Comparison

Mini Metro vs RollerCoaster Tycoon® Classic

Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both games, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.

Head to head
About

Mini Metro

Design and manage a subway system for a growing city. Draw lines, start trains, and adapt your network as new stations open. Strategically use limited resources to keep the city moving and achieve the highest score.

Highlights
  • Design subway maps
  • Draw lines between stations
  • Manage train routes
  • Adapt to random city growth
  • Utilize limited resources
  • Over two dozen real-world cities
  • Variety of upgrades
Features
Read full description

Mini Metro, the sublime subway simulator, now on iPhone and iPad. • Included in the App Store Best of 2016 • Mac Game of the Year in over 30 countries • BAFTA-nominated • IGF award-winning • IGN Mobile Game of the Year nominee • Included in Gamespot's Best Mobile Games of 2016 Mini Metro is a game about designing a subway map for a growing city. Draw lines between stations and start your trains running. As new stations open, redraw your lines to keep them efficient. Decide where to use your limited resources. How long can you keep the city moving? • Random city growth means each game is unique. • Over two dozen of real-world cities to test your planning skills. • A variety of upgrades so you can tailor your network. • Normal mode for quick scored games, Endless to relax, or Extreme for the ultimate challenge. • Build your metro exactly how you want to with the Creative mode. • Compete against the world every day in the Daily Challenge. • Colorblind and night modes. • Responsive soundtrack created by your metro system, engineered by Disasterpeace. "If you love the city-planning aspect of Sim City but can't handle the pressure of playing god, then you may have just found your new favorite time-waster." - Ashley Feinberg, Gizmodo "Take my word for it that a game about mass-transit system design can be a tense, white-knuckle thriller." - Owen Faraday, Pocket Tactics "Mini Metro: fun game simulates planning and running public transit system." - Cory Doctorow, Boing Boing

About

RollerCoaster Tycoon® Classic

Build and manage your dream theme park with this classic simulation game. Design incredible roller coasters, create diverse rides, and manage finances and staff to keep guests happy and the park profitable. Enjoy hundreds of content options and challenging scenarios.

Highlights
  • Combine best features from RCT 1 & 2
  • Design and build roller coasters
  • Create diverse rides and attractions
  • Manage park finances and staff
  • Customize park scenery and landscaping
  • Progress through classic park scenarios
Features
Read full description

RollerCoaster Tycoon® Classic is a new RCT experience, combining the best features from two of the most successful and beloved RCT games in the series’ history – RollerCoaster Tycoon® and RollerCoaster Tycoon® 2. Create and run amazing parks complete with the most outrageous rides imaginable. RCT Classic includes a mixture of authentic playability, depth of gameplay and unique graphical style of Chris Sawyer’s original best-selling RollerCoaster Tycoon® PC Games, now enhanced for handheld devices. Packed with content, players can enjoy designing and building roller coasters and rides, landscaping parks and managing the staff and finances to keep their guests happy and the money flowing in. Can you become the next RollerCoaster Tycoon? PLEASE NOTE: Additional content for RollerCoaster Tycoon® Classic is available via In-App Purchase, specifically the three expansion packs: Wacky Worlds, Time Twister and Toolkit. The expansion packs are the ONLY content that require an In-App Purchase and In-App Purchases are not used anywhere else in the game. Key Features: •The Original RollerCoaster Sim: Experience all the fun from the original RollerCoaster Tycoon® and RollerCoaster Tycoon® 2 games, with a new app that combines the best elements of both classic titles. •Coaster Construction: Create incredible roller coasters – Quickly build a pre-made design or use the intuitive piece-by-piece building tools to design and theme your own unique rides. •Park Designer: Keep your guests happy by building gentle or wild rides, food and drink stalls, water rides, and even transport rides to take them around the park; Customize your park by building scenery, fine-tuning the landscape, and routing the footpaths. •Park Management: Run your park’s marketing and finances to make a profit while attracting more guests; Organize your staff to keep the park running well and looking its best. •Exciting Environments: Build the ultimate theme park in a variety of challenging environments, from the tranquility of Forest Frontiers to the bustling commerce of Megaworld Park. •Park Scenarios: Progress through 95 classic park scenarios from RollerCoaster Tycoon® and RollerCoaster Tycoon® 2. • Authentic Gameplay: Classic-style characterful isometric graphics and original amusement park music and sound effects. • Packed with Content: Includes hundreds of types of roller coasters and rides, and dozens of different shops, stalls, and facilities. Additional Content Available with In-App Purchases: 1)Wacky Worlds Expansion Pack: Find your passport and pack your bags! Wacky Worlds takes players on the ultimate trip around the globe in 17 new park scenarios! Includes exotic rides, profitable concessions and the most famous landmarks known to man including the Eiffel Tower, Big Ben, Statue of Liberty, Great Wall of China and more! Each location is packed with opportunities for success, fun and unique challenges. 2)Time Twister Expansion Pack: Travel through time with 14 new park scenarios based on historical and fantasy time-themes and build a park that is truly a blast from the past (or future if you like). Play in a Prehistoric amusement park decorated with huge animated T-Rex’s and coasters such as the Raptor Ride, or choose from Mythological times, the Dark Ages, the Rock & Roll crazed ‘50s, the Future or the Roaring Twenties. 3)Toolkit: Park Scenario Editor: Design and build your own amazing parks – Make them as easy or as challenging as you want, using your choice of scenery and rides! Includes a number of Six Flags parks to get you started. Ride Designer: Build, test, fine-tune and theme your own awesome roller coaster designs in the Ride Designer before saving them for use while playing! Import and Export: Share your saved parks, park scenarios and ride designs with friends, and try out their creations too! (Includes the ability to import most saved parks and scenarios created with the original RollerCoaster Tycoon 2 PC game).

Screenshots

Mini Metro4 screens
RollerCoaster Tycoon® Classic4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is rating: Mini Metro at 4.9 against RollerCoaster Tycoon® Classic's 4.3. Mini Metro also leads on in-app purchases (none vs 3) and review sentiment (88% vs 67%). RollerCoaster Tycoon® Classic's advantage is update cadence (fortnightly vs every 2 months). On ads, chart position, device support and iOS requirement there is nothing between them.

Scored on Price · Rating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings · Update frequency · Ads · In-app purchases · Monetization · Best chart rank · Devices · Requires iOS

CostPrice · In-app purchases · Ads · Monetization

Mini Metro costs $3.99 and RollerCoaster Tycoon® Classic $5.99 up front. RollerCoaster Tycoon® Classic sells 3 one-off in-app purchases. Mini Metro asks for nothing beyond the download.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

Mini Metro holds the better App Store score, 4.9 against 4.3. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Mini Metro has 31K ratings behind it against 3.2K, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews point the same way: 88% of Mini Metro's written reviews are positive against 67% of RollerCoaster Tycoon® Classic's.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Mini Metro ships an update every 2 months, RollerCoaster Tycoon® Classic fortnightly. The most recent releases landed on September 28, 2026 and September 27, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard7 real differences · 4 level
Mini Metro versus RollerCoaster Tycoon® Classic: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterMini MetroRollerCoaster Tycoon® Classic
Price$3.99 — better$5.99
Rating4.9 (31K ratings) — better4.3 (3.2K ratings)
Positive reviews87.6% of reviews — better67.2% of reviews
Number of ratings31K — better3.2K
Update frequencyEvery 2 monthsFortnightly — better
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesNo — betterYes
MonetizationPaidFree with in-app purchases — better
Best chart rank#20 — better#31
DevicesiPhone, iPad, iPodiPhone, iPad, iPod
Requires iOS12.0 — better13
Further details — not scored
Size179 MB374 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperDinosaur Polo ClubAtari

Customer experience

Mini Metro

All ratings31,463 ratings
Positive97.5%
Neutral1.2%
Negative1.3%
Written reviews588 reviews
Positive87.6%
Neutral4.4%
Negative8.0%

RollerCoaster Tycoon® Classic

All ratings3,241 ratings
Positive80.1%
Neutral6.6%
Negative13.3%
Written reviews1,093 reviews
Positive67.2%
Neutral12.3%
Negative20.5%

User reviews

Mini Metro

From 31K App Store ratings

What we love

  • 🚀 Simple and relaxing gameplay
  • 🎨 Beautiful minimalist design
  • ⏱️ Addictive and time-killing
  • 🌐 Wide variety of cities to play
  • 💰 Good value for money

Room to improve

  • 🐛 Trains skipping stations
  • 🤯 Overwhelming difficulty at times
  • 🔍 Lack of clear instructions
  • 🔀 Difficulty removing/rerouting lines
  • 🕰️ No ability to save progress

RollerCoaster Tycoon® Classic

From 3.2K App Store ratings

What we love

  • 🚀 Faithful to the original PC game
  • 👍 Intuitive touch controls
  • 💡 Includes both RCT1 and RCT2 content
  • 🎢 Brings back childhood memories

Room to improve

  • 🐛 Crashes and stability issues
  • 🔍 Small UI elements on smaller screens
  • 💰 Expensive in-app purchases for additional content
  • 🚫 Unable to set park admission fees

Bugs and requests

Mini Metro

Reported bugs

3 issues
  • Leaderboard issues with daily challenges
  • Crashes and compatibility problems on certain devices
  • Unexpected behavior when trains skip stations

Requested features

5 requests
  • Undo/redo functionality
  • Ability to create branching lines
  • More detailed statistics and analytics
  • Additional game modes (e.g. career, scenarios)
  • Integration with real-world transit data

RollerCoaster Tycoon® Classic

Reported bugs

3 issues
  • Inability to delete or modify certain ride elements
  • Mechanic staff getting stuck or not functioning properly
  • Inconsistent behavior when switching between apps

Requested features

4 requests
  • Sandbox mode with unlimited customization
  • Ability to sync progress across devices
  • Improved graphics and visual fidelity
  • Support for more languages

In-app purchases

None

Mini Metro

No in-app purchases

3 purchases

RollerCoaster Tycoon® Classic

One-time3
  • Expansion Pack - Wacky Worlds$1.99
  • Expansion Pack - Time Twister$1.99
  • Toolkit: Edit, Design and Share$5.99

Questions

Is Mini Metro free?
Mini Metro costs $3.99, with no in-app purchases.
Is RollerCoaster Tycoon® Classic free?
RollerCoaster Tycoon® Classic costs $5.99, and also offers in-app purchases.
Which has better reviews, Mini Metro or RollerCoaster Tycoon® Classic?
Mini Metro is rated higher. Mini Metro averages 4.9 out of 5 from 31K ratings, while RollerCoaster Tycoon® Classic averages 4.3 from 3.2K ratings.
Do Mini Metro or RollerCoaster Tycoon® Classic have ads?
Neither Mini Metro nor RollerCoaster Tycoon® Classic shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Mini Metro or RollerCoaster Tycoon® Classic?
Mini Metro ships an update every 2 months, and RollerCoaster Tycoon® Classic fortnightly. Most recently, Mini Metro was updated on September 28, 2026 and RollerCoaster Tycoon® Classic on September 27, 2026.
Which is more popular, Mini Metro or RollerCoaster Tycoon® Classic?
Mini Metro currently peaks at #20 in the App Store charts, and RollerCoaster Tycoon® Classic at #31. Chart position reflects recent download velocity rather than total install base.

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