TOGO
TOGO was a Japanese amusement ride company that built roller coasters, giant wheels, carousels, flumes, dark rides, sky cycles and other amusement rides.
History
In 1935 Mr. Teiichi Yamada founded the Toyo Gorakuki Company and built his first attraction, a five-foot mechanical walking elephant that was a popular attraction at one of Tokyo's neighborhood parks. Yamada reorganized his company in 1949 and changed the name to TOGO. TOGO built its first roller coaster in 1953 at Hanayashiki Park in Tokyo. That coaster is still in operation and is the oldest coaster in Japan.In 1965 TOGO built Cyclone at Toshimaen Park that at the time was the largest coaster in Asia. The company also began to expand its export business, selling coasters in Russia, Cuba and China. Although the company built a variety of different rides in Japan, its export business was primarily roller coasters. In 1979, TOGO installed standup trains on two of its existing coasters in Japan, Momonga Standing & Loop Coaster, at Yomiuriland and Thrill Valley, creating the world's first Stand-up roller coasters. These two installations captured the attention of Taft/Kings Entertainment company, who then purchased TOGO's Astro-Comet, the world's first coaster designed from the ground up as a stand-up roller coaster, installing at Kings Island as King Cobra.
In 1986 TOGO developed the Ultra Twister Coaster. This unique concept had rails on the side of the vehicle allowing the coaster to perform true heartline rolls as it navigated the course. TOGO also incorporated a vertical lift hill and near-vertical drop into the ride. TOGO built seven of these models, all similar, but not identical to each other. The original versions were not capable of making turns, so all seven operated as shuttles. However, TOGO did display a full-circuit model at the IAAPA trade show in the mid-1990s that was capable of making turns, but the ride was never built. In the fall of 1989, Arrow Dynamics began building a similar concept called the Pipeline, which failed to get past the prototype stage.
TOGO went bankrupt in 2001 due to a lawsuit by Knott's Berry Farm for problems with their Windjammer Surf Racers roller coaster. TOGO created several unique coasters, including its combination of a looping sit-down coaster and a hypercoaster with its Manhattan Express coaster in Las Vegas. The looping wild mouse by TOGO was a style of ride with a drop into a vertical loop, followed by the hairpin turns and drops of a wild mouse coaster. The former Windjammer coaster at Knott's berry Farm was a variation of the looping wild mouse; it didn't feature any hairpin turns.
TOGO is also renowned for inventing the Twist-and-Dive roll, an inversion maneuver that combines elements of a half-heartline roll with a half-loop. A version of this maneuver included a half-oblique loop instead of a half-loop, so riders exited the element at an angle. This was used on the now-defunct Viper at Six Flags Great Adventure.
In 2018, TOGO announced a possible comeback after releasing a concept of their new stand up coaster model.
Notable rides
- Bandit at Yomiuriland – It was the tallest and fastest roller coaster in the world when it opened in 1988 and inspired Richard Kinzel of Cedar Point to build Magnum XL 200.
- Big Apple Coaster at New York-New York Hotel & Casino.
- Freestyle is a stand-up roller coaster operating at Cavallino Matto in Tuscany, Italy. It opened as the park's fifth roller coaster on 18 July 2015. Freestyle originally opened at Canada's Wonderland in 1985 as SkyRider
- Fujiyama – A hypercoaster at Fuji-Q Highland, Japan. Until 2000, it was the tallest roller coaster in the world.
- King Cobra at Kings Island – The world's first coaster designed specifically to be a stand-up looping coaster. It was taken down and scrapped after TOGO went out of business, making parts very expensive.
- Shockwave – Kings Dominion, Doswell, Virginia. Built in 1986 Specifically for Kings Dominion, was retired August 9, 2015.
- SkyRider – Canada's Wonderland Opening date May 1985, retired in 2014 dismantled and sent to Italy.
- Ultra Twister – A pipeline roller coaster that uses single cars that ride between the rails. Because of the design, the cars are unable to make lateral turns and require switch tracks at either end of the ride.
- Viper at Six Flags Great Adventure – A roller coaster that featured a unique heartline roll. The ride was scrapped in 2005, and its station was re-used for El Toro.
- White Canyon at Yomiuriland – White Canyon was the tallest and longest Cyclone-style roller coaster in the world before it closed in 2013.
- Windjammer Surf Racers at Knott's Berry Farm – a twin racing coaster with 65-foot vertical loops. This coaster was a massive failure, and part of the lawsuits would lead to TOGO's bankruptcy.
List of roller coasters
| Name | Model | Park | Country | Opened | Status | Ref |
| Jet Coaster | Sitdown Coaster | Nagashima Spa Land |  Japan | |||
| SL Coaster | Sitdown Coaster | Yomiuriland | Japan | |||
| Roller Coaster | Sitdown Coaster | Beijing Amusement Park |  China | |||
| Zola 7 | Sitdown Coaster | Fuji-Q Highland | Japan | |||
| Diving Shooter | Sitdown Coaster | Itozu No Mori Park | Japan | |||
| Cycle Coaster | Cycle Coaster | Enakyo Wonderland | Japan | |||
| Jet Coaster | Sitdown Coaster | Kagoshima Jungle Land | Japan | |||
| Crazy Mouse | Looping Mouse | Kagoshima Jungle Land | Japan | |||
| Jungle Mouse | Wild Mouse Coaster | Yoshinogawa Yuenchi | Japan | |||
Formerly Ultra Twister | Ultra Twister | Six Flags America Six Flags AstroWorld Six Flags Great Adventure |  United States | 1990 to 2005 1986 to 1988 | ||
| Roller Coaster | Sitdown Coaster | Hanayashiki | Japan | 1953 | ||
| Jet Coaster | Sitdown Coaster | Tokyo Dome City | Japan | 1955 | ||
| Cyclone | Sitdown Coaster | Toshimaen | Japan | 1965 | ||
| Diving Coaster | Sitdown Coaster | GrinPa | Japan | 1973 | ||
| Bobster | Bobster | Takakonuma Greenland | Japan | 1973 | ||
| Jet Coaster | Sitdown Coaster | Yatsu Yuenchi | Japan | 1976 | ||
| Momonga Standing and Loop Coaster Formerly Standing and Loop Coaster | Stand-Up Coaster & Sitdown Coaster | Yomiuriland | Japan | 1979 | ||
| Crazy Mouse | Looping Mouse | Tobu Zoo Park | Japan | 1981 | ||
| Bobster | Bobster | Shirakaba Resort Family Land | Japan | 1982 | ||
| Dangai | Stand-Up Coaster | Thrill Valley | Japan | 1982 | ||
| Ultra Twister | Ultra Twister | Nagashima Spa Land | Japan | 1984 | ||
| King Cobra | Stand-Up Coaster | Kings Island | United States | 1984 | ||
| Standing Coaster | Stand-Up Coaster | Rusutsu Resort Otaru Expo | Japan | 1985 1984 | ||
| Ultra Twister | Ultra Twister | Tokyo Dome City | Japan | 1985 | ||
| Montaña Rusa | Bobster | Parque Lenin |  Cuba | 1985 | ||
| Shockwave | Stand-Up Coaster | Kings Dominion | United States | 1986 | ||
| Star Jet | Stand-Up Coaster | Brazilian Park Washuzan Highland Tsukuba Expo | Japan | 1986 1985 | ||
| Bandit | Sitdown Coaster | Yomiuriland | Japan | 1988 | ||
| SL Coaster | Sitdown Coaster | Minamichita Beach Land & Minamichita Toy Kingdom | Japan | 1989 | ||
| Sitdown Coaster | Fantasy Dome Tomakomai | Japan | 1990 | |||
| Milky Way Formerly Fujin-Raijin Formerly Ultra Twin | Stand-Up Coaster & Sitdown Coaster | Greenland | Japan | 1991 | ||
| Ultra Twister | Ultra Twister | Brazilian Park Washuzan Highland | Japan | 1991 | ||
| Fujin Raijin II | Stand-Up Coaster | Expoland | Japan | 1992 | ||
| Geopanic | Sitdown Coaster | Tokyo Dome City | Japan | 1992 | ||
| Super Roller Coaster DIOS | Sitdown Coaster | Odakyu Mukogaoka Yuen | Japan | 1992 | ||
| Aladdin Coaster | Sitdown Coaster | Aliba City | Japan | 1992 | ||
| Surf Coaster Leviathan Formerly Surf Coaster | Sitdown Coaster | Sea Paradise | Japan | 1993 | ||
| Ultra Twister | Ultra Twister | Rusutsu Resort World Food Festival | Japan | 1994 1988 | ||
| Sitdown Coaster | Fantasy Dome Seiro | Japan | 1994 | |||
| Sitdown Coaster | Fantasy Dome Kishiwada | Japan | 1994 | |||
| Ultra Twister Megaton | Ultra Twister | Greenland | Japan | 1994 | ||
| White Canyon | Wooden Coaster | Yomiuriland | Japan | 1994 | ||
| Clipper | Sitdown Coaster | Space World | Japan | 1995 | ||
| Viper | Sitdown Coaster | Six Flags Great Adventure | United States | 1995 | ||
| Fujiyama | Sitdown Coaster | Fuji-Q Highland | Japan | 1996 | ||
| Mega Coaster | Sitdown Coaster | Hamanako Pal Pal | Japan | 1997 | ||
| Big Apple Coaster Formerly The Roller Coaster Formerly Manhattan Express | Sitdown Coaster | New York, New York Hotel & Casino | United States | 1997 | ||
| Windjammer Surf Racers Formerly Jammer | Looping Mouse | Knott's Berry Farm | United States | 1997 | ||
| Kiddy Shuttle | Kiddy Shuttle | Thrill Valley | Japan | 1998 | ||
| Crazy Mouse | Looping Mouse | Kitami Family Land Nakajima Park | Japan | 2000 Unknown | ||
| Hyper Kid Coaster | Sitdown Coaster | Fantasy Dome | Japan | 2000 | ||
| Flounder's Flying Fish Coaster | Sitdown Coaster | Tokyo DisneySea | Japan | 2001 | ||
| Rushing Car | Wild Mouse Coaster | Kashiikaen Yuenchi | Japan | 2002 | ||
| Actpo Kometa | Sitdown Coaster | Maviland Metalworkers' Palace |  Russia | 2002 1992 to 2000 | ||
| Loop Screw | Sitdown Coaster | Seibuen Yuenchi | Japan | 2004 | ||
| Go Go Sneaker | Sitdown Coaster | Rusutsu Resort Kintetsu Ayameike | Japan | 2005 Unknown | ||
| Hurricane - Screw & Loop Coaster Formerly Tornado | Sitdown Coaster | Himeji Central Park Kintetsu Ayameike | Japan | 2007 1981 to 2004 | ||
| Ultra Coaster Formerly Ultra Twister | Ultra Twister | Marah Land Sabahiya Ikoma Skyland |  Kuwait | 2008 2004 to 2006 | ||
| Bledek Coaster Formerly Loop & Cork | Looping Mouse | Suroboyo Carnival Night Market Jawa Timur Park 2 Maruyama KidLand |  Indonesia | 2014 Unknown Unknown | ||
| Grand Canyon Formerly Cobra Formerly Kiddy Shuttle | Kiddy Shuttle | Parc de la Vallée Lunapark Fréjus Odakyu Mukogaoka Yuen |  France | 2014 2004 to 2011 1998 to 2002 | ||
| Freestyle Formerly SkyRider | Stand-Up Coaster | Cavallino Matto Canada's Wonderland |  Italy | 2015 1985 to 2014 |