If Nemesis was around when you were a kid I’d expect it to be your favourite because nostalgia. Us younger folk won’t have the same connection with the ride
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Smiler vs Nemesis
- Thread starter Ethan
- Start date
Benzin
TS Member
Lots of enthusiasts love Skyrush and I305. Those are definitely well known for being exceptionally forceful. Plus most RMCs seem to spend their time forcibly attempting to eject you.
Some enthusiasts like Furius Baco. So there's just no accounting for taste.
There are probably even some who liked Mean Streak, and enjoy Bandit and Coaster Express. Those people shouldn't be let outside in social situations.
This topic proves nothing bar that everyone is different and unsurprisingly the 30 year old coaster has a larger following than the troublesome pre-teen.
End of the day Smiler is marmite. It has (like most rides) pros and cons. The cons are just harder to ignore and more numerous than the ones for Nemesis.
Some enthusiasts like Furius Baco. So there's just no accounting for taste.
There are probably even some who liked Mean Streak, and enjoy Bandit and Coaster Express. Those people shouldn't be let outside in social situations.
This topic proves nothing bar that everyone is different and unsurprisingly the 30 year old coaster has a larger following than the troublesome pre-teen.
End of the day Smiler is marmite. It has (like most rides) pros and cons. The cons are just harder to ignore and more numerous than the ones for Nemesis.
I was in my mid thirties when Nemesis was built.
It remains my favourite ride.
By your logic, I should love the Corkscrew.
It was always a bit naff.
As one of the old gits on here I have been going to AT for 40 years now, Corkscrew was my first ever big coaster.
In all those years and new coasters being put into Alton I would say that only Nemesis and Wickerman have that " I want to ride every time I visit" appeal.
I was there when Nemesis opened and rode on opening day.
Queued for 3 hrs to ride Oblivion on Opening day and then queued for another 3 hrs to re-ride
Rode Air on the first day
Ran to the Smiler on opening day and was probably in the first 150 people to ride
all other coasters have been on park within a week of opening or day after opening.
I have done all the coasters at Thorpe and Saw is by far the worst coaster of any park and leaves you with a severe headache after riding..
Out of all the parks if I was only aloud to ride 1 ride as a last ride I would be torn between Nemesis, Wickerman & the swarm.
I think just for Nostalgia it would be Nemesis that would win.
In all those years and new coasters being put into Alton I would say that only Nemesis and Wickerman have that " I want to ride every time I visit" appeal.
I was there when Nemesis opened and rode on opening day.
Queued for 3 hrs to ride Oblivion on Opening day and then queued for another 3 hrs to re-ride
Rode Air on the first day
Ran to the Smiler on opening day and was probably in the first 150 people to ride
all other coasters have been on park within a week of opening or day after opening.
I have done all the coasters at Thorpe and Saw is by far the worst coaster of any park and leaves you with a severe headache after riding..
Out of all the parks if I was only aloud to ride 1 ride as a last ride I would be torn between Nemesis, Wickerman & the swarm.
I think just for Nostalgia it would be Nemesis that would win.
Connor98
TS Member
- Favourite Ride
- Hyperion
Agreed, going to make you feel old rob (not sorry) but nemesis is older than me, yet it has always been up there as my favourite towers coaster. I have nostalgic feelings for rides, I adore RMT and Shockwave for those reasons but they are far from being ranked as the best coasters I’ve ridden.
Blackhole_Sun
TS Member
- Favourite Ride
- Black Hole
You can apply that to me, Black Hole is/was my favourite ride and I know full well it’s nostalgia based.
After all, it’s just a Jet Star II with the lights off….. it’s not better than Nemesis.
That’s the key difference that we’re all getting wrong. I think Smiler is better but that’s because of favouritism. Same can be said about everyone saying Nemesis is better. What deciding factor is there exactly to determine which ride is better. There isn’t one. This is all just opinion based
Matt.GC
TS Member
Great. So we're all finally agreed now then? That there is not such thing as a definitive answer, we all have separate opinions, people who don't like the Smiler are not "wusses" and there is no "bias"?
Didn’t mean they were wusses for not liking Smiler, I meant they were wusses for moaning about it having the smallest amount of roughness
Matt.GC
TS Member
Not what you said. You said this.
Blackhole_Sun
TS Member
- Favourite Ride
- Black Hole
It’s one possibility that nostalgia can cloud judgement. But for all votes to be for that same reason is quite unlikely.
I am not sure on the metric, I find it hard to rank rollercoasters in general, but I am simple enough to know when I enjoy something more than another. In this case, I enjoy Nemesis a lot more than I do The Smiler.
Yes that’s what I said just above that they can’t handle roughness. That’s why I said a ride and not specifically Smiler
Benzin
TS Member
Define roughness.
Like with this, different people have different tolerances based on many factors. I find the Intamin Accelerator OTSRs burdenous because I'm the right height for neck chopping. Mrs finds the B&M vests uncomfortable as she is ample of bosom. Others do not have these problems.
Judging by Coasterbot as Mitch Hawker doesn't seem to exist anymore, there are just as many "rough" as "smooth" coasters. Even Nemmie could have some shudder here and there. And I have found some smooth coasters downright dull.
Roughness can contribute to make a good ride bad, but can make a bad ride worse. And often bad profiling/groundworking affects it far more, like with Smiler's badly done 12th inversion of the CLUNK at the base of Saw's main drop.
Connor98
TS Member
- Favourite Ride
- Hyperion
You undoing the progress of your previous post by assuming it’s roughness again. People have expressed many different reasons they prefer Nemesis. I myself as I’ve said prefer nemesis but that doesn’t mean I don’t enjoy The Smiler (I don’t particularly but that’s beside the point as I’m generalising). People have also expressed their love for old woodies, yet not a fan of The Smiler…
Do you not find it interesting and fascinating how people have different views, it doesn’t make them wusses. You are actually being quite condescending when you keep reiterating such point.
Matt.GC
TS Member
Even though I agreed with you about Saw only a few posts before?
If your point is that you don't find the Smiler as rough as others do, then I'd agree. Shouldn't be as rough as it is, but it's far from intolerable for me and I'm confused when the case for roughness is emphasised as much as it is.
Maybe a case of complying to the usual conventions I've grown to get used to around here sometimes (Icon is crap, Nemesis is "world class", name everything with ridiculously long acronyms etc etc). But maybe there's the possibility that people have different tastes as well? Don't you think that your posts generalise a hell of a lot?
I think Nemesis is overrated, I enjoy The Smiler, I love Saw, like Inferno, love Grand National, hate Collosus, and Nemesis opened when I was approaching my teens. I still prefer Nemesis to the Smiler. Where do I sit in your generalisation scale?
Burks
TS Member
- Favourite Ride
- Taron.
Orrrrr the smiler has a plethora of design and build issues which make it ride like a sack of nails been thrown down a bobsleigh track. . .
I rode the smiler and nemmy for the first ever time on the same day. . . No competition which one is best in my eyes. .
Well in fairness if someone says they don’t like The smiler it tends to be because they find it quite rough
Connor98
TS Member
- Favourite Ride
- Hyperion
Okay that must be the case then
If Smiler was built by B&M it’d be in top 10 in the world