Rides That Were Ahead of Their Time

[TommyAlex]

Both Arrow and Schwarzkopf shuttle loops, only because it was another two decades before launch coasters really took off. I'd say Schwarzkopf shuttle loops were more ahead of their time than Arrow though, only because of the style of launch.

 

[Howie]

Okay, here's another weird one: Diving Machine G5 at Janfunsun Fancyworld in Taiwan, which opened in 2000.
"Wait a second", I hear you say. "Oblivion-in-a-hillside?!? What was so groundbreaking about it? Why not just mention Oblivion, then?"

Because this was the first Dive Machine to take the drop from the skies instead of into the ground. Although it came two years after Oblivion, it predated SheiKra by five years, and Vild-Svinet (the first Eurofighter) by three years, so it was built long before the whole "drop people vertically or more from a great height" gimmick became a thing on rollercoasters. While Oblivion was based on the (genial) concept of dropping people vertically into a deep hole, as a ride type it was kind of locked to that one thing. Train goes into hole, train comes out of hole, brakes, station, exit through the gift shop. G5 was built with a lot less digging in mind; instead, the whole coaster was lifted out of its hole (well, most of it, there's still a tunnel), and the drop became a high plummet from a tall structure and down to the ground. After the tunnel, the train soars up into another high element... and hits the brakes. Hey, I'm not saying this was SheiKra before SheiKra.

But still, it is a remarkable step between Oblivion and the modern Dive Machine. Although the layout is a mirrored clone of Oblivion's, it still was a neat proof of concept of the Dive Machine as a tall coaster and not just a deep one. Had the park had a little more of a budget, and B&M been allowed to do a little more to it, G5 might very well have been the first modern Dive Machine.

Well... yes and no. But mainly no.
Because, as you said, Oblivion. See, I don't reckon that taking a mirrored clone of an existing ride and simply lifting the bottom half of it out of a hole and plonking it on a hillside qualifies. To me, that just says that they couldn't be arsed to dig a deeper hole. You say that G5 took the concept from being a deep coaster to a tall one, but I'm fairly certain that when the B&M boffins were floating the idea of these vertical-drop coasters, that the height of the thing was very much a factor. Oblivion's 'deep-ness' was borne out of necessity, rather than being an integral part of the Dive Coaster concept. And besides, Oblivion is also built on a hillside, it too feels pretty tall to me when you're looking out across that valley!

So yeah. Nice try, but nah. Still Oblivion.