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Joust (arcade game)
Encyclopedia
Joust is an arcade game
developed by Williams Electronics and released in 1982. It is a platform game
that features two-dimensional (2D) graphics
. The player uses a button and joystick to control a knight riding a flying ostrich. The object is to progress through levels by defeating groups of enemy knights riding buzzards.
John Newcomer led the development team which included Bill Pfutzenrueter, Jan Hendricks, Python Anghelo
, Tim Murphy, and John Kotlarik. Newcomer aimed to create a flying game with co-operative two-player gameplay, but wanted to avoid a space theme, which was popular at the time. Staff worked within the technical limitations of the hardware (originally developed two years earlier for Williams' first game, Defender), excluding concepts and optimizing the visuals.
The game was well received in arcades and by critics, who praised the gameplay. The gameplay mechanics influenced titles by other developers. Joust was followed by a sequel
three years later, and was ported to numerous home and portable platforms.
Joust is a platforming game where the player controls a yellow knight riding a flying ostrich from a third-person perspective. The player navigates the protagonist around the game world, which consists of rock platforms floating above a flat island surrounded by lava, via two-way joystick and a button. Home console versions, however, use game controllers with directional pads and analog stick
s. The joystick controls the horizontal direction that the knight travels, while pressing the button makes the ostrich flap its wings. The rate at which the player repeatedly presses the button causes the ostrich to fly upward, hover, or slowly descend. The objective is to defeat groups of enemy knights riding buzzards that populate each level, referred to as a "wave". Upon completing a wave, a subsequent, more challenging one will begin. Players navigate the knight to collide with enemies. The elevation of an enemy in relation to the player's knight determines the outcome of the collision. If the protagonist is higher than the enemy, the villain is defeated and vice versa. A collision of equal elevations results in the two knights bouncing off each other. A defeated enemy will turn into an egg that falls to the bottom of the screen, which a player can collect for points. If the egg lands on a platform and the player fails to pick it up, it will eventually hatch into another knight that must be defeated again. The game features three type of enemy knights—Bounder, Hunter, and Shadow Lord—that are worth different amounts of points. A pterodactyl will appear after a predetermined time frame to hunt the hero. A second player, controlling a blue knight on a stork, can join the game. The two players can either cooperatively
complete the waves or attack each other while competitively defeating enemies.
assisted him. Tim Murphy and John Kotlarik handled the audio design. The game features amplified monaural
sound and raster graphics
on a 19 inch color CRT monitor
. Like other Williams arcade games, Joust was programmed in assembly language
. A pack of three AA batteries
provide power to save the game's settings and high scores when the machine is unplugged from an electrical outlet. The cabinet artwork, by Anghelo, is stenciled on a wooden frame. Anghelo also designed artwork for promotional materials; one such flyer
featured archaic English
, which was also incorporated into the game's on-screen instructions.
and Joust, Newcomer's top two choices. Technical specifications dictated the selection; Newcomer's vision of The War of the Worlds was infeasible, but Joust could be accomplished with Williams' available hardware. A development team was formed, which decided to create the game using Defenders hardware.
Newcomer conceived Joust as a "flying game" with co-operative two-player gameplay. Rather than emulate the popular space theme of previous successful flying games like Asteroids and Defender, he wanted to offer an alternative to spaceships. To that end, Newcomer made a list of things that could fly: machines, animals, and fictional characters. After evaluating the positive and negative of each idea, he chose birds, believing that they would have a wide appeal. Newcomer also felt that birds were a good fit as he was familiar with fantasy and science fiction media featuring birds. To further increase his understanding, Newcomer went to the library to study mythology. He felt that the primary protagonist should ride a majestic bird. The first choice was an eagle, but the lack of graceful land mobility dissuaded the designer. Instead, Newcomer chose an ostrich because he thought a flying ostrich was more believable than a running eagle. To differentiate between the first and second player characters, the developers picked a stork, believing the proportions were similar to an ostrich while the color difference would avoid confusion among players. Newcomer chose vultures as the main enemies, believing that they would be recognizably evil. Anghelo created concept of the characters as guidance for further design.
The developers created the game using 96K of memory, which limited the file size of individual graphics and sound effects they could use. The memory limits also prohibited Newcomer from creating more characters. The graphics were created at the pixel level
and hand-animated. To animate the birds, Hendricks used Eadweard Muybridge
's book Animals In Motion as a reference. Given the limited memory, he had to balance the number of frames to minimize file size, while maintaining realistic animation. Hendricks originally picked grey for the buzzards, but chose green instead to optimize the color palette
as the developers had only 16 colors to create the visuals. Once the colors were decided for the character sprites
, Newcomer finalized the look of the platforms. The hardware had limited audio capabilities, and sounds typically required larger amounts of memory than graphics. Working with these restrictions, Newcomer instructed Murphy and Kotlarik to focus on select sounds he deemed important to reinforcing gameplay. He reasoned that the audio would serve as conspicuous hints that players could use to adjust their strategy. Though Newcomer prioritized the wing flap, other sounds effects like those related to the pterodactyl, collisions, and hatching eggs were considered important as well.
In designing the levels, Newcomer added platforms to the environment after the combat was devised. A static game world was chosen over a scrolling world to showcase visual textures
applied to the platforms. The hardware could not easily display the textures while scrolling, and the team felt that displaying the whole environment would aid players. The last game world element was a lava pit and a hand reaching out of it to destroy characters too close to the bottom. Newcomer placed the platforms to optimize Pfutzenrueter's enemy artificial intelligence
(AI), which factors attack patterns based partly on platform placements. The knight enemies were designed to exhibit progressively more aggressive behavior. Bounders fly around the environment randomly, occasionally reacting to the protagonist. Hunters seek the player's character in an effort to collide. Shadow Lords fly quickly and closer to the top of the screen. Pfutzenrueter designed them to fly higher when close to the protagonist to increase the Shadow Lord's chances of victory against the player. The pterodactyl was designed to attack idle players and be difficult to defeat. The only vulnerability was attacking the creature in its open mouth during a specific animation frame. Newcomer and Pfutzenrueter designed the pterodactyl to quickly fly upward at the last moment when approaching a player waiting at the edge of platform. This was done to prevent an easy defeat of the enemy. When processing the graphics, the game gives priority to the player characters over the enemies. As a result, enemies begin to react more slowly when the number of on-screen sprites increases.
While playtest
ing the game, the team discovered an animation bug
they described as a "belly flop". The flaw allows players to force the ostrich or stork sprite through an otherwise impassable small gap between two adjacent platforms of very close elevation. Because it provided an interesting method to perform a sneak attack on an opponent below the gap, the developers decided to keep the defect rather than fix it. Newcomer also attributed the inclusion to excessive playtesting that limited the time available to find a solution. A second bug, which allows the pterodactyl to be easily defeated, was discovered after the game was first distributed. Newcomer designed the game and its AI with each sprite's dimension in mind. A day before the game was finished, however, the pterodactyl's sprite was altered to improve the appearance. The new sprite allowed the pterodactyl to be easily defeated by waiting at a ledge. Upon learning of the flaw, Williams shipped a new ROM for the arcade cabinets to assuage distributors' complaints.
and Code Monkeys
, as well as the video games Mortal Kombat 3
and World of Warcraft: Cataclysm
.
Author Steve Kent considered Joust one of the more memorable games of its time. Author David Ellis agreed, and stated that the game retains it enjoyment in contemporary times. In 2008, Guinness World Records
listed it as the number sixty-nine arcade game in technical, creative, and cultural impact. A writer for Video Gaming Illustrated called Joust exotic and praised the animation as life-like. Kevin Bowen of GameSpy
's Classic Gaming wrote that despite a concept he described as "incredibly stupid", Joust is an appealing game with good controls and competitive gameplay. Bowen further commented that the multiplayer aspect differentiated the game from others at the time. He described it as "one of the first really fun multiplayer games" and a precursor to the video game deathmatch
. Retro Gamer writer Mike Bevan praised the game's physics, calling them "beautifully realised", and described Joust as one of Williams' "most remarkable and well-loved titles". A Computer and Video Games
writer called the game "weird and wonderful". Author John Sellers praised the competitive two-player gameplay, and attributed the game's appeal to the flapping mechanism. In 2004, Ellis described Joust as an example of innovative risk absent in the then-current video game industry. In retrospect, Newcomer commended Williams' management for taking a risk on him and the game. The game has garnered praise from industry professionals as well. Jeff Peters of GearWorks Games lauded the gameplay, describing it as unique and intuitive. Fusion Learning Systems' Jeff Johannigman praised the flapping mechanism and Kim Pallister of Microsoft
enjoyed the multi-player aspect.
version was released in 1983, designed by Barry Oursler and Constantino Mitchell. The game includes artwork and themes from the arcade version. In addition to single player gameplay, it features competitive two-player gameplay with the players on opposing sides of the machine. Less than 500 machines were produced. An arcade sequel, Joust 2: Survival of the Fittest, was released in 1986. It features similar gameplay with new elements on a vertical screen. Several titles by other developers feature gameplay that either copies or builds upon Jousts design. The 1983 Jetpac
and Mario Bros.
feature elements inspired by it, as well as the 1984 Balloon Fight
.
In addition to a Nintendo Entertainment System
version, the game was ported to several Atari platforms: Atari 2600, Atari 5200, Atari 7800, and Atari Lynx consoles, as well as Atari 8-bit
and Atari ST
home computers. Macintosh and personal computer versions were also released. Tiger Electronics
released a small keychain version
of Joust in 1998. A mobile phone version was released in 2005, but omitted the flapping control scheme. In 2000, a web-based version of Joust, along with nine other classic arcade games, was published on Shockwave.com. Four years later, Midway Games
Williams Electronics purchased Midway in 1988, and later transferred its games to the Midway Games
subsidiary. also launched a website featuring the Shockwave versions. The game was included in several multi-platform compilations: the 1996 Williams Arcade's Greatest Hits
, the 2000 Midway's Greatest Arcade Hits
, and the 2003 Midway Arcade Treasures
. Other compilation titles are the 1995 Arcade Classic 4 for the Game Boy
and the 2005 Midway Arcade Treasures: Extended Play for the PlayStation Portable
. Joust was released via digital distribution
on GameTap
, Xbox Live Arcade
, and the PlayStation Network.
Other remakes were in development, but never released. Previously unreleased Atarisoft
prototypes of Joust for the ColecoVision
surfaced in 2001 at the Classic Gaming Expo in Las Vegas. An adaptation with three-dimensional (3D) graphics
was in development for the Atari Jaguar CD
. Titled Dactyl Joust, it was eventually canceled. Newcomer pitched an updated version of the arcade game for the Game Boy Advance
to Midway Games. The company, however, did not sanction it. The prototype featured multi-directional scrolling, more detailed graphics based on 3D renders
, and new gameplay mechanics.
Midway Games optioned Jousts movie rights to CP Productions in 2007. Michael Cerenzie and Christine Peters of CP Productions planned to expand on a game element for the film's premise. Cerenzie described the script by Marc Gottlieb as "Gladiator
meets Mad Max
", set 25 years in the future, and Peters commented that the action oriented film would appeal to a general audience. The movie was planned as a tent-pole movie, with a graphic novel by Steven-Elliot Altman
as part of the media franchise's release. Midway Games also considered a video game adaptation of the film. Jousts expected release date was set in June 2008 and then later pushed back to 2009. The video game company, however, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in 2009. Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment purchased most of Midway's assets, including Joust, with the intent to develop movie adaptations.
Arcade game
An arcade game is a coin-operated entertainment machine, usually installed in public businesses such as restaurants, bars, and amusement arcades. Most arcade games are video games, pinball machines, electro-mechanical games, redemption games, and merchandisers...
developed by Williams Electronics and released in 1982. It is a platform game
Platform game
A platform game is a video game characterized by requiring the player to jump to and from suspended platforms or over obstacles . It must be possible to control these jumps and to fall from platforms or miss jumps...
that features two-dimensional (2D) graphics
2D computer graphics
2D computer graphics is the computer-based generation of digital images—mostly from two-dimensional models and by techniques specific to them...
. The player uses a button and joystick to control a knight riding a flying ostrich. The object is to progress through levels by defeating groups of enemy knights riding buzzards.
John Newcomer led the development team which included Bill Pfutzenrueter, Jan Hendricks, Python Anghelo
Python Anghelo
Python Vladimir Anghelo is an artist best known for his work on video games and pinball machines. Anghelo was born in Transylvania, Romania, and moved to the United States when he was 17...
, Tim Murphy, and John Kotlarik. Newcomer aimed to create a flying game with co-operative two-player gameplay, but wanted to avoid a space theme, which was popular at the time. Staff worked within the technical limitations of the hardware (originally developed two years earlier for Williams' first game, Defender), excluding concepts and optimizing the visuals.
The game was well received in arcades and by critics, who praised the gameplay. The gameplay mechanics influenced titles by other developers. Joust was followed by a sequel
Sequel
A sequel is a narrative, documental, or other work of literature, film, theatre, or music that continues the story of or expands upon issues presented in some previous work...
three years later, and was ported to numerous home and portable platforms.
Gameplay
Analog stick
An analog stick, sometimes called a control stick or thumbstick, is an input device for a controller that is used for two-dimensional input. An analog stick is a variation of a joystick, consisting of a protrusion from the controller; input is based on the position of this protrusion in relation...
s. The joystick controls the horizontal direction that the knight travels, while pressing the button makes the ostrich flap its wings. The rate at which the player repeatedly presses the button causes the ostrich to fly upward, hover, or slowly descend. The objective is to defeat groups of enemy knights riding buzzards that populate each level, referred to as a "wave". Upon completing a wave, a subsequent, more challenging one will begin. Players navigate the knight to collide with enemies. The elevation of an enemy in relation to the player's knight determines the outcome of the collision. If the protagonist is higher than the enemy, the villain is defeated and vice versa. A collision of equal elevations results in the two knights bouncing off each other. A defeated enemy will turn into an egg that falls to the bottom of the screen, which a player can collect for points. If the egg lands on a platform and the player fails to pick it up, it will eventually hatch into another knight that must be defeated again. The game features three type of enemy knights—Bounder, Hunter, and Shadow Lord—that are worth different amounts of points. A pterodactyl will appear after a predetermined time frame to hunt the hero. A second player, controlling a blue knight on a stork, can join the game. The two players can either cooperatively
Cooperative gameplay
Cooperative gameplay is a feature in video games that allows players to work together as teammates. It is distinct from other multiplayer modes, such as competitive multiplayer modes like player versus player or deathmatch...
complete the waves or attack each other while competitively defeating enemies.
Development
Joust was developed by Williams Electronics, with John Newcomer as the lead designer. Programmer Bill Pfutzenrueter and artists Jan Hendricks and Python AngheloPython Anghelo
Python Vladimir Anghelo is an artist best known for his work on video games and pinball machines. Anghelo was born in Transylvania, Romania, and moved to the United States when he was 17...
assisted him. Tim Murphy and John Kotlarik handled the audio design. The game features amplified monaural
Monaural
Monaural or monophonic sound reproduction is single-channel. Typically there is only one microphone, one loudspeaker, or channels are fed from a common signal path...
sound and raster graphics
Raster graphics
In computer graphics, a raster graphics image, or bitmap, is a data structure representing a generally rectangular grid of pixels, or points of color, viewable via a monitor, paper, or other display medium...
on a 19 inch color CRT monitor
Cathode ray tube
The cathode ray tube is a vacuum tube containing an electron gun and a fluorescent screen used to view images. It has a means to accelerate and deflect the electron beam onto the fluorescent screen to create the images. The image may represent electrical waveforms , pictures , radar targets and...
. Like other Williams arcade games, Joust was programmed in assembly language
Assembly language
An assembly language is a low-level programming language for computers, microprocessors, microcontrollers, and other programmable devices. It implements a symbolic representation of the machine codes and other constants needed to program a given CPU architecture...
. A pack of three AA batteries
AA battery
An AA battery is a standard size of battery. Batteries of this size are the most commonly used type of in portable electronic devices. An AA battery is composed of a single electrochemical cell...
provide power to save the game's settings and high scores when the machine is unplugged from an electrical outlet. The cabinet artwork, by Anghelo, is stenciled on a wooden frame. Anghelo also designed artwork for promotional materials; one such flyer
Flyer (pamphlet)
__notoc__A flyer or flier, also called a circular, handbill or leaflet, is a form of paper advertisement intended for wide distribution and typically posted or distributed in public place....
featured archaic English
Early Modern English
Early Modern English is the stage of the English language used from about the end of the Middle English period to 1650. Thus, the first edition of the King James Bible and the works of William Shakespeare both belong to the late phase of Early Modern English...
, which was also incorporated into the game's on-screen instructions.
Conception
Following the success of the 1980 title Defender, Williams searched for new creative staff. Believing video games to be the future of entertainment, Newcomer left his job as a toy designer to work at the company who hired him to create game ideas as support for development staff. After a few days, he generated a list of ideas that included game ideas for The War of the WorldsThe War of the Worlds
The War of the Worlds is an 1898 science fiction novel written by H. G. Wells.The War of the Worlds may also refer to:- Radio broadcasts :* The War of the Worlds , the 1938 radio broadcast by Orson Welles...
and Joust, Newcomer's top two choices. Technical specifications dictated the selection; Newcomer's vision of The War of the Worlds was infeasible, but Joust could be accomplished with Williams' available hardware. A development team was formed, which decided to create the game using Defenders hardware.
Newcomer conceived Joust as a "flying game" with co-operative two-player gameplay. Rather than emulate the popular space theme of previous successful flying games like Asteroids and Defender, he wanted to offer an alternative to spaceships. To that end, Newcomer made a list of things that could fly: machines, animals, and fictional characters. After evaluating the positive and negative of each idea, he chose birds, believing that they would have a wide appeal. Newcomer also felt that birds were a good fit as he was familiar with fantasy and science fiction media featuring birds. To further increase his understanding, Newcomer went to the library to study mythology. He felt that the primary protagonist should ride a majestic bird. The first choice was an eagle, but the lack of graceful land mobility dissuaded the designer. Instead, Newcomer chose an ostrich because he thought a flying ostrich was more believable than a running eagle. To differentiate between the first and second player characters, the developers picked a stork, believing the proportions were similar to an ostrich while the color difference would avoid confusion among players. Newcomer chose vultures as the main enemies, believing that they would be recognizably evil. Anghelo created concept of the characters as guidance for further design.
Creative and technical design
The decision to use birds prompted Newcomer to deviate from the then standard eight-direction joystick. He implemented a "flapping" mechanism to allow players to control the character's ascent and descent. With the vertical direction controlled via the arcade cabinet's button, a two-way joystick was added to dictate horizontal direction. Though other Williams employees were concerned over the design, Newcomer believed that a direct control scheme for flight would strengthen the connection between the player and the character. The combat is devised to allow for higher levels of strategy than traditional shooting games. Because flying became an integral gameplay element, he chose to have characters collide as a means of combat. Newcomer felt that the characters' heights on the screen were the best way to determine a victor.The developers created the game using 96K of memory, which limited the file size of individual graphics and sound effects they could use. The memory limits also prohibited Newcomer from creating more characters. The graphics were created at the pixel level
Pixel art
Pixel art is a form of digital art, created through the use of raster graphics software, where images are edited on the pixel level. Graphics in most old computer and video games, graphing calculator games, and many mobile phone games are mostly pixel art.- History :The term pixel art was first...
and hand-animated. To animate the birds, Hendricks used Eadweard Muybridge
Eadweard Muybridge
Eadweard J. Muybridge was an English photographer who spent much of his life in the United States. He is known for his pioneering work on animal locomotion which used multiple cameras to capture motion, and his zoopraxiscope, a device for projecting motion pictures that pre-dated the flexible...
's book Animals In Motion as a reference. Given the limited memory, he had to balance the number of frames to minimize file size, while maintaining realistic animation. Hendricks originally picked grey for the buzzards, but chose green instead to optimize the color palette
Palette (computing)
In computer graphics, a palette is either a given, finite set of colors for the management of digital images , or a small on-screen graphical element for choosing from a limited set of choices, not necessarily colors .Depending on the context In computer graphics, a palette is either a given,...
as the developers had only 16 colors to create the visuals. Once the colors were decided for the character sprites
Sprite (computer graphics)
In computer graphics, a sprite is a two-dimensional image or animation that is integrated into a larger scene...
, Newcomer finalized the look of the platforms. The hardware had limited audio capabilities, and sounds typically required larger amounts of memory than graphics. Working with these restrictions, Newcomer instructed Murphy and Kotlarik to focus on select sounds he deemed important to reinforcing gameplay. He reasoned that the audio would serve as conspicuous hints that players could use to adjust their strategy. Though Newcomer prioritized the wing flap, other sounds effects like those related to the pterodactyl, collisions, and hatching eggs were considered important as well.
In designing the levels, Newcomer added platforms to the environment after the combat was devised. A static game world was chosen over a scrolling world to showcase visual textures
Texture (visual arts)
In the visual arts, texture is the perceived surface quality of a work of art. It is an element of two-dimensional and three-dimensional design and is distinguished by its perceived visual and physical properties...
applied to the platforms. The hardware could not easily display the textures while scrolling, and the team felt that displaying the whole environment would aid players. The last game world element was a lava pit and a hand reaching out of it to destroy characters too close to the bottom. Newcomer placed the platforms to optimize Pfutzenrueter's enemy artificial intelligence
Game artificial intelligence
Game artificial intelligence refers to techniques used in computer and video games to produce the illusion of intelligence in the behavior of non-player characters . The techniques used typically draw upon existing methods from the field of artificial intelligence...
(AI), which factors attack patterns based partly on platform placements. The knight enemies were designed to exhibit progressively more aggressive behavior. Bounders fly around the environment randomly, occasionally reacting to the protagonist. Hunters seek the player's character in an effort to collide. Shadow Lords fly quickly and closer to the top of the screen. Pfutzenrueter designed them to fly higher when close to the protagonist to increase the Shadow Lord's chances of victory against the player. The pterodactyl was designed to attack idle players and be difficult to defeat. The only vulnerability was attacking the creature in its open mouth during a specific animation frame. Newcomer and Pfutzenrueter designed the pterodactyl to quickly fly upward at the last moment when approaching a player waiting at the edge of platform. This was done to prevent an easy defeat of the enemy. When processing the graphics, the game gives priority to the player characters over the enemies. As a result, enemies begin to react more slowly when the number of on-screen sprites increases.
While playtest
Playtest
A playtest is the process by which a game designer tests a new game for bugs and flaws before bringing it to market. Playtests can be run "open", "closed", "beta", or otherwise....
ing the game, the team discovered an animation bug
Software bug
A software bug is the common term used to describe an error, flaw, mistake, failure, or fault in a computer program or system that produces an incorrect or unexpected result, or causes it to behave in unintended ways. Most bugs arise from mistakes and errors made by people in either a program's...
they described as a "belly flop". The flaw allows players to force the ostrich or stork sprite through an otherwise impassable small gap between two adjacent platforms of very close elevation. Because it provided an interesting method to perform a sneak attack on an opponent below the gap, the developers decided to keep the defect rather than fix it. Newcomer also attributed the inclusion to excessive playtesting that limited the time available to find a solution. A second bug, which allows the pterodactyl to be easily defeated, was discovered after the game was first distributed. Newcomer designed the game and its AI with each sprite's dimension in mind. A day before the game was finished, however, the pterodactyl's sprite was altered to improve the appearance. The new sprite allowed the pterodactyl to be easily defeated by waiting at a ledge. Upon learning of the flaw, Williams shipped a new ROM for the arcade cabinets to assuage distributors' complaints.
Reception and legacy
Given the different control scheme, Williams was concerned that the game would be unsuccessful. Though arcades were hesitant to purchase the game for the same reason, Joust sold well. Williams eventually shipped 26,000 units. A cocktail table version was later released, engineered by Leo Ludzia. It differs from other cocktail games in that it features side-by-side seating rather than opposing sides. This setup allowed Williams to use the same ROM chip as in the upright cabinets. The cabinets have since become collector's items. Though the upright cabinets are common, the cocktail version is a rare, sought after game. Between 250-500 units were manufactured. Players have competed to obtain the highest score at the game. Expert players exploited software bugs to extend the length of their play time and obtain higher scores. One bug, which facilitates the defeat of the pterodactyl, allows players earn a large number of "extra lives". Players can then use the excess lives to leave the game unattended while they rest. Joust has been parodied in popular culture. References appear in episodes of Robot ChickenRobot Chicken
Robot Chicken is an American stop motion animated television series created and executive produced by Seth Green and Matthew Senreich along with co-head writers Douglas Goldstein and Tom Root. Green provides many voices for the show...
and Code Monkeys
Code Monkeys
Code Monkeys is an American animated television program created by Adam de la Peña. Set in the early 1980s, it follows the adventures of fictional video game company GameaVision....
, as well as the video games Mortal Kombat 3
Mortal Kombat 3
Mortal Kombat 3 is a fighting game developed by Midway and released in 1995, first as an arcade game. It is the third game in the Mortal Kombat series...
and World of Warcraft: Cataclysm
World of Warcraft: Cataclysm
World of Warcraft: Cataclysm is the third expansion pack for the massively multiplayer online role-playing game World of Warcraft, following the last expansion Wrath of the Lich King. It was officially announced at BlizzCon on August 21, 2009, although dataminers and researchers discovered details...
.
Author Steve Kent considered Joust one of the more memorable games of its time. Author David Ellis agreed, and stated that the game retains it enjoyment in contemporary times. In 2008, Guinness World Records
Guinness World Records
Guinness World Records, known until 2000 as The Guinness Book of Records , is a reference book published annually, containing a collection of world records, both human achievements and the extremes of the natural world...
listed it as the number sixty-nine arcade game in technical, creative, and cultural impact. A writer for Video Gaming Illustrated called Joust exotic and praised the animation as life-like. Kevin Bowen of GameSpy
GameSpy
GameSpy Industries, Inc., known simply as GameSpy, is a division of IGN Entertainment, which operates a network of game websites and provides online video game-related services and software. GameSpy dates back to the 1996 release of an internet Quake server search program named QSpy. The current...
's Classic Gaming wrote that despite a concept he described as "incredibly stupid", Joust is an appealing game with good controls and competitive gameplay. Bowen further commented that the multiplayer aspect differentiated the game from others at the time. He described it as "one of the first really fun multiplayer games" and a precursor to the video game deathmatch
Deathmatch (gaming)
Deathmatch or Player vs All is a widely-used gameplay mode integrated into many shooter and real-time strategy computer games...
. Retro Gamer writer Mike Bevan praised the game's physics, calling them "beautifully realised", and described Joust as one of Williams' "most remarkable and well-loved titles". A Computer and Video Games
Computer and video games
A video game is an electronic game that involves human interaction with a user interface to generate visual feedback on a video device. The word video in video game traditionally referred to a raster display device, but following popularization of the term "video game", it now implies any type of...
writer called the game "weird and wonderful". Author John Sellers praised the competitive two-player gameplay, and attributed the game's appeal to the flapping mechanism. In 2004, Ellis described Joust as an example of innovative risk absent in the then-current video game industry. In retrospect, Newcomer commended Williams' management for taking a risk on him and the game. The game has garnered praise from industry professionals as well. Jeff Peters of GearWorks Games lauded the gameplay, describing it as unique and intuitive. Fusion Learning Systems' Jeff Johannigman praised the flapping mechanism and Kim Pallister of Microsoft
Microsoft
Microsoft Corporation is an American public multinational corporation headquartered in Redmond, Washington, USA that develops, manufactures, licenses, and supports a wide range of products and services predominantly related to computing through its various product divisions...
enjoyed the multi-player aspect.
Sequels and remakes
A pinballPinball
Pinball is a type of arcade game, usually coin-operated, where a player attempts to score points by manipulating one or more metal balls on a playfield inside a glass-covered case called a pinball machine. The primary objective of the game is to score as many points as possible...
version was released in 1983, designed by Barry Oursler and Constantino Mitchell. The game includes artwork and themes from the arcade version. In addition to single player gameplay, it features competitive two-player gameplay with the players on opposing sides of the machine. Less than 500 machines were produced. An arcade sequel, Joust 2: Survival of the Fittest, was released in 1986. It features similar gameplay with new elements on a vertical screen. Several titles by other developers feature gameplay that either copies or builds upon Jousts design. The 1983 Jetpac
Jetpac
Jetpac is a ZX Spectrum, VIC-20 and BBC Micro video game developed and released by Ultimate Play The Game in 1983. The game is the first in the Jetman series, and was the company's very first release. The game was written by Chris Stamper with graphics by Tim Stamper...
and Mario Bros.
Mario Bros.
is an arcade game published and developed by Nintendo in 1983. It was developed by Shigeru Miyamoto. It has been commonly featured as a minigame in the Super Mario Advance series and other games...
feature elements inspired by it, as well as the 1984 Balloon Fight
Balloon Fight
is a 1984 video game developed by Nintendo. The arcade version was released in 1984 and the Nintendo Entertainment System version was released in 1986. The gameplay is similar to the arcade game Joust by Williams Electronics.-Gameplay:...
.
In addition to a Nintendo Entertainment System
Nintendo Entertainment System
The Nintendo Entertainment System is an 8-bit video game console that was released by Nintendo in North America during 1985, in Europe during 1986 and Australia in 1987...
version, the game was ported to several Atari platforms: Atari 2600, Atari 5200, Atari 7800, and Atari Lynx consoles, as well as Atari 8-bit
Atari 8-bit family
The Atari 8-bit family is a series of 8-bit home computers manufactured from 1979 to 1992. All are based on the MOS Technology 6502 CPU and were the first home computers designed with custom coprocessor chips...
and Atari ST
Atari ST
The Atari ST is a home/personal computer that was released by Atari Corporation in 1985 and commercially available from that summer into the early 1990s. The "ST" officially stands for "Sixteen/Thirty-two", which referred to the Motorola 68000's 16-bit external bus and 32-bit internals...
home computers. Macintosh and personal computer versions were also released. Tiger Electronics
Tiger Electronics
Tiger Electronics is an American toy manufacturer, best known for its handheld LCD games, the Furby, and Giga Pets. When Tiger was an independent company, Tiger Electronics Inc., its headquarters were in Vernon Hills, Illinois....
released a small keychain version
Handheld electronic game
----Handheld electronic games are very small, portable devices for playing interactive electronic games, often miniaturized versions of video games. The controls, display and speakers are all part of a single unit. Rather than a general-purpose screen made up of a grid of small pixels, they...
of Joust in 1998. A mobile phone version was released in 2005, but omitted the flapping control scheme. In 2000, a web-based version of Joust, along with nine other classic arcade games, was published on Shockwave.com. Four years later, Midway Games
Midway Games
Midway Games, Inc. is an American company that was formerly a major video game publisher. Following a bankruptcy filing in 2009, it is no longer active and is in the process of liquidating all of its assets. Midway's titles included Mortal Kombat, Ms.Pac-Man, Spy Hunter, Tron, Rampage, the...
Williams Electronics purchased Midway in 1988, and later transferred its games to the Midway Games
Midway Games
Midway Games, Inc. is an American company that was formerly a major video game publisher. Following a bankruptcy filing in 2009, it is no longer active and is in the process of liquidating all of its assets. Midway's titles included Mortal Kombat, Ms.Pac-Man, Spy Hunter, Tron, Rampage, the...
subsidiary. also launched a website featuring the Shockwave versions. The game was included in several multi-platform compilations: the 1996 Williams Arcade's Greatest Hits
Williams Arcade's Greatest Hits
Williams Arcade's Greatest Hits is a video game anthology for the Super NES, PlayStation, Sega Genesis, and Sega Saturn consoles that features 1980s arcade games from the Williams Electronics company. The games included are Defender, Defender II, Joust, Robotron: 2084, and Sinistar...
, the 2000 Midway's Greatest Arcade Hits
Midway's Greatest Arcade Hits
Midway's Greatest Arcade Hits is an arcade game compilation released for the Nintendo 64, Dreamcast, and Game Boy Advance.- Volumes and Games included :Two volumes have been released so far....
, and the 2003 Midway Arcade Treasures
Midway Arcade Treasures
Midway Arcade Treasures is a collection of 24 arcade games developed by Digital Eclipse and released by Midway for the GameCube, PlayStation 2, Xbox and PC....
. Other compilation titles are the 1995 Arcade Classic 4 for the Game Boy
Game Boy
The , is an 8-bit handheld video game device developed and manufactured by Nintendo. It was released in Japan on , in North America in , and in Europe on...
and the 2005 Midway Arcade Treasures: Extended Play for the PlayStation Portable
PlayStation Portable
The is a handheld game console manufactured and marketed by Sony Corporation Development of the console was announced during E3 2003, and it was unveiled on , 2004, at a Sony press conference before E3 2004...
. Joust was released via digital distribution
Digital distribution
Online distribution, digital distribution, or electronic software distribution is the practice of delivering content without the use of physical media, typically by downloading via the internet directly to a consumer's device. Online distribution bypasses conventional physical distribution media,...
on GameTap
GameTap
GameTap is an American online video game service established by Turner Broadcasting System . Dubbed by TBS as a "first of its kind broadband gaming network", the service provides users with classic arcade video games and game-related video content...
, Xbox Live Arcade
Xbox Live Arcade
Xbox Live Arcade is a type of video game download distribution available primarily in a section of the Xbox Live Marketplace, Microsoft's digital distribution network for the Xbox 360, that focuses on smaller downloadable games from both major publishers and independent game developers...
, and the PlayStation Network.
Other remakes were in development, but never released. Previously unreleased Atarisoft
Atarisoft
Atarisoft was a brand name used by Atari, Inc in 1983 and 1984 to market video games they published for home systems made by their competitors. Each platform had a specific color attributed by Atarisoft for its game packages...
prototypes of Joust for the ColecoVision
ColecoVision
The ColecoVision is Coleco Industries' second generation home video game console which was released in August 1982. The ColecoVision offered arcade-quality graphics and gaming style, and the means to expand the system's basic hardware...
surfaced in 2001 at the Classic Gaming Expo in Las Vegas. An adaptation with three-dimensional (3D) graphics
3D computer graphics
3D computer graphics are graphics that use a three-dimensional representation of geometric data that is stored in the computer for the purposes of performing calculations and rendering 2D images...
was in development for the Atari Jaguar CD
Atari Jaguar CD
The Atari Jaguar CD or Jag CD is a CD-ROM peripheral for the Atari Jaguar video game console.Late in the life span of the company, Atari released this long-promised CD-ROM unit. The unit hit shelves on September 11, 1995 and retailed for $149.95. The device sat atop the Jaguar console, snapping...
. Titled Dactyl Joust, it was eventually canceled. Newcomer pitched an updated version of the arcade game for the Game Boy Advance
Game Boy Advance
The is a 32-bit handheld video game console developed, manufactured, and marketed by Nintendo. It is the successor to the Game Boy Color. It was released in Japan on March 21, 2001; in North America on June 11, 2001; in Australia and Europe on June 22, 2001; and in the People's Republic of China...
to Midway Games. The company, however, did not sanction it. The prototype featured multi-directional scrolling, more detailed graphics based on 3D renders
3D modeling
In 3D computer graphics, 3D modeling is the process of developing a mathematical representation of any three-dimensional surface of object via specialized software. The product is called a 3D model...
, and new gameplay mechanics.
Midway Games optioned Jousts movie rights to CP Productions in 2007. Michael Cerenzie and Christine Peters of CP Productions planned to expand on a game element for the film's premise. Cerenzie described the script by Marc Gottlieb as "Gladiator
Gladiator (2000 film)
Gladiator is a 2000 historical epic film directed by Ridley Scott, starring Russell Crowe, Joaquin Phoenix, Connie Nielsen, Ralf Möller, Oliver Reed, Djimon Hounsou, Derek Jacobi, John Shrapnel and Richard Harris. Crowe portrays the loyal Roman General Maximus Decimus Meridius, who is betrayed...
meets Mad Max
Mad Max
Mad Max is a 1979 Australian dystopian action film directed by George Miller and revised by Miller and Byron Kennedy over the original script by James McCausland. The film stars Mel Gibson, who was unknown at the time. Its narrative based around the traditional western genre, Mad Max tells a story...
", set 25 years in the future, and Peters commented that the action oriented film would appeal to a general audience. The movie was planned as a tent-pole movie, with a graphic novel by Steven-Elliot Altman
Steven-Elliot Altman
Steven-Elliot Altman is a bestselling American author, graphic novelist, video game writer-director, producer and screenwriter.-Games:*9Dragons Online...
as part of the media franchise's release. Midway Games also considered a video game adaptation of the film. Jousts expected release date was set in June 2008 and then later pushed back to 2009. The video game company, however, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in 2009. Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment purchased most of Midway's assets, including Joust, with the intent to develop movie adaptations.
See also
- DragonHawkDragonHawkDragonHawk was a video game for the Commodore 64 that was released in 1983 by Creative Software. It was developed by Mark A. Van Alstine and Steve Penners of United Microware....
, a clone for the Commodore 64Commodore 64The Commodore 64 is an 8-bit home computer introduced by Commodore International in January 1982.Volume production started in the spring of 1982, with machines being released on to the market in August at a price of US$595... - Glypha IIIGlypha IIIGlypha III is a Joust clone for the Macintosh written in C by John Calhoun. It was developed and distributed by Soft Dorothy Software in 1995 as freeware and open-source. Since then, it has been ported to Mac OS X by Mark Pazolli, and to the iPhone by Kent Sutherland. In the game, the player plays...
, a clone for the Macintosh
- OstronOstronOstron is a ZX Spectrum video game developed and released by Softek in 1983. It was also released with the title Joust. Gameplay is similar to the arcade game, Joust. -Reception:...
, a clone for the ZX SpectrumZX SpectrumThe ZX Spectrum is an 8-bit personal home computer released in the United Kingdom in 1982 by Sinclair Research Ltd... - Winged WarlordsWinged WarlordsWinged Warlords is a ZX Spectrum game which was published by CDS Microsystems in 1983. It is a clone of Joust, in terms of level design and gameplay...
, a clone for the ZX Spectrum