Gekion Live Coaster Review

We're here at Tokyo Joypolis, where we'll be reviewing Gekion Live Coaster. This is the parks spinning coaster. Well, not only that. This is also the parks ONLY coaster. But no worries, this is a really good spinning coaster. Hell, it's the 3rd best one, right behind Winjas (#1) and Tornado @ Bakken (#2). But on top of that, this is a VERY strange coaster. One of the oddest coasters I can think of, and DEFINETLY one of the strangest I've ridden (and I've ridden a lot of coasters). Now maybe some locals are rolling their eyes at me for thinking the ride is strange since...I'm an American reviewing a Japanese coaster that is apparently based off an Anime that I'm not familiar with. However, it's not just that. I know of other coasters based off Animes that I'm not familiar with. But this ride is FAR more than just that. How so? Well, let's ride and find out. We pull down the OTSRs and....there's three buttons on them. What the f*ck is this!? Well, that's for the video game portion of the ride. Yeah. This ride is really confusing. We roll foreward around a turn in the dark. And we stop. Some characters from the anime, Evangelion (Logan's favorite Anime) chat with us. They speak to us in Japanese, so we (or at least I) can't understand what they're saying. But the video game portion is begenning. This is a rhythm game, kind of like Guitar Hero and Rock Band (I miss playing those games. I know I stopped thanks to not having time. But hey. If I'm stuck inside thanks to quarantine, F*CK IT!!! I should start again. Though I probably suck now thanks to having not played in like 10 years). I know it's some sort of music. And pressing the buttons produces some sort of tambourine sound. I wasn't getting the beat, but I'm still having fun. Go around a another turn with flashing lights. I have no idea how this game connects to the anime I've never seen LOL. We go through more turns, lights flash everywhere, and we begin climbing the lifthill. It's very small, and we're kind of distracted by all the lights, the music, and the anime I don't get. Go around a turn. Stop. More video game time! Try not to suck too hard here. =P We go through red flashing lights, a cloud of fog appears, and a voice in English asks "Are you ready?". Oh look. The roller coaster portion is about to begin. Up until now, this has been a dark ride LOL. We go into the launch section, green lights flashing. And LAUNCH!!! Yeah. It's a pretty weak launch. But we're still having fun. We then go through a turn that gets us spinning. WEE!!! And we go through the inline twist. WHOA!!! This spinning coaster has an inversion! For a while, that was super unique. I know nobody cares anymore thanks to Time Traveler @ Silver Dollar City (I'm overdue to go back to that park), but this is the only spinning coaster that goes upsidedown that I've ridden. And it's pretty fun. Plus, all the lights and music makes it even more trippy. We then head into a downward helix. Generally not special, but the lights, music, and spinning just make this a ton of fun. And then we hit the brake run. So the coaster section is very much gimmicky. It's a launched inverting spinning coaster! True, true, and true. But aside from those three things, it only has a single helix. But those elements are all a lot fun. And plus, the whole video game dark ride element to it is just a ton of fun. And that's the best way to describe this ride. Fun. A ton of fun. It's not the best in any way. Weak launch, meh video game, meh coaster layout, not even the best spinning coaster. But all together, it's just a ton of fun and a perfect fit for the quirky atmosphere of Tokyo Joypolis. I HIGHLY recommend riding this if you're at the park.

7/10

Location: Tokyo Joypolis

Opened: 2012

Built by: Gerstlauer

Last Ridden: November 6, 2018

Gekion Live Coaster Photos

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