Xenon among others - a lot of RCT2 talent. However, most of these names were considered gambles in terms of how much they could be expected to build.

 

Last season's de facto Icons leader, WME, crafted his own team free from the iris legacy: the Ferocious Tigers. Not an entirely random name, as WME was often included in NE parks as a tiger entertainer. WME managed to get his hands on cBass, Toon, Titan and John - a LOT of starpower. However, cBass and Toon dropped out pretty fast, and eventually, very late in the season, Titan had to give up H2H as well. Replacing these were Coaster Ed, admittedly not quite a downgrade, and 5Dave - the first contest appearance of a would be legend.

 

Completing the East Division was Strangelove, helmed by Ride6. Ride6 had some unofficial captaining experience from H2H3 on the Flying Germans, and with X250 and leighx also carrying over from that team, Strangelove could be considered the current title holders. After the draft, Ride6 traded away Richie (who later dropped out) for Harakiri/bokti - who went under the name 'rainbow connection' at the time and Junya Boy for tracidEdge. With Fatha, Themeparkmaster and RMM on the team as well, this meant that a lot of LL was on the horizon. With X250, artist and Ride6 himself, the team also had considerable RCT2 firepower.

 

The most noticable team name in the West Division was the Hurricanes, returning from their almost successful H2H3 season. Kumba was captain again, but other than that, the team was completely new, and clearly RCT2-oriented. In true Kumba fashion, the team underwent a lot of mutations during the trade period. Kumba trading away Corkscrewed (the very first pick in the draft) was a strange move, but getting Xcoaster on board was an inspired move (just a bit late). Xcoaster was one of the hottest player at the time, having impressed the community with his DisneyAir park in the second Pro Tour. Also departing the Hurricanes were John and Emergo, two highly regarded players again, in favour of J K and tyandor. Surviving the trade period were Steve, Levis and egg_head.

 

Contrary to his name, Panic was a good source of calm and maturity, making him a good candidate for H2H captaincy. He indeed got a captaincy spot, and drafted together a team called the Italian Stallions. Panic was second in the draft order, and he went for x-sector right away. Sadly, x would never build this season, dropping out to make place for trav, and enthusiastic but unproven guy. Panic also traded away bokti/Harakiri/rainbow connection/[alter ego] in favour for Richie, who also dropped out, getting replaced by jon - and not the one who made Venetia Harbour. The Italian Stallions had some solid players remaining though. In the LL-department: Micool, Loopy and Twisted.

 

Last, but certainly not least... rookie captain JKay and the Tycoon Bandits. Instantly regarded as one of the strongest teams, made stronger with the coming of Corkscrewed - the H2H3 MVP. JKay also got his hands on Turtle, Six Frags, Emergo, Jazz, and RCTFAN - a lot of RCT2 starpower, especially considering JKay was a double spotlight winner at this point. The Tycoon Bandits looked like a promise of good semi-realistic parkmaking ahead. Interesting fact: this is probably the only H2H team in history in which women were overrepresented compared to community's general composition. Slay!

 

On May the 5th, the team forums were opened, and a few weeks later, Cork launched the dedicated H2H4 subdomain. Teams would have over a month to build a park for Week 1, but the deadline was pushed back from June 16th to June 24th... A sign of things to come? In any case, expectations were high.

 

Week 1 kicked off with an informal rematch of the H2H3 finals: Hurricanes versus Strangelove; a classic RCT2 vs LL match. Instantly, the position of LL in H2H4 became a topic of debate. Would LL stand a chance? Are LL parks going to lose every match because people without LL will just vote for the RCT2 park? Valid concerns, as The Ragnarok by rookies J K and egg_head beat The Siege of Castle Grijs by veterans Ride6 and tracidEdge, who are until this day convinced that 'Grijs' is Russian for 'grey'. It is Dutch. The Hurricanes got some revenge for the H2H3 final, but Ride6 was left frustrated. RCT2 vs LL discussion continued in the match topic for over a month.

 

The second match went between the Ferocious Tigers and the Tycoon Bandits. The former submitted Las Vegas 2010, built by WME and hotel expert RCTNW, and the latter submitted Campo Vinobacci by Mama Bear and Jazz. Las Vegas was impressive with its large structures, but also somewhat hollow. Vinobacci was more charming, but also a bit crude and unfinished - it did have the better coaster. Perhaps for that reason, the Tycoon Bandits got a comfortable win on this battleground, that was half claimed by a continuation of the Hurricanes vs Strangelove match - which unlocked an attitude in Ride6...

 

Expectations from the first match were subverted in the third match, as LL beat RCT2 after all. On the losing side we found The Edge from the Demigods, a floating rock park built by Tom_dj and Xenon. A nice idea, but lacking in execution and ambition, doing nothing that Ghost Cell crisis had already done last season. Courmayeur Harbour from the Italian Stallions wasn't all that groundbreaking either, with the architecture being deemed somewhat boring and repetitive. However, what made up for it was a fine example of why Panic is one of the best wooden coaster designers of all time. The coaster alone won the Stallions the match.

 

Noteworthy: all three matches were interdivisional, and the West Division team won them all... New this year were 'favorite park' polls after every round. The Siege of Castle Grijs led the poll, which could've been salt in Ride6's wounds, but instead motivated Strangelove to stay in the game. The other team in their division lost their matches as well, and their own park was well received after all. No harm done, really.

 

Siege at Castle Grijs by Strangelove	Ragnarok by the Hurricanes
Courmayeur Harbour by the Italian Stallions	Las Vegas 2010 by the Ferocious Tigers

 

July started off a bit turbulent with roster changes on the Tigers, and a leaking 'scandal'. All was quickly forgotten, surely, when the first Week 2 match hit: Italian Stallions versus Tycoon Bandits. The Stallions had a nice park by Metropole and supertrooper called Firebrook Estate Theme Park, though it was unfnished. It was no match for the Tycoon Bandits. Built by Six Frags and Emergo, Mont Saint Michel was an instant classic, a tasteful recreation of the famous town and abbey in France, with a giant B&M invert embedded in the scene as well. The Bandits went 2-0.

 

A similar reception was given to Strangelove's park in the second match, against the Demigods. The Demigods, Kevin and CoasterForce more specifically, disappointingly failed to finish their park. Even if it had been finished, Slime Meridian by Fatha' and bokti/Harakiri/Rainbow Connection was an instant classic as well, combining science fiction with wild west elements, executed in novel ways with novel ideas such as a floating paddleship. Both matches' outcomes were confirmed in the Week 2 poll, with Slime Meridian having the edge over Mont Saint Michel.

 

Mont Saint Michel by the Tycoon Bandits

Slime Meridian by Strangelove

 

The maximum map size in H2H4 was 70x70, or 4700 tiles. DarkJanus of the Italian Stallions misunderstood the assignment and submitted a highly unfinished and enigmatic 90x90 map called Psychoneurosis. 90x90 is 3200 tiles or 60% larger than the maximum allowed map size. The transgression was too large to be left unpunished, and Psychoneurosis was disqualified. To determine a vote count for the opposing park, the match was held regardless. Psychoneursis managed to get a few votes against The Great Carolina Quarry, to the dismay and suspicion of Hurricanes captain and creator (with ekimmel) of the park: Kumba. Maybe true, but the tallest trees catch the most wind, and Kumba was certainly trying to appear tall at the time. Regardless, the Great Carolina Quarry got a solid win, and the park itself was quite good too, a classic Kumba barrage of ideas.

 

The other match in Week 3 is one of the most infamous H2H matches of all time. Tigers versus Strangelove. Kayte Ridge versus Internet City. Realism versus fantasy. geewhzz and Cedarpoint6 versus X250 and leighx. Internet City was a highly creative and somewhat gaudy representation of the internet at the time, with areas dedicated to computer hardware, major websites (such as NE), errors and firewalls, advertisements and popups, and of course, pornography. Some of the decisions were questionable, such as naming a coaster 'cumshot' or giving another coaster great theming but making it painfully slow through a hack to represent the internet speed of slow dial-up modem. Kayte Ridge was a polar opposite to Internet City. Grounded realism, almost like nothing we had seen before. In hindsight, Kayte Ridge was the grandfather of all modern realism parks, though it was not recognised as groundbreaking at the time. In fact, both parks were seen as somewhat unoriginal and messy (in the case of Internet City) or boring (in the case of Kayte Ridge). The match was incredibly close, driving up the vote count into the triple digits again. With the match being so close and the teams being so competitive, every vote was held against the light. Policy about not letting new members vote was applied with some votes being deleted, fueling the fires, and also triggering Kumba's H2H3 trauma despite him not having any stakes in this match. Eventually, Kayte Ridge barely got the win, after literally hundreds of comments. In the week 3 poll, the honour for best park of the round went to The Great Carolina Quarry - Kumba having the last laugh after all.

 

The Great Carolina Quarry by the Hurricanes	Psychoneurosis by the Italian Stallions
Internet City by Strangelove	Kayte Ridge by the Ferocious Tigers

 

More intra-divisional matches took place in Week 4. The first match between the Ferocious Tigers and the Demigods would probably be the most bedroom park like incidents of H2H4, though not quite as uncanny. Both parks were takes on tropical islands, and both were 'just okay'. Demigods really needed a win, and Magnus singehandledly crafted Isla Magica in a week, after Toon went AWOL - leaving captain iris pissed. Definitely a mitigating circumstance. Considering this, Magnus did a pretty good job at making an attractive looking map. Whereas he took the resort approach to a tropical island, Evil WME and John went for a more adventurous vibe with Rapa Nui, a map headlined by a yellow B&M and a big ugly object of an Easter Island statue. Somehow the match received over 150 comments, half of them discussing the ethics of adding boosters to coasters. The Demigods won, keeping them in the game.

 

The Hurricanes and the Tycoon Bandits were both 2-0. It quickly became clear that the Bandits would get a win here, as their opponents' Kiriki Dutch Falls, by Levis and egg_head, was clearly unfinished. It had some good ideas, but it was no match for a very good and very complete Hallowhusk Cove, by Corkscrewed and JKay. Massive coasters, a well done prison, a highly detailed waterfront, and an overall strong haunted atmosphere made this one of the best parks of the season right away, and easily the best of the week. The Bandits went 3-0 - the Hurricanes took their first loss - something that Kumba of course claimed to have planned all along.

 

Hallowhusk Cove by the Tycoon Bandits

Isla Magica by the Demigods

 

Week 5 would mirror Week 1, in that three East Division teams would meet three West Division teams. Back then, the East was slaughtered by the West. History was about to repeat itself, as all three East teams submitted an unfinished park, ranging from the somewhat enjoyable Brighouse Mines by Marshy and landscaping nerd Old Red, to the crude planning stage disappointment of Snakes on a Muthafuckin' Plane, the latter being especially disappointing because it was a rare LL showing, by Themeparkmaster nonetheless, who proved to be so valuable in H2H2. A shoutout must go to Cherokee Canyons by (mostly) hobbes, which contained a large wooden terrain coaster with a few helices too many - despite the unfinishedness, it showed some ambition.

 

As unfinished as those parks were, so impressive were the parks that beat them. The Ferocious Tigers were annihilated by the Hurricanes, on whose behalf Steve and J K submitted Tierra Aventura. Praised for the scenery, criticised for the poor theming accuracy. It won park of the week. The Demigods were crushed by the unstoppable force that was the Tycoon Bandits; Emergo made a second apperance with the futiristic Azuris City, also featuring work from yeshlinuts. Strangelove had no doubt been the best team in the East Division so far, but this time they dropped the ball, losing H2H4's only LL-exclusive match to the amazingly done Kilika by Loopy and Twisted, giving the Italian Stallions a welcome win.

 

The Eastern teams went in 1-2, and came out 1-3. After five weeks, the entire division was still tied... The West Division had a clear hierarchy: Tycoon Bandits were infallible, Hurricanes doing well, and Italian Stallions being average - but still better than the entire East Division.

 

Brighouse Mines by the Demigods	Azuris City by the Tycoon Bandits
Tierra Aventura by the Hurricanes	Kilika by the Italian Stallions

 

The H2H4 standings after Week 5 were as follows.

 

	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10
North Division
Demigods	L	L		W	L
Ferocious Tigers	L		W	L	L
Strangelove	L	W	L		L
South Division
Hurricanes	W		W	L	W
Italian Stallions	W	L	DQ		W
Tycoon Bandits	W	W		W	W

 

The amount of unfinished parks had taken the shape of a trend last week, but Week 6 fortunately had a strong match with two finished parks, and this one would become a classic. Strangelove regained their form with Mamba Kilima. X250 paired up with chapelz to produce an African themed park, showing his les goofy side after his divisive Internet City. Strong theming, strong coaster. Much stronger than that was the park the Ferocious Tigers came up with, or rather what a single Tiger named Coaster Ed came up with: Kitabasaki Dragonland - his final LL masterpiece. A Japanse themed map so full of detail, clever hacks using the freshly released Codex Trainer, plenty of strong theming ideas, and unique and long coasters; even all the Strangelove players came out to voice their support for it. Somehow, the praise Kitabasaki received in the comments was not matched by the poll results. Was this an advantage nowadays inherent to LL? Would it be fair to posts extra screenshots of LL parks for those without access? A new chapter to the ongoing RCT2 vs LL debate. In any case, Mamba Kilima won, and it was controversial. Not because it was weak, but simply because Kitabasaki was to good to lose. A repeat of the match poll followed in te 'favourite park of week 6' poll, which only featured Mamba Kilima and Kitabasaki. Whereas Mamba Kilima narrowly beat Kitabsaki officially, here it wouldn't even get a third of the votes.

 

Kitabasaki Dragonland by the Ferocious Tigers

Mamba Kilima by Strangelove

 

On the backstage side of NE, there were interesting things happening as well. Iris, NE owner and captain of the Demigods, was less and less active and enthusiastic with each passing week, his presence fading away into complete silence, with Cork's presence growing instead into the de facto H2H4 game master. Kumba got in touch with him and agreed on a purchase of the site, which was a pretty great story in itself including a handwritten receipt on a napkin. Phatage took control of the Demigods, which also comes with a fun anecdote, as written down by Kumba for NE's 10 Year Anniversary in 2012:

 

Kumba wrote:

When iris left Phatage took over the Demigods. Iris was not happy about Phatage’s repeated attempts to contact him about his inactivity as team captain. Phatage told me that because of this iris refused to pay him the $100 that was promised to the winner of the PT2. To my surprise Phatage did not want me to pay him the prize money. He wanted iris nominated for the NE Award that no one wanted to win back when it was around, the asshole of the year award (normally won by Posix). I was happy to help Phatage get even and put iris’ name down.

 

Corkscrewed wrote:

I've been in Paris for a week now, as you should probably know. No internet access in my room in my hotel, so I've been cut off from the world. Tonight during dinner, I get a call from someone at the hotel relaying a message that said that Kumba had taken over NE. Intrigued, I decided to go to my friend's room and sneak the internet they steal from a nearby cafe. So I see this, and Kumba's actually bought the site. [...] And believe it or not, the guy can be a good leader. Just an illiterate one. But if his H2H captaincy (based on last season's experience) is any indication, I think he'll do pretty well.

 

From now on, it would be Corkscrewed and Kumba running the show. The community and Kumba in his leadership role both needed some adjusting.

 

On the same day as the site take-over, the first Week 7 match was posted. Phatage, now officially capain, lead the charge for the Demigods with Kipper Amusement Park, built together with Tom_dj. Kipper was kind of unique within this H2H season, being a quite realistic and humble portrayal of a classic theme park, with a big wooden coaster and even some urban outskirts - a rare sight in 2006. The Hurricanes submitted Oasis of Asha, a map clearly torn in two with a section by tyandor and a section by Junya Boy. It had some admirable qualities but overall did not come together at all. The Demigods got their second win, overtaking the Ferocious Tigers in the East Division standings. They were still in the game.

 

The Italian Stallions, on the other hand... forfeited. A return of the trend of unfinished parks? The Tycoon Bandits brought forward an amazing park once again - this time unnecessarily good without opposition. Kukuana was made by Turtle and RCTFAN, with some of the best chemistry ever on display in H2H. It was possibly the first NE release to include a custom vehicle from Amazing Earl, and possibly the last (and only) NE release to properly show the amazing talent RCTFAN possesed. Kukuana was elected park of the week.

 

Kukuana by the Tycoon Bandits

Kipper Amusement Park by the Demigods

 

Some players were were retreating from the contest in private; unfinished parks and rushed parks had become common, and now the first forfeit happened as well - this prompted the captains to vote for a Week 8 extension. It was in vain, and the contest went downhill from here. Week 8 still featured a decent match between the Tycoon Bandits and Strangelove, with the latter getting the win, ending the Bandits' incredible winning streak. Volkahros Castle by Jazz and BreakAway was decent, but clearly a step below the previous output by the team, while Strangelove submitted a strong park again, this time made by artist and leighx: Lands of Legends. The Demigods failed to pick up momentum after their recent win, and forfeited, giving the Tigers a free win - they were now tied in the standings again... Harkview Heights was a good successor to Kayte Ridge, with much more dramatic landscaping that was well done, and a couple of great coasters by geewhzz. Again, it was the park that won by default that would be the park of the week.

 

Lands of Legends by Strangelove

Harkview Heights by the Ferocious Tigers

 

Week 9 was even worse than Week 8, with a heavily unfinished Hurricanes park getting a free win against the Stallions, who forfeited for their second match in a row - they knew in advance that they were not going to make the play-offs, even if they managed to win their matches. The Canes' Arcade was made by Xcoaster and gymkid_dude. It could've been nice, it surely was a unique idea. But it did not live up to the expectations that people had of Xcoaster. Week 10, once again pushed back by a few days (and then again), saw the Stallions attempt to recover some of their dignity, as jon and trav got fairly close to finishing A Spring Fair in Clovelly. The Ferocious Tigers actually managed to finish their park, made by Drew and 5Dave: Cutlass Coast, which is themed exactly like what it sounds like: pirates (but more warm and charming). It easily got the honour of park of the week. The other two matches were decided by one team not showing up. Strangelove got a win by submitting a heavily unfinished Annapurna, and the Hurricanes submitted Gothic Enchantments by ekimmel and Junya Boy - unfinished. The Demigods, and surprisingly the Tycoon Bandits, were nowhere to be found. The latter match being terrible was excusable, considering both teams had already qualified for the play-offs. Whereas earlier matches in the contest got over 200 comments, the Gothic Enchantments match currently stands at 7.

 

Interestingly, two of these unfinished parks would be finished many years later. tracidEdge realised the potential of what he started with RMM's B&M invert, and two years later it won design with a great accolade score of 75%. Trav took it upon himself to finish (and expand!) Clovelly, only it took him a decade, and the result was a 59% Bronze.

 

Cutlass Coast by the Ferocious Tigers

A Spring Fair in Clovelly by the Italian Stallions

 

As the Tycoon Bandits had been giving up on their 'no losses' ambition, the Hurricanes picked up some wins, for both teams to end up level in the West Division. The Italian Stallions could've caught up with some luck, but essentially they already threw in the towel by week 8. They ended up with a similar record to that of the Demigods in the Eastern Division, who disappeared completely after Week 7. Strangelove and the Tigers picked up some late wins, to end with the decent records of 4-3 and 3-4 respectively after all - they would make up the other play-off.

 

The season was in danger of becoming the worst H2H season ever. Kumba tried his best to rally the troops and create some hype again, but old habits die hard... The captains again advocated for a deadline extension, meaning the play-offs would not be released until late November. Remember that H2H4 started in April. Some people blamed the management for the state of the contest; either the old management or the new. Mangement in turn was put in the position of damned if they do damned if they don't regarding further extensions. Despite the doubts, there were also people clinging to the hope that the deadline extensions, and the two weaker teams being eliminated, would result in strong play-offs parks...

 

The H2H4 standings after Week 10 were as follows.

 

	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10
North Division
Demigods	L	L		W	L		W	F		F
Ferocious Tigers	L		W	L	L	L		W		W
Strangelove	L	W	L		L	W		W		W
South Division
Hurricanes	W		W	L	W		L		W	W
Italian Stallions	W	L	DQ		W		F		F	L
Tycoon Bandits	W	W		W	W		W	L		F

 

The play-off parks indeed were a significant step up from the latter half of Round Robin - some teams made true on their promise and delivered some masterpieces again. In the spirit of the contest, the West Division was a bit weaker than the East. Because these two matches were quite precious, a new rule had been installed: no voting until 24 hours after the parks had been posted. All four parks were released at once, after which two separate topics with polls were set up.

 

The Ferocious Tigers submitted Mars Colony Eurolai, built by their two main guys. Geewhzz was a frontrunner for MVP this season, with his contributions to Kayte Ridge and Harkview Heights. His partner here was Coaster Ed. This was an unusual park; Ed attempting to continue his streak of masterpieces with RCT2, and geewhzz switching to fantasy. Perhaps both strayed too far out of their comfort zone. Mars Colony Eurolai showed tremendous ambition, with an extremely long shoestringed coaster that sadly didn't operate fully. Indeed, the park was not quite finished yet... But there is enough content to get the idea across, and it's a one of a kind. Strangelove's park was Below Bermuda, another high concept science fiction park about the bermuda triangle. In one version of the map, a B&M floating above the sea represents a vapor trail of a plane that crashes into the waves. In the second version of the map, you can see the 'plane' swirling to the bottom, to an underwater alien colony. It looked rushed, but not unfinished. There were a lot of cool ideas on display. Quite impressive, considering Ride6 made it all by himself in the last few days when it became clear Fatha would not be available to build. Strangelove probably had the best season out of all West Division teams, but their run ended here, with the Tigers becoming the unexpected finalist.

 

Mars Colony Eurolai and Below Bermuda paled in comparison to the parks cooked up by the East Division teams. The Hurricanes presented Disney's Shadowlands, built by Steve and Xcoaster, whose high placement in the draft finally paid off. Shadowlands was meant as a Disney park that focuses more on villains and darker versions of existing Disney rides, for example corporating Bald Mountain from Fantasia, an amazing section themed to Tron (with lots of cool custom letters and a intricate (but static) custom flat ride), and a black Disney castle as the park's centerpiece. The Xcoaster idea machine was running and Steve proved to be a suitable partner to help bring it to life. The Tycoon Bandits recaptured the spirit of their earlier round robin parks, as captain JKay and MVP frontrunner Emergo built Alice in Wonderland. Peeps fall through a rabbit hole, ending in a beautifully colourful world full of castles, gardens and good RCT that captures the magical feel and whimsy of the source material. It was painful that one of these teams would have to lose, and it ended up being the Tycoon Bandits. Regardless of the match outcome, Emergo impressed so much with her trio of H2H4 parks, that Kumba offered her a parkmaker spot - that was still an awesome prize to end the Bandits' season.

 

Mars Colony Eurolai by the Ferocious Tigers	Below Bermuda by Strangelove
Disney's Shadowland by the Hurricanes	Alice in Wonderland by the Tycoon Bandits

 

Whoever had their spirit lifted by the strong semi-final maches, quickly got their spirit crushed again as the first of three grand final matches was posted. The Ferocious Tigers managed to submit a park that was perhaps a quarter finished at most, Snowdrift (nicknamed Serpents Aboard a Flying Device) opposite a completely finished Hurricanes Park by Kumba and J K. That said, Anheuser Busch Park & Zoo was not quite the 'park of the season' contender you'd hope for a match in which the championship is at stake. One promising but heavily unfinished park versus a mediocre but finished park. The latter won. Hurricanes 1-0 Ferocious Tigers.

 

The second game secured the championship for the Hurricanes simply by showing up, as the Tigers failed to get a park in. Hurricanes 2-0 Ferocious Tigers. Their park was Nostalgia Vale was built by Levis and tyandor, themed to classic theme park and carnival rides. For some it was park of the season, to others it became cause for a physics knowledge dick measuring contest in the comments, all over the speed in which the wooden coaster was taking an unbanked turn.

 

Anheuser Busch Park & Zoo by the Hurricanes

Nostalgia Vale by the Hurricanes

 

Anyway, the Hurricanes were declared the winner of H2H4. A weird ending to a weird season. What started with iris announcing a Masters Edition, ended with Kumba unceremoniously crowning himself champion. Perhaps it was the ambition of a Masters Edition that doomed the contest, as many veterans ended up dropping out of the contest: cBass, Toon, Blitz, Titan, x-sector, sloB, and even iris himself, though it must be said that other veterans such as Coaster Ed, Ride6 and Twisted did show up. Another possible explanation was the season simply being too long. The Canes won H2H on December 28th - eight months after it started. Seasons passed and lives changes causing people's availability to change for the worse. There were also distractions in the community, as there were other contests also happening during this time.

 

Whatever the causes, H2H4 was a disappointing edition; somewhat of a failure even when you consider that a lot of matches and the contest overall were decided not through the quality of the RCT submissions, but merely by the finishedness or the mere existence of parks. Despite this, there were also positive takeaways. Among the parks that were finished were many instant all-time classics, and the quality of the finished parks was significantly higher than ever seen before - perhaps excluding a handful of Coaster Ed park from previous seasons. The veterans disappointed in H2H4, but a new generation of parkmakers were standing up: Emergo, geewhzz, Cedarpoint6, Loopy, Xcoaster, J K... Lastly, the role of LL may have changed for the better. Before, LL was looking like a dying, second rate game. H2H4 did not have many LL parks at all, but they did achieve success, showing that LL was a viable and potentially very powerful strategy after all.

 

With H2H4 neatly covering the calendar year, the H2H4 awards were combined with the 2006 NE Awards. Below you will find an overview of the H2H-specific awards and their respective recipients - which is only barely a plural because Emergo sweeped up most of them.

 

Best Park Best Losing Park Worst Park Best Match Most Valuable Parkmaker Steal of the Draft Rookie of the Year Where did THAT come from? Best Story Mr. Cursed Captain of the Year

Disney's Shadowlands by Xcoaster and Steve Alice in Wonderland by Emergo and JKay Snakes on a Muthafuckin' Plane by Themeparkmaster and RMM Alice in Wonderland vs. Disney's Shadowlands Emergo Emergo Emergo geewhzz Rise of the New Blood (Emergo, J K, Xcoaster, Geewhzz, ect.) RCTNW Kumba

 

In the general 2006 awards, only one category was won by a H2H4 park: Rabbit Hole Experience by Emergo in Alice in Wonderland. However, on the back of Kukuana, RCTFAN was voted best non-NE Parkmaker, which resulted in a parkmaker spot for him. However, he declined, feeling he hadn't achieved enough to justify such a position. Xcoaster won parkmaker of the year - something Arcade certainly didn't contribute to, but the contribution of Disney's Shadowlands on top of his PT2 park DisneyAir was probably crucial.

 

The Tycoon Bandits had made steady progress on some parks intended for the (best of three) finals, prior to being eliminated. Realising this could also apply to other teams, Cork announced the creation of a new accolade category at NE: the Concept Creation. This made more sense at the time than it does now, as the spotlight submission category was meant for large scale parks per definition. It didn't end up happening this way. The Concept Creation category was made, but it didn't happen until almost a year later in September 2007, and it would be abolished in the summer of 2009 due to a lack of submissions. Another year later, one of these Tycoon Bandits parks actually did see the light of day, now submitted through the normal accolade procedure: Willemstad Delisia, built by Mama Bear and Six Frags; it won a bronze. An unfinished and unused Hurricanes finals park by Xcoaster and Kumba was also finished eventually. For a decade it was known and advertised under the name 'Logos', but upon release it became Scientifica. It won gold, with the amazing score of 87% - not bad for a park built with a 2006 bench in 2006 style. The first of these would-be H2H4 parks to be released in a finished state was actually Annapurna by tracidEdge (and coaster by RMM), which neatly fitted into the Design accolade. Snowdrift by 5Dave and Cedarpoint6. Aa mentioned earlier, trav's Clovelly belongs in this list as well. Other parks had been advertised, but not finished, such as a French park Corkscrewed was working on, and another RCT2 park by Coaster Ed (and Evil WME) called Ilium City. Time will tell whether these will be released, or whether Scientifica will remain the last H2H4 twitch ever.

 

Snowdrift by the Ferocious Tigers	Scientifica by the Hurricanes
Annapurna by Strangelove	Willemstad Delisia by the Tycoon Bandits
Ville des Lumieres 2 by the Tycoon Bandits	Ilium City by the Ferocious Tigers

H2H4 Statistics

 

Players: Participation

Players: Performance

 

Matches: Outcomes

Matches: Parks

"something that Kumba of course claimed to have planned all along."

All I can say is that we where looking into making sure we would get a place in the play-offs and we expected the Tycoon Bandits to come up with a very high quality park. So the park form egg and me was originally planned for a week later but the choice was made to move it forward to give the other park more time to finish. Once we made the descission we expected to be able to finish it, but due to some personal problems somewhere in the end we weren't able to completly finish the park. Still we didn't expect to beat the tycoon bandits here, we where planning on making sure we would win the next round as that park looked very promising.


Also Fun Fact, as far was I know Nostalgia Vale was the first park ever released with a working dual station. It was done in the fairytale ride as that was a lot easier than doing it with a coaster. Some people picked up on that as you can read back in the comments. Not long after it I believe I made a tutorial on how to do it.

Pretty wild that only 16 players from H2H4 would go on to participate in H2H5, feels like a real changing of the guard there (btw the bar chart appears incorrect).  I bet the long nearly 3 year gap contributed to that a lot but it's still surprising to see.

 

Love the write ups as always, and the statistics even more so!

God I love these write ups. Gives the community so much heritage and lore. 

i need that unfinished cork park

H2H6 and onwards have made H2H4 look worse, because now we know the amount of unfinished parks and forfeits were an anomaly. Pre-H2H5 the forfeits looked funny but I didn't think much of it and I focused more on the finished parks. In terms of RCT2 output, H2H4 introduced so many classics... Probably more than H2H5, and definitely more than H2H3, which only has Aviara Cove, Ghost Cell Crisis and Sierra Glen, in my eyes.

- Mont Saint Michel

- Alice in Wonderland

- Disney's Shadowlands

- Kukuana

- Tierra Aventura

- Kayte Ridge

- Hallowhusk Cove (underrated)

 

Speaking of... The number of exotic K-names here is unkanny.

- Kiriki

- Kilika

- Kilima

- Kukuana

- Kitabasaki

 

And that's leaving out Kayte and Kipper.