Rollercoaster Ranking – B&M Inverted Coasters (2026)

2026 update – as of now I have fully completed the available collection of layouts for this ride type worldwide, so it’s about time for a reassessment.

I feel like I’ve grown up on Inverts, with England being home to both of the Nemeses. It’s hard to believe some of them have been around for over 30 years now, the same as me. These coasters really cemented themselves as a staple ride throughout the 1990s, particularly with the rise of the original and highly clone-able Batman layout. Orders slowed down in the new millennium and only one has been built in the last decade – the highly ambitious curveball that Gröna Lund squeezed in a few years ago. With either every major park already having one or the prolific Vekoma SLC by now, offering a deceivingly similar foot dangling experience to anyone else with a lower budget, there just isn’t a demand these days it seems.

These were in the early days one of my absolute favourite ride types because of the always above average experiences they provided. Over time though they have started to fade on me a bit as my tastes have grown and changed. Intensity is their main strength and that definitely has its place in the market and in my life, it’s just that I simply like a wider range of sensations from my coasters these days and this isn’t something the current style of Inverts tend to offer. There’s still a lot of fun to be had on one of course, but without a drastic change of approach I don’t think there will be anything like this cracking the top 25 for a good while yet. 100? Easy.

It’s amazing that nearly all of them are still going strong, some even being shipped halfway across the world to avoid the hardware going to waste. Missing out on Dragon Challenge at Islands of Adventure was a bit of a personal blow but I like to think that there’s a more than worthy replacement in its stead now. You just can’t catch ’em all.

I am going to have separate listings for the single best and single worst Batman clone here because even though they are the same layout, I’ve had some vastly different experiences with the model. This does also go to show how tightly packed most of this ranking list is, with very little separating a lot of rides and also, to an extent, how generic and formulaic certain designs turned out to be as I tried more and more of them. Here’s how they stack up:

Diavlo was, to memory, the worst of these clones. Even the distracting views couldn’t disguise the fact that this ride doesn’t get a lot of attention out here. It was running very cold, almost entirely empty and just never got the chance to get going. Add on the fact that the layout wasn’t anything new to us and the result was a very run of the mill coaster.

The other example of just a simply inferior version of a layout. This one is entirely quantifiable by the fact that it still has a functioning mid course block section that slows the train and weakens the second half of the course. The French one doesn’t. Also in a park like Cedar Point I just don’t feel any desire to spend any time with it.

One of the more modern installations has a couple of things working against it. The vest restraints I have found can be a bit hit and miss, but in particular something about this layout just seemed a little bland and off. The main forces seemed to always be positives and couldn’t honestly tell the inversions apart in how they felt. This generally led to a monotonous feeling ride that didn’t have me wanting to go back for more at all.

Terrible operations are my predominant memory of this particular invert. I know I probably shouldn’t judge on situations like that alone, but the ride didn’t really do anything notable or impressive on our singular experience with it to compensate and I have to take that at face value for now. Probably needs a re-ride one day.

If there’s one word I wouldn’t ever think I’d be using to describe an Invert, it’s ‘weak’. Silver Bullet was just that though and it’s a real shame as I wanted to like it a lot more. I really like the styling of the whippy sideways banked turn between loop and cobra as well as the overall look of the hardware but that shallow first drop… just doesn’t get the momentum going enough for the relentless ride I have come to expect from these. Back row, outside seat at night wasn’t enough to sell this one to me so I honestly don’t know what would.

#17-25 Batman: The Ride – Six Flags Magic Mountain, Six Flags Over Georgia, Six Flags Great Adventure, Six Flags Over Texas, Six Flags Great America, Six Flags St. Louis, Great White – Sea World San Antonio, Goliath – Six Flags Fiesta Texas (all USA), Vampire – La Ronde (Canada)

Crazy that there’s 9 of these here and that’s not even all of them. While I’d rather ride Silver Bullet over the worst Batman in the world, I’d still rather ride any other Batman just to feel that insane wave of positive Gs that encompasses the first few tightly packed elements of the layout.

I’d say Magic Mountain and La Ronde were running the closest to how I remembered my first Batman, but it definitely wasn’t to the same level of intensity that I almost couldn’t handle in the past. The others just plain exist as filler in their respective lineups at this point. From here on out I’d rather ride any other layout just for the sake of it not being a Batman clone, unless it’s the standout best version of one.

Bad weather dictated that we never really had the chance to get properly acquainted with this one, a single lap after 5 hours in a Starbucks waiting for the rain to subside is not a good ratio. What this lap did demonstrate is that Phaethon lacked a little on the aggression front, with most of the inversions leaning towards graceful rather than intense. Good though.

Aww, the streak ends. This legend was my last real hope for a B&M Invert to enter the big leagues for me and after many years of anticipation it ended up as a massive disappointment. The problem with riding it rather late in the game is that this layout only really highlighted how ’99 verses the same’ many of these rides are, putting the same elements in more or less the same order with a different corner here and there. On top of that, while inherently forceful it didn’t excel at any particular sensation against anything else in this list, so that left Katun condemned to middle of the road territory.

Another legend, another let down. Never meet your heroes. While I adored both the theming details and the unique aspects of the layout on Alpengeist, it rode rather poorly in the first half and then completely ran out of steam after the mid course brake run. By the time it hit the final brakes the train was moving at a walking pace. Bonus points for comedy.

On the contrary, I think Great Bear may have been helped along by not being such a standout name in the coaster world. I had zero expectations and came off happy enough with the experience. Bonus points for that weird high up helix at the start.

In the earlier days this was my least favourite. Ozlris generally seems to be rather well received and for a long time I was looking forward to riding this one that’s so tantalisingly close to home but we just didn’t seem to get on with each other. Right out of the starting block it punched me in the ear on the first drop, something I wouldn’t usually associate with a ride type of this calibre. Aside from that it just didn’t flow the same as these usually do. The entrance and exit from certain elements was awkward and I struggled to find any standout moments or to an extent anything particularly redeeming about the experience.

Upon revisiting the park multiple times for much more important reasons, the experience has slowly grown on me as being a fairly floaty and interesting layout that’s slightly above average for the model and I’ve not had a serious repeat of that initial jolty head bash.

The latest great invert from B&M proves that they still have something about them. I found this to be a pleasant and above average experience even with jaded eyes. The interactions with surrounding buildings, rides and scenery, which are always a staple at Gröna Lund, helped add to the experience of course. Primarily however it just felt like a good, solid, exciting layout with a decent range of forces including even a sprinkle of weird airtime. My only real gripe was that I was aware the ride had a good back story, but they failed to play it up even a little bit in reality.

Big and powerful is about all I remember of Patriot and I don’t even have the photos to look back on. It was a very hit and run experience on the day we visited, both for us being overly ambitious and the weather being excruciatingly hot so we didn’t get enough time with it to be honest. Nevertheless, the single lap we managed felt like a winner and it left an overall good impression on me. Unlike Talon.

It would be satisfying for me to know that an above average B&M Invert lives just up the road, if I ever bothered to visit the place any more. On the rare occasion that I do now, this is my second favourite coaster in the park and only seems to get better with age. The pre-lift tunnel adds character and both the start and ending sequences are particularly intense, with no real loss of pace in between.

Finally we enter what I’ll call the snappy territory. A particular trait of this ride type that I’ve grown to love is when the train negotiates an inversion with a particular vigour and ferocity. While many examples have this smooth, refined and calculated sensation from start to finish, leaving you time to appreciate the sky below your feet, on others there’s one big ‘WHOA, what the hell was that?’ moment halfway through an element as it whips you round with a completely out of control feeling. I’m starting to think it’s an old school thing.
Flight Deck’s corkscrew has this by the bucket load along with a satisfyingly unique layout including an intense upwards helix unusually early on.

Afterburn does this too, as well as being overall bigger and badder, though it’s equally as soulless with the poorly executed plane theme. The rarely seen Batwing is a nice touch and this ride made me excited for Montu again, so there may still be hope.

Speaking of, I have now ridden Montu, on multiple visits even. It was the last of the true legends that I needed to experience really and I’d say it delivered. While at a time in my coasting career that I was no longer going to be blown away by any Invert of any description it felt like a solid, above average entry with very good length, a classic mix of elements that doesn’t feel too repetetive, strong forces and even some of that old school snap I keep talking about in this bit. Montu is one of those rides I find worth a reride just out of respect, and that says quite a lot from me.

The best of the Batmen by far. Enter the foot ripping factor. This ride was almost more than I could handle. The positive forces that sustain throughout the entire second loop and subsequent turn affected me more than anything else in this list. It went beyond tingling or pins and needles, it downright felt like my legs were going to fall off and caused me to instinctively shout, flail and punch them as we went. Of course as you’ve seen above I’ve never experienced that sensation to the same degree since and though there is the slight worry that it’s me and not the ride, I’m not usually wrong about that sort of thing.

Probably most famously known as Raptor at Cedar Point, this ex-Japanese coaster isn’t much of a looker these days but it’s ridiculously intense to make up for it. The lack of mid course brake run means that it flies through the second half and by the time everyone’s screaming through the last helix it’s almost too much to handle. Both the cobra and the corkscrews have that lovely violent snap once again. The weird straight sections while it tries to sort itself out have a certain charm too.

The almost Nemesis beater for that sheer immersion factor, how can you hide such a huge piece of hardware so seamlessly? Black Mamba doesn’t quite have the layout to win out though and I still don’t know what the layout is to be honest, it just keeps inverting, diving and turning through an endless sea of tunnels packed full of more intense helices than anything else in this list. My fondness for this ride increased even further when we rode it at midnight during the middle of a fireworks celebration. A proper masterpiece.

I feel a compelling sense of loyalty to this ride even though I often say it doesn’t excite me any more (especially now it appears they’ve gone and ruined it, sad to admit I haven’t bothered to try Reborn yet) – that’s the sad thing about home parks you don’t love. There’s still something very satisfying about this layout, the way it builds momentum out of seemingly nothing and the sudden lurching entry into that massive loop very late on in the game. The landscaping is of course top notch and a real trend setter for future creations, which I admire greatly.

But this still Japanese coaster is the best in the business for me and a perfect compilation of all my favourite moments from above. The rip your legs off Batman beginning (but twice as huge), the snappy inversions of Monster and a first drop that would make Silver Bullet blush. Chuck in a weird airtime hill to finish and I’ll let you off about the landscaping. Can this be topped? No, no it can’t.