was a

steel roller coaster A steel roller coaster is a roller coaster that is defined by having a track made of steel. Steel coasters have earned immense popularity in the past 50 years throughout the world. Incorporating tubular steel track and polyurethane-coated whee ...

Yomiuriland Yomiuriland (よみうりランド, ''Yomiurirando'') is an amusement park in Inagi, Tokyo, Japan that first opened in 1964. It is situated on hillsides, and features rides such as roller coasters and water flumes. It is home to Yomiuri Giants ...

amusement park near Tokyo, Japan. The coaster was noteworthy for its steeper-than-vertical first drop of 93 degrees. It is also one of two S&S coasters to have run for less than a week, the other being

Ring Racer Ring Racer, stylized as Ring°racer, is a Formula One-themed roller coaster which was due to open on August 15, 2009 at the Nürburgring race course as part of the Nürburgring 2009 project. It was originally planned to accelerate from 0 to in ...

Description

Twist Coaster Robin was a custom installation of the

El Loco ''El Loco'' is the seventh studio album by the American rock band ZZ Top, released in 1981. The title means "The Madman" in Spanish. The band's guitarist/singer Billy Gibbons has said that the recording of this album was the first time the three ...

roller coaster model. The coaster was built by a collaboration between Sansei Technologies and

S&S Worldwide S&S may refer to: *''Sense and Sensibility'', a novel by Jane Austen *'' Salt and Sanctuary'', a video game * Sword and sorcery, a subgenre of fantasy and historical fantasy *Simon & Schuster, a publisher *S&S Cycle S&S Cycle is an American motorcy ...

(the usual manufacturer of El Loco coasters, and of whom Sansei Technologies is a majority owner). The coaster featured two inversions: an

inline twist Roller coaster elements are the individual parts of roller coaster design and operation, such as a track, hill, loop, or turn. Variations in normal track movement that add thrill or excitement to the ride are often called "thrill elements". Com ...

and a

dive loop Roller coaster elements are the individual parts of roller coaster design and operation, such as a track, hill, loop, or turn. Variations in normal track movement that add thrill or excitement to the ride are often called "thrill elements". Comm ...

. In addition, the coaster had a helix and an unusual element known as a "reverse-cant curve", intended to give riders the feeling that they will be thrown off of the coaster. Park guests could see the

Shinjuku is a special ward in Tokyo, Japan. It is a major commercial and administrative centre, housing the northern half of the busiest railway station in the world (Shinjuku Station) and the Tokyo Metropolitan Government Building, the administration ...

skyline when riding Twist Coaster Robin. The coaster had single-car trains, each of which had four riders in two rows of two.

History and incidents

The construction of Twist Coaster Robin cost a total of 450 million

yen The is the official currency of Japan. It is the third-most traded currency in the foreign exchange market, after the United States dollar (US$) and the euro. It is also widely used as a third reserve currency after the US dollar and the e ...

, which a Yomiuriland spokesperson called "the largest investment on a single attraction (in the park) since 1997". The grand opening for Twist Coaster Robin occurred on 19 March 2014—the 50th anniversary of Yomiuriland's opening. On the same day that Twist Coaster Robin opened, two coaster cars collided. Although no riders were hurt, the park suspended operation of the coaster.

Roller Coaster DataBase Roller Coaster DataBase (RCDB) is a roller coaster and amusement park database begun in 1996 by Duane Marden. It has grown to feature statistics and pictures of over 10,000 roller coasters from around the world. Publications that have mentioned ...

notes that the coaster only operated in March 2014. It was removed from the park in 2016.

References

{{Reflist Roller coasters in Japan