The Ninja at Six Flags St. Louis ends up being the butt of a lot of jokes. Is the Black Belt of Roller Coasters the worst ever made? Do you need to pack some Tylenol anticipating a roundhouse kick to the brain from Ninja? I find most of this type of talk to be rather silly. The Ninja is neither a terrible roller coaster nor a particularly good one.
Ninja at Six Flags: Overview
Originally built for Expo 86, where it was originally called Scream Machine. It made its premiere in Vancouver, Canada. Normally a coaster for a fair of this type would be of a very small and easily disassembled variety. For whatever reason Expo 86 decided to go with the full-on Coaster installation. After the fair was done it found its new home of Six Flags St. Louis. Ninja has been wowing and inducing headaches in thrill-seekers since 1989 at its current home.
A long staple of this classic looper design is Arrow Dynamics. Ron Toomer designed Ninja for Arrow, but due to bankruptcy, the project was then finished by Vekoma. Some of the infamous status of Ninja can be traced back to this. Since people love to point out it was so bad that it bankrupted the company designing it. This of course is not true. But the folklore has persisted ever since. Coupling this story with also it being originally built for a fair, and its unfair legendary status grew.
Ninja at Six Flags St. Louis has the traditional Arrow Dynamic’s trains, with over-the-shoulder restraints. It goes upside down a total of four times. First being a standard loop, followed up by a sidewinder loop, and last back-to-back corkscrews. It does have a height of 100.3 feet, but its biggest drop is only 80 feet. The Finale is a rather intense Helix. In no way is the Ninja have the stats built to impress. So then why is it called one of the worst roller coasters of all time?
Ninja at Six Flags: Problematic Coaster
While some of that may be due to people just piling on, there are a couple of problematic parts to this coaster. The worst being the sidewinder loop. When it transitions to go up into the mid-course brake run, if you are not pressing your head back into the seat, you will get the Ninja headache. Though it does have a really cool head chopper moment while trying to kill you. That does little to make up for how poor the track design is here. Also, after the two corkscrews, it does this weird transition before going into the helix finale. This is also another part where smart riders of the Ninja will press their head back into the seat to avoid multiple hits to the head.
What Ninja does Right
My favorite part of the ride is actually the very first drop. At 80 feet it doesn’t seem like it should be all that impressive. Trust me on this, if you sit in the back row you will get one of the biggest pops of ejector airtime to be had at Six Flags, St. Louis. Just about the time that you are flung into your restraint, and have that fun feeling of the train trying to fling you out, you then are crashed down back into your seat as you start to go up the very first loop. Truly a great part of the ride!
Also, the double Corkscrews are pretty much a staple of rides like this, with the Ninja they really do impress. They are taken slow enough to give you good hang time but go fast enough to keep your excitement factor high. It is almost every day a walk-on. I like the no wait but makes me nervous for keeping this ride from getting broken down. Last is that the Ninja has no seat belt. A guest of almost any size can ride.
How to improve
Two things this park could do to really help improve Ninja’s reputation would be to give it a fresh paint job. Its current black and white look is not pleasing to look at. Also updating the restraints would also help a lot. Like the vest restraints that Six Flags Georgia installed on Blue Hawk.
Final Verdict
Ninja’s is probably nearing the end of its operation. A lot of these classic Arrow Loopers are getting removed. Speaking from the standpoint that Six Flags St. Louis is my home park, I would be very sad to see that happen. I have been riding Ninja since I was the minimum allowed height of 48 inches.
I can see that the ridership every year is probably not what the park would like it to be. This is not a top-tier roller coaster. I would recommend if you are at Six Flags St. Louis then it is totally worth riding as long as your expectations are in check. This is not a ride that is worth a road trip to this park on its own. Ninja is a decent roller coaster, but not deserving of the hate. On a scale of one to ten, I give Ninja a 5.
Pros: first drop in the back, double corkscrews
Cons: Head banging moments, Looks need touched up
If you liked this post or found it helpful then please consider sharing with your friends, family, or fellow Coaster Enthusiast. Please post your questions, or thoughts on this ride in the comments. Read our review of Six Flags signature Steel Roller Coaster Mr. Freeze: Reverse Blast. For more information on this ride check out its RCDB page.
Helpful links: https://rcdb.com/124.htm