Joust (video game)
A 1982 arcade game featuring knights on flying birds.
Joust is a 1982 action game developed and published by Williams Electronics for arcades. Players control knights riding large birds, using collisions to defeat enemies on a single-screen level. Its cooperative two-player gameplay and unique control scheme helped popularize the concept of multiplayer video games.
Quick Facts
- Developer
- Williams Electronics
- Designer
- John Newcomer
- Programmer
- Bill Pfutzenreuter
- Artist
- Jan Hendricks, Python Anghelo
- Genre
- Action
- Modes
- Single-player, multiplayer
Facts from the source article.
Development
Joust was developed by Williams Electronics, with John Newcomer as lead designer. The team included programmer Bill Pfutzenreuter, artists Janice Woldenberg-Miller and Python Anghelo, and audio designers Tim Murphy and John Kotlarik. The game uses amplified monaural sound and raster graphics on a 19-inch color CRT monitor, programmed in assembly language on Defender hardware. A pack of three AA batteries preserves settings and high scores when unplugged. Anghelo stenciled the cabinet artwork and designed promotional materials featuring archaic English. Newcomer, formerly a toy designer, generated a list of game ideas; Joust was chosen over The War of the Worlds because it was technologically feasible with existing hardware.
Release
Williams first released Joust into arcades in September 1982. The company filed the stylized logo with the United States Patent and Trademark Office on September 27, 1982, and registered the program, visuals, and cabinet artwork with the United States Copyright Office the same day. Despite concerns about the control scheme, Williams shipped 26,000 units. A cocktail table version engineered by Leo Ludzia features side-by-side seating and reused the same ROM chip; between 250 and 500 units were manufactured. Atari, Inc. acquired licensing rights for home ports, releasing versions on the Atari 2600, Atari 5200, Atari 7800, Atari 8-bit computers, Apple II, and personal computers. Satoru Iwata of HAL Laboratory converted Joust for the Famicom in two months, but the port was shelved until 1987 when HAL published it in Japan; a North American NES version followed in 1988.
Reception
Joust topped the United States Play Meter arcade charts in January 1983 and the RePlay upright arcade cabinet charts from January to February 1983. It was among the thirteen highest-grossing arcade games of 1983 in the United States and was nominated for a 'Most Played Video Game' award by the Amusement & Music Operators Association. Contemporary publications praised the game: Roger Sharpe of Play Meter lauded the gameplay and audiovisuals, Electronic Games staff described it as 'tremendously popular', and Olivier Chazoule of Tilt noted the two-player gameplay and fantasy setting. Video Gaming Illustrated called it 'exotic' with lifelike animation, and Computer and Video Games staff called it 'weird and wonderful'. Ports also received positive reviews; Antic magazine called the Atari 8-bit version 'unique, addictive' and 'almost identical' to the original, while Steve Stecklow of the Reading Eagle noted its similarity to the arcade hit. Electronic Games named Joust the 'Best Arcade-to-Home Translation' of 1984. Later, ports in Williams Arcade's Greatest Hits were well received, with Alex Huhtala of Official Dreamcast Magazine praising the accurate emulation and Robin Alway of GamesMaster considering it an 'all-time classic'.
Legacy
Williams released an arcade sequel, Joust 2: Survival of the Fittest, in 1986, which sold significantly fewer units than the original. Players began competitively aiming for high scores, and Twin Galaxies tracked records into the 2000s. Developers have copied and built upon Joust's design, with clones such as Ostron and Winged Warlords for the ZX Spectrum and Glypha for the Macintosh. Elements reminiscent of Joust appear in Ultimate Play the Game's Jetpac, Nintendo's Mario Bros. and Balloon Fight, and the 2000 game Messiah. The 2013 arcade game Killer Queen was heavily inspired by Joust, and the 2014 Wii U game Sportsball features characters armed with lances on large birds. Joust has been parodied in Robot Chicken and Code Monkeys, and characters cameo in the 2015 film Pixels. Video game references include Shang Tsung's friendship move in Mortal Kombat 3 and a Joust-like minigame in World of Warcraft: Cataclysm. The book Ready Player One includes a scene featuring Joust.
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